News: Dean’s Awards 2021: Honouring extraordinary service and dedication

On 6 December, the OneLKC community gathered for the annual Dean’s Awards and LKCMedicine Appreciation Day.

Introduced last year as part of the School’s 10th anniversary celebrations, the Dean’s Awards honour and recognise outstanding faculty and staff for their significant contributions towards excellence in the School.

Incorporating the Long Service Awards, the event pays tribute to the extraordinary service and dedication of the people who contribute to making LKCMedicine a world-class medical school.

Held as a hybrid event, LKCMedicine about 200 faculty and staff joined in the festivities at the School's Ong Tiong Tat and Irene Tan Liang Kheng Auditorium with safe management measures in place, as well as virtually via Zoom.

Kicking off the celebrations, our student dance interest group LKCrew delivered an energetic performance.

In his opening address, LKCMedicine Dean Professor Joseph Sung said, “Let us continue with our good work and collectively bring this new medical school to scale new heights and cement our reputation as a world class academic institution. Thank you for driving our mission of redefining medicine and transforming healthcare.”

This was followed by a video of the core leadership group offering their well wishes and congratulations to the winners, launching the award ceremony.

The awardees were invited onstage to receive their trophies from former LKCMedicine Dean Professor James Best, cheered on by their fellow colleagues.

This year, 10 Dean’s Awards were given to outstanding staff in the following categories.

Research​

  • Assistant Professor Franklin Zhong, Nanyang Assistant Professor; National Research Foundation Fellow
  • Associate Professor Luo Dahai, Associate Professor, Infection and Immunity
  • Associate Professor David Lye, from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and also Co-director of LKCMedicine’s Respiratory and Infectious Diseases Programme


Education

  • Mr Emmanuel Tan, Lecturer, Medical Education; Assistant Dean, Student Wellbeing
  • Assistant Professor Ch’ng Toh Hean, Nanyang Assistant Professor
  • Dr Lim Wen Phei, Assistant Principal Lead (Psychiatry); Consultant, Psychiatry, Woodlands Health Campus


Service

  • Assistant Professor Christine Cheung, Nanyang Assistant Professor


Administration

  • Values in Action: Ms Priscilla Kuan Puay Eng, Senior Executive, Administrative Support, Science and Anatomy Laboratories, Office of Medical Education
  • Enabler: Mr Sufian Bin Suderman, Assistant Manager, Research Administration & Support Services
  • Special Mention: Dr Ng Kian Bee, Head, Digital Learning
  • Innovation (Team):

    Ms Suzanne Lim, Ms Bernadette Chia and Ms Poh Sook Sun (Advancement & Resources Department)
    Ms Siti Rohanah Koid, Ms Siti Mariam Rahman and Ms Siti Nur Iman Razali (Communications & Outreach Department)
    Ms Jowe Chu (Education Management Department)
    Ms Candy Wong (Office of Medical Education)
    Ms Jacquelynn Hor (Dean's Office, OneLKC Committee)
    Mr Cayden Pang (Office of Faculty Affairs)

In the Research category, Asst Prof Zhong, Assoc Prof Luo and Assoc Prof Lye were recognised for their excellent research performance and contribution to LKCMedicine in terms of publications, grant success, international recognition, intellectual property, and impact of discoveries.

The Dean’s Awards for Education were awarded to Mr Tan, Asst Prof Ch’ng and Dr Lim in recognition of their excellent education performance which has impacted educational systems or the student experience at LKCMedicine.

Meanwhile, Asst Prof Cheung was conferred the Dean’s Award for Service for excellence in service leadership and dedication. Beyond her laboratory, in her various roles and capacities including serving on several internal and external committees, she displayed a continuous commitment towards service and LKCMedicine’s mission, as well as NTU’s and the academic community.

Next, the Dean’s Awards for Administration were given out to honour, celebrate and reward Management & Support Officers and Research Staff for their outstanding and significant contributions towards excellence at LKCMedicine.

Ms Kuan won the Values in Action award for excellence in living and modelling the values of LKCMedicine while Mr Sufian received the Enabler award for demonstrating value as a partner, collaborator or facilitator towards the successful conclusion of a project, issue or challenge at LKCMedicine.

The team comprising Advancement & Resources, Education Management, Office of Medical Education, Communications & Outreach, Dean's Office, and Office of Faculty Affairs clinched the Innovation Award for putting together a wonderful series of activities to commemorate LKCMedicine’s 10th Anniversary celebrations.

This year, one more award for Administration, the Special Mention Award, was given to Dr Ng Kian Bee, Deputy Director, Digital Learning, for his remarkable efforts in innovating the use of digital tools in the delivery of the School’s MBBS programme during these challenging times.

Following the Dean’s Awards, the Long Service Awards were presented to following recipients.

 25 years of service

  • Mrs Sally Loan-Ng Bee Lan, Assistant Director of Digital Learning


10 years of service

  • Ms Siti Rohanah Koid, Director, Communications & Outreach
  • Associate Professor Yusuf Ali, Programme Director, Nutrition, Metabolism and Health; Assistant Dean, External Affairs
  • Mr Cheng LiXiang, Senior Assistant Manager of Finance
  • Ms Yeo Bee Gim Helen, Senior Assistant Manager, Human Resources
  • Ms Chang Siang Mui Susan, Deputy Director, Office of Faculty Affairs
  • Ms Elissa Ng Xiyi, Manager, Office of Faculty Affairs
  • And Ms Guo Shumei, Karen, Senior Assistant Manager, Research Administration and Support Services

At the same time, 26 faculty and staff received the Long Service Award for five years of service.

After the award presentation, the recipients shared their heartfelt reflections on winning the awards in a video montage.

In closing, Prof Sung announced, “In order to thank the hard work put in by our Management Support Officers, research associates and assistants, we will be giving out Thank-you cards with vouchers. In showing our support for parents and their school-going children during this challenging year with disrupted work due to home-based learning, we have initiated the LKCMedicine Educare Award. This award is in the form of a $100 voucher and stationery sets to go out to staff with children that showed resilience, empathy, adaptability and creativity.”

The event wrapped up with an enthusiastic dance performance by talented LKCMedicine staff, bringing much festive cheer to all.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, the OneLKC community has shown tremendous resilience and an unwavering commitment to providing world-class medical education and advancing transformative research. Thank you LKCMedicine faculty and staff for your hard work and contributions. Heartiest congratulations to all award winners!