News: Dean’s Awards and Appreciation Day 2022: Celebrating excellence, resilience and fortitude

 


By Anne Loh, Contributing Writer, Communications and Outreach



LKCMedicine faculty and staff gathered on 1 December for the annual Dean’s Awards and Appreciation Day 2022, to recognise their peers and colleagues’ achievements. Held in the Ong Tiong Tat and Irene Tan Liang Kheng Auditorium on the Novena campus, the Dean’s Awards celebrate individuals and teams who have made outstanding contributions to the School’s standing and achievements. The event is in its third edition since it was launched for the young medical school’s 10th commemorative year.

The ceremony kicked off with a contemporary dance performance by LKCrew — 21 energetic Year 1 and Year 2 students performing to “Fall into Me (Acoustic)” by Forest Blakk and “The Greatest" by Sia led by Nevin Chua (Year 2) and Jed Lim (Year 2), and choreographed by Caren Lim (Year 2) and Shannon Chin (Year 1). 

LKCMedicine Dean Professor Joseph Sung expressed his appreciation of the students’ performance and joked that the Vice-Deans could put on a performance next year, before lauding the School’s staff during his opening address to the more than 120 in attendance, “Today, we celebrate YOUR success. You have worked passionately and tirelessly during the past year. Collectively, you contribute to the renowned reputation of LKCMedicine as an institution showcasing our DNA of excellence, creativity and world-class status.” 

He also mentioned the research awards received, the Nanyang Awards, the coveted Advance HE awards and faculty members who appeared on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list, pointing out that faculty, researchers and MSOs can share pride and success in these achievements.  

Prof Sung went on to give a special mention to LKCMedicine administrative staff led by Chief Operating Officer Dr Serene Ng, “Without them, we might not have performed as well as we did. Nothing was left to chance to enable and allow everyone at HQ, CSB and EMB to perform to the highest standards.” 

He also singled out the Safety Ambassadors for “enabling everything to run like clockwork, for keeping everyone at LKCMedicine safe, keeping the campus safe and clean, and for providing support in the classrooms, the labs and the headquarters.” 

He also extended thanks to the Vice-Deans and Assistant Deans.

After a video by the core leadership group offering their congratulations and well-wishes, the award recipients were invited on stage to receive their trophies from the Dean and Vice-Deans.

The Dean’s Awards number nine in total with 15 recipients. 

Research
- Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience Yasunori Saheki, Assistant Dean (Faculty Affairs)
- Associate Professor of Clinical Practice Lim Su Chi, Co-Director (Nutrition, Metabolism & Health Research programme) 

Education
- Ms Yang Lishan, Lead for Team-Based Learning Facilitation
- Nanyang Assistant Professor (NRF) Franklin Zhong Lei
- Associate Professor Kwek Tong Kiat, Assistant Dean (Admissions and Overseas Electives)

Service
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics Wilson Goh, Director (PhD Programmes)

Administration
- Values in Action: Mr Ken Wong, Assistant Director (Research Operations)
- Enabler: Mr Max Cheung, Manager (Research & External Affairs)

Innovation (Team): LKCMedicine Cares
- Ms Vivien Wong, Manager of HR (co-chair)
- Ms Charmaine Ling, Assistant Director of Planning & Governance (co-chair)
- Professor of Metabolomics Wang Yulan, Director (Singapore Phenome Centre)
- Dr Tanya Tierney, Assistant Dean (Clinical Communication)
- Mr Emmanuel Tan, Assistant Dean (Student Wellbeing)
- Dr Fang Yang, Research Fellow
- Ms Ramya Chandrasekaran, Assistant Manager (Course Evaluation)

The Staff Appreciation part of the ceremony saw the Dean presenting Long Service awards to the following recipients. 

20 years of service
Associate Professor Tan Nguan Soon, Vice-Dean of Faculty Affairs 

10 years of service
- Ms Geraldine Lim, Deputy Director (Procurement)
- Dr Ng Sean Pin, Deputy Director (Metabolic Disorders)
- Mr Ong Chuen Khon, Senior Assistant Manager (Examinations & Assessments)
- Dr Parasuraman Padmanabhan, Deputy Director & Head of Operation (CeNreN)
- Mrs Ramani Saravanan, Senior Assistant Director & Lead for Clinical Procedures
- Ms Ruth Choe, Director (Education Management)
- Dr Sini Mathew, Assistant Director (Health & Safety)
- Dr Tanya Tierney, Assistant Director (Clinical Communication)

At the same ceremony, 25 staff also received commendation for five years of service.

 

The annual ceremony wrapped up with an enthusiastic Zumba performance led by Senior Assistant Director of Digital Learning Sally Loan-Ng and supported by Assistant Director of Student Life & Support Ivis Wee, Senior Library Executive Sri Deva Rani and Senior Executive of Facilities & Operations Gaius Lim, which got the audience on their feet, dancing along. 

The audience members were then invited to partake of light refreshments in the auditorium foyer, along with a photo booth and a VR experience put up by Digital Learning. A good time was had by all.


Congratulations to all the award recipients! 

The Dean’s Awards and Appreciation Day 2022 e-booklet is available here.