Five months from now, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) will mark 120 years of medical education and research. It has educated, trained and prepared more than 12,000 men and women over the 12 decades since its founding. Many NUS Medicine graduates staff Singapore’s hospitals and clinics and many continue to serve well into their 70s: some in their hale 80s are still tending to patients.

The School exists because the early Singaporeans who led fundraising efforts to establish a medical college believed the-then British colony’s local residents needed and deserved locally-trained doctors who would and could provide medical care for them, competently and compassionately. That founding vision as well as the commitment of NUS Medicine graduates to deliver the best medical care to their patients continue to motivate and inspire the work we do today, even as we look forward to commemorating the School’s founding on 3 July and the coming decades.

They will surely bring new, intense challenges that require our staff, students and alumni to dig deep in search of solutions. In anticipation of one such challenge, the School will be launching in February 2025, the Centre for Infectious Disease Emergency Response (CIDER). With the Centre, we aim to expand the University’s key contributions to pandemic preparedness and the response to infectious diseases. Through focused capacity building, CIDER will create and coordinate training, teaching, and operational efforts related to outbreak preparedness. These initiatives will benefit not only Singapore but also the region and, ultimately, the global health community. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing need for improved governance, stronger systems, and increased financing. This will help countries enhance their resilience against future infectious disease emergencies.

At the same time, the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition (APIC) at the School will hold its second APIC-ADVA Asia Pacific Summit on Infectious Diseases & Immunization. This event will take place from 11 to 13 February 2025, at the Orchard Hotel in Singapore. Given the current turbulent era of “polycrises” and ever evolving threats of ongoing and emerging infectious diseases, this summit is crucial for advancing effective strategies in infectious disease management and mitigation, with a focus on vaccine policies and practices for robust and appropriate public health responses.

The APIC-ADVA Summit is a flagship event for NUS and a platform for Singapore to take the leading role in fostering global and regional discussions on public health and pandemic preparedness. As the world navigates the era of “polycrises”—where challenges like climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and pandemics are interconnected—the need for integrated and cooperative solutions is more pressing than ever. NUS underscores its commitment to advancing critical research and policy debates, positioning the university and NUS Medicine at the forefront of addressing urgent global challenges. By bringing together experts ranging from vaccine scientists to policymakers to implementers, the Summit showcases NUS’ strengths in global engagement and its leading role in convening important discussions on global health, vaccines and infectious diseases, towards advancing regional cooperation, stability, and resilience.

We have much to look forward to this 120^th anniversary of the School. Yet 2025 also promises to be a year that is very similar to the preceding ones, because then and now, through healthy times and SARS, H1N1, COVID-19 and whatever else may come our way, the NUS medical school will continue to learn, practise and share what medical science offers, in service to Singapore.

Yours sincerely