Celebrating our 110th, 90th, 50th, 30th, 20th and 10th anniversaries!
Published: 04 Aug 2015
Singapore’s first and foremost medical school, the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine celebrates its 110th year of founding this year. Since its establishment on 3 July 1905, the School has remained faithful to its mission of educating and producing doctors for the nation.
The School has seen significant development over the years. It currently comprises 18 departments and 2 centres and covers a full spectrum of medical specialties. As the School marks its 110th year, its departments are also celebrating anniversaries of their own.
Physiology education in Singapore traces its roots back to as early as the School’s genesis, when it was known as the Straits Settlement and Federated Malay States Government Medical School. On 28th July this year, the Department of Physiology marked its 110th Anniversary. The importance of Physiology education has become increasingly important in the undergraduate and graduate life sciences and medical curriculum.
Practical Anatomy began a month after the opening of the medical school under the supervision of the School’s first principal, Dr GD Freer. By the time of the School’s jubilee, it had assumed responsibility for courses for medical, dental, science, as well as post-graduates students. The Department of Anatomy observed its 110th Anniversary together with the School this year.
The history of the Department of Microbiology dates back to 1925. It will be celebrating 90 years of education and research on 30th October this year as a faculty department dedicated to meeting the needs of the people and the nation. In addition to its strong focus on identifying novel drugs, vaccine discovery, and immune response in disease, the Department also takes on immunological studies in the area of cancer, allergy, basic mechanisms of cell signalling and development, to name a few.
Pathology in the Medical School too has its early beginnings in 1905, where the government pathologist was appointed to teach medical students and medical laboratory technicians. 1955 saw the creation of an independent Department of Pathology, with emphasis on teaching and research. The department also provides diagnostic services in Anatomical Pathology for the National University Hospital and the then Alexandra Hospital.
The Department of Medicine is another of the first to be set up by the School. It was reorganised as the University of Medicine Cluster after the formation of the National University Health System in 2008. Today, the Department of Medicine continues to do what it has always done – preparing young undergraduates for clinical service and leading in clinical and translational research. The department is celebrating its 30th anniversary on 27 October 2015 with a series of charity events for patients under the NUHS Fund Limited and Chan Heng Leong Research and Education Fund.
It may be just a 20-year-old, but the Department of Anaesthesia – established in 1985 – has been constantly increasing its clinical and academic responsibilities and has been providing perioperative and intensive care for some 25,000 patients at the NUH annually.
Another young addition to the School is the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies. It is the only institution in Singapore to offer academic nursing degree programmes. It was formed in 2005 and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The Centre’s teachers and researchers are committed to nurturing generations of Nursing leaders to meet the challenges and needs of Singapore’s healthcare.
Happy anniversaries to colleagues of these departments!
