Key United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foundation supports NUS with US$3M medical professorship
Published: 31 Jan 2020
Key United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foundation, the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable & Humanitarian Foundation is supporting NUS with a US$3M medical professorship. This gift will enable the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) to drive research, education and innovation in the field of endocrinology, particularly in the area of translational research in diabetes.
It is the first-ever gift from the Foundation to a tertiary institution in Singapore. The professorship will be named for Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, who was noted for his philanthropy and humanitarian legacy.
Dean of NUS Medicine, Professor Chong Yap Seng, said, “We are deeply grateful for the Foundation’s shared belief in the importance of research and collaboration in the field of endocrinology and metabolic health and its very generous support of our ongoing research. Diabetes is a deadly scourge and this professorship will be an important launch pad for future academic exchanges and collaborations to advance transformational research in this field.”
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that by 2020, an estimated 32 per cent of the adult population (age 20-79) in the UAE, including both UAE nationals and expatriates, may have diabetes or prediabetes over the next decade, if present trends continue. The UAE has a national agenda of reducing diabetes prevalence in the country from 19 per cent to 16.4 per cent by 2021.
His Excellency Hamad Salem Bin Kordous Al Ameri, Director General of the Foundation, said, “The Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Professorship in Medicine will be the cornerstone for collaboration and innovative research in this area between institutions in the UAE and Singapore. Equally important, it perpetuates the abiding legacy of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, of global humanitarianism and improving the lives of others, regardless of race, language or religion.”
As an endowed Professorship, the gift capital of US$3 Million will be preserved in perpetuity, and invested to generate an annual income that will fund the Professorship.
Read more in the press release here.
