London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to work together in research, education and advancing new technologies. The LSHTM is one of the world’s leading institutions in global and public health, and is currently the largest institution of its kind in Europe.

In addition to staff and student exchange programmes, joint academic and scientific activities and developing collaborative projects, the MoU will especially foster greater cooperation in the areas of infectious disease control, health systems research, and chronic diseases. The local community in Singapore and Asia can look forward to benefiting from this alliance as the two schools will look into joint research and collaboration that have a strong Asian focus.

Witnessing the signing ceremony were Dr Vince Cable, UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Amy Khor, Minister of State for Health and Associate Professor Benjamin Ong, Chief Executive of the National University Health System.

Professor Anne Mills, Vice-Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with such an eminent institution in the Asia region.  We look forward to collectively building on and enhancing our strengths in infectious diseases, health systems and chronic diseases research and innovation, and to enhancing the student experience of those following M.Sc and doctoral training programmes.”

Professor Mills signed the MoU with Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

Commenting on the MoU, Professor Chia said: “This unique partnership will generate a tremendous synergy that arises from our common vision and our complementary strengths geared towards not only improving the health of populations, but to also expand and develop these areas of strength. In the next few years, we will embark on two fundamental projects: the Population Health Metrics and Analytics (PHMA) project and the Master of Public Health (MPH) course. The first collaboration, the PHMA, leverages cutting-edge technology to bring together researchers and practitioners from both schools and multiple disciplines to integrate the disparate areas of public health research and making it relevant and accessible to practitioners like policy makers by generating usable real-world projections. In our MPH collaboration, we will draw upon each other’s experience and expertise in developing our graduates to work towards improving the health of populations.”

The SSHSPH was established on 1 October 2011 and is an expansion of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, which was formed in 1948, at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. The School is an integral part of the National University Health System (NUHS), a common governance framework shared with the National University Hospital, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and the Faculty of Dentistry.