In 2005, Google and NASA made headlines when they announced a partnership, fuelled by their common vision to bring a universe of information to people around the world. Since then, they have masterfully leveraged their respective expertise to make groundbreaking advancements in technology, space exploration, and in one of their more recent projects, the prediction and monitoring of air quality!
Our AMC partnership echoes this spirit of collaboration and innovation. By bringing together our unique strengths, capabilities and perspectives, we shape and transform the healthcare landscape in Singapore and globally. In this report, we celebrate our remarkable achievements from the past year.
For patients who thought they would never be able to walk again, our National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) team created a beacon of hope. In the clinical trial, Restoration of Rehabilitative Function with Epidural Spinal Stimulation (RESTORES), a spinal cord stimulator is implanted in participants. When the damaged part of the spinal cord is bridged and signals from the brain to muscles are boosted, trial participants walked again.
Researchers from NHCS have been experimenting with Hearts-in-a-Jar—models created using stem cells from the blood of patients with heart failure. This revolutionary treatment method allows a mechanism for the testing of specific drug responses for individual patients. Doctors can then use this precision medicine approach to personalise therapies.
The inauguration of four new Centres of Excellence under AMEI marks a pivotal milestone in our educational programmes. Covering areas spanning clinician-educator development, healthcare education research and scholarship, interprofessional healthcare education, and technology-enhanced learning and innovation, these Centres allow us to ramp up opportunities for upskilling and collaboration amongst educators and learners alike.
Additionally, we are contributing in full force to the Healthier SG initiative. Our AMC looks after 1.5 million residents in the Eastern region of Singapore. Using a person-centred approach, we have implemented new initiatives that help our patients Get Well within our hospitals and clinics, and then to Keep Well and Live Well in their communities. In this report, we feature patients who have benefited from SingHealth Community Hospital’s (SCH) Social Prescribing programme and SGH's CLEAR service, where kidney failure patients can unblock their dialysis catheters at National Kidney Foundation (NKF) dialysis centres. We are grateful for the strong partnerships with our general practitioners from the 11 Primary Care Networks along with our community partners, including those from the SingHealth Community Partnership Council and Population Health Committee, which allow us to continually enhance care for our assigned residents and patients.
Asia is highly vulnerable to new and emerging disease threats. It is critical that Asian countries work together to respond effectively to the next outbreak. External support and funding to our Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness will support such collaborations. For example, with a grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centre launched the Asia Pathogen Genomics Initiative, and also developed a new wastewater surveillance programme that uses genome sequencing for early infectious disease detection.
These accomplishments highlight the power and effectiveness of our partnership and impact on individuals, our nation, the region and beyond.
At the heart of this successful partnership is a foundation of mutual trust and belief. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who have contributed to building up the AMC, including Prof Ivy Ng, who stepped down from her role as GCEO, SingHealth early this year. Her visionary leadership has paved the way for us to continue our transformative Academic Medicine journey.
Our accomplishments have been made possible with the tremendous support and contributions from our dedicated staff across the AMC along with an extensive network of partners and donors who believe in the work that we do. Every day, we are inspired by the perseverance and hope displayed by our patients and caregivers.
We look forward to the boundless opportunities that lie ahead of us. Through a relentless pursuit of excellence in research, education and innovation, we can Transform Healthcare and Impact Lives.
