He scored more Cs than As as a medical student - but that has not stopped Dr Fidah Alsagoff from winning the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship for postgraduates.

And the director of corporate development at SingHealth has no regrets about not being 'the academic superstar' at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

He wanted to get as much out of university life as possible, he says.

And the former Anglo-Chinese School student did.

Dr Alsagoff, now 39, busied himself with drama and sports, and chaired his hall's junior common room committee.

He represented NUS in middle-distance races and found time to act in Stella Kon's Dragon's Teeth Gate for the Singapore Drama Festival in 1985.

Also executive director of the Singapore Cord Blood Bank, he will now pursue an Executive Master of Business Administration at Insead - to contribute to Sing- Health's management team in the future.

After initial thoughts of becoming a clinical doctor, Dr Alsagoff said he decided to go into public health and preventive medicine so he could help more people.

It is an 'exciting and critical time' for health care here, according to the father of two girls.

'We are facing a lot of critical challenges, including the rising cost of health care and the growing demand for home care.'

Dr Alsagoff, who has served on many governmental committees on home-care services, is also a volunteer at Touch Community Services, where he worked from 1996 to 2001.

Asked if he was surprised to be awarded the scholarship, given his NUS results, he said that 'it was not about grades alone' but 'the whole package'.

A Public Service Commission spokesman agreed, saying the selection panel looked at academic and non-academic qualifications, such as achievements in community service and work.

Launched in 1991 by the Tanjong Pagar citizens' consultative committee, the scholarship is open to Singapore citizens who have outstanding academic records, leadership qualities and are active in social or community services or sports.

A second LKY Scholarship winner this year is Colonel Chan Chun Sing, 35, who has already started the one-year Sloan Fellows Programme in Innovation and Global Leadership at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The former student of Raffles Institution and Cambridge University has won his fair share of scholarships, including the President's and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas scholarships in 1988.

Father of a three-year-old girl, Col Chan said he hoped to get new perspectives to serve the nation better.

'The important thing is to imbue in ourselves the culture to always want to serve our people better and to improve the lives of the people we come across,' he told The Straits Times in an e-mail interview.

To date, 20 people have won the scholarship, which does not come with a bond or any restrictions on the course of study.