| 13 Apr 2005
Learning medicine the Duke way (Source: Straits Times, 15 Apr 05)
 THE course at the new National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School will be modelled on the one at Duke University in the United States.
So it is fitting that the new dean of the school, Dr R. Sanders Williams, is also dean of Duke University's School of Medicine.
The renowned cardiologist and researcher, 57, will hold the two deanships concurrently.
He will oversee the establishment of the school in the grounds of the Singapore General Hospital, including the curriculum, and the recruitment of students and faculty for its launch in 2007.
In the first year, only 25 students will be admitted into the four-year programme.
But from 2008, the yearly intake will be 50.
Students need not have a medical background but must hold a basic degree.
Following Duke University's curriculum, students will spend their entire third year doing research.
They will graduate with a doctorate in medicine and be recognised as qualified medical doctors.
But, as Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan pointed out yesterday, unlike the NUS medical school, the new graduate medical school will train doctors who will specialise in research in biomedical science.
Dr Tan, who commented on Dr Williams' appointment yesterday when the two universities signed an agreement, said that it showed that Duke was strongly committed to help make the graduate medical school a success.
He said the transfer of Duke's ethos and culture into the new medical school will diversify medical education here, strengthen the research focus and help Singapore move up the biomedical industry value chain.
He added that just as the NUS-Massachusetts Institute of Technology alliance propelled NUS into the top 10 list of engineering and IT universities worldwide last year, it is also hoped that the Duke University link will put Singapore on the medical world map.
US News and World Report ranked Duke's medical school among the top four in the US last year.
The Duke University Medical Centre was listed among the top six out of over 6,000 American hospitals.
Dr Williams said he is identifying the Duke University faculty who will come here from North Carolina to teach and conduct research.
As for the first batch of students, he said that by going for those with first degrees, the graduate medical school will tap into a different talent pool from the NUS medical faculty.
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