Eminent economist Danny Quah has been appointed dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School), taking over from founding dean Kishore Mahbubani, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced yesterday.
Professor Quah, now the LKY School's acting dean and vice-dean (academic affairs) and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, will start his new role on May 1.
NUS also announced the appointment of Associate Professor Chong Yap Seng, a top fetal growth and early development clinician-researcher, as the 17th dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Currently vice-dean (academic medicine), he will lead the medical school from Jan 1 next year. He is taking over from Associate Professor Yeoh Khay Guan.
NUS president Professor Tan Eng Chye said it is delighted with the new appointments, noting that Prof Chong is an outstanding clinician-researcher and Prof Quah is internationally respected for his work.
Prof Quah's current work takes an economic approach to global power shifts and the rise of the East, and alternative models of global power relations, NUS said in a release.
Educated at Princeton and Harvard universities, Prof Quah previously held academic appointments at institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and London School of Economics and Political Science.
Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who is also chairman of the LKY School governing board, said: "Danny is an outstanding scholar and leader, someone who understands the significance of this prestigious school and its talented community of scholars, students and alumni."
Prof Chong, who also serves as a senior consultant in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at National University Hospital, is himself an alumnus of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
The active researcher has received over $100 million to date in research grant funding.
Prof Tan, who described Prof Chong as a home-grown talent, said: "He has a clear vision and strategy for further deepening the impact of the region's leading medical school."
