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Doctor of Science

Monday 11 July 2022 - Orator: Professor Richard Coward

Listen to full oration and honorary speech on Soundcloud

Pro Vice-Chancellor

It is my pleasure to introduceProfessor Tan Chorh Chaun as the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Bristol.

Professor Tan was born in Singapore and studied Medicine at the National University of Singapore.He then elected to specialise in renal medicine. During his clinical training in the early 1990s he decided to undertake a PhD entitled "Regulation of Erythropoietin messenger RNA" and did this under the supervision of Dr Peter Ratcliffe and Professor John Ledinghamat the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford University. This was early in the evolution of our understanding of the critical responses cells have to hypoxia (low oxygen levels), and it contributed to the body of work that last year led to (now ProfessorSir) Peter Radcliffe being co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. 

Professor Tan then returned to Singapore where he took up a clinical role as a renal physician in the National University Hospital. In 1997 he was approached by the President of the National University of Singapore and asked to become the Dean of Medicine. I think this was initially a shock to Professor Tan but he reflected on how he could improve teaching and research within the faculty and decided to take on this challenge. He was the youngest person ever to have to been appointed as Dean of Medicine, beingonly 38 years old at this time. Not surprisingly he was highly effective in this role and “energised change” that resultedin him being asked to become the director of Medical Services for the Ministry of Health in Singapore from 2000 to 2004. During this time he led the public health response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus epidemicin Singapore. For this he was awarded the Public Service Star Award in 2003 and the Public Administration Gold Medal in 2004. His strategy to contain, and treat, SARS was published in the world-leading scientific journal Science at this time.  

He then undertook more leadership roles within the National University of Singaporeand the Ministry of Health. These included being appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister to chair the national Biomedical Science Review Committee in 2005.This committee’s recommendations forstrengthening translational and clinical research in Singapore were approved and implemented,changing the landscape of research in Singapore.   

In 2008, Professor Tan was appointed the President of the University of Singapore, a post he held until 2017. During this time his vision and leadership greatly strengthened the University’sglobal standing: it became the leading academic institution in Asiaand rose to be within the top 25 universities in the world as gauged by the Times Higher Education rankings. Highlights of his tenure includedfostering fruitful global partnerships with many universities across the world, including Duke and Yale Universitiesinthe United States as well as multiple others. Importantly he initiated excellent academic links that were well resourced to maximise their chances of success.  

He also had the vision to maximise the translational impact of the research performed at the National University of Singapore through a number of complementary avenues. An exemplar of this is that he conceived and executed the development of an entrepreneurial hubin Singapore by purchasing some derelict flats next door to the NUS campus which he rebuilt into a facility termed “Block 71”. In 2014, the Economist ranked this area as the most densely packed entrepreneurial ecosystem in the entire world.  

In 2018, Professor Tan was appointed by the Singaporean government to become both the first Chief Health Scientist at the Ministry of Health and the Executive Director of the Ministry of Health and Technology. It is in these roles that he is looking at innovative ways to deliver excellent health care to the population of Singapore.   

Professor Tan has quite rightly received many awards during his career, including the title of Professor of the National University of Singapore in 2018. This is the highest academic appointment bestowed by the university and only 4 other people hold it. He was also the first Singaporean to be elected as an International Member of the US National Academy of Medicine in 2015 and has received numerous other academic honours and awards including honorary doctorates from Duke University, as well as Loughborough and King’s College London in the United Kingdom. 

Finally, until today, I have not had the pleasure to meet Professor Tan in person; but to try and execute my role as best as I could I decided to contact my close friend Professor Peter Mathieson who supervised my PhD and was previously the Dean of Medicine here in Bristol. He then became the President of the University of Hong Kong, where he got to know Professor Tan very well. He told me that a common question he used to ask was: what do the best two universities in Asia have in common? Answer: kidney doctors as President. Insightfully he also told me that Professor Tan was, and is, an exceptional leader who has greatly influenced public health policies in Singapore in a positive manner. He also told me that he is an exceptional artist and a very nice man and is glad that the University of Bristol are honouring him. 

Pro Vice-Chancellor, for his spectacular contributions to global health care, biomedical sciences and academic leadership,I present to you Professor Tan Chorh Chaun, as eminently worthy of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.