SINGAPORE - Hong Kong gastroenterologist and academic leader Joseph Sung will join Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as the new dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU announced on Tuesday (Aug 11).
Professor Sung will be concurrently appointed NTU's senior vice-president (health and life sciences), assuming responsibility for the integration of university-wide activities in health, medicine and life sciences.
He will also be appointed to the tenured faculty rank of distinguished university professor, which is the highest NTU faculty rank given to faculty members with extraordinary scholarly achievements that typically span multiple disciplinary boundaries.
The formal start of his tenure at NTU will be April 1, 2021. Prof Sung will succeed Prof James Best, who is retiring after nearly seven years as dean of the medical school.
Prof Sung was the vice-chancellor and president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 2010 to 2017, and has held the title of the Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine at CUHK's department of medicine and therapeutics since 2007.
Before serving as vice-chancellor, he was associate dean of CUHK's faculty of medicine and head of Shaw College.
Prof Sung has achieved high recognition for his research in gastroenterology, teaching and leadership, as well as grants for his research work spanning a variety of healthcare concerns, from gastric disorders and cancers to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and infectious diseases.
He has served on the board of Singapore's National University Health System and as a council member of the University of Melbourne.
From 2016 to 2018, he chaired the Worldwide Universities Network, a leading global higher education network of 23 research-intensive universities committed to addressing urgent challenges.
NTU said that Prof Sung was "unanimously recommended after a global search" by the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine's dean search advisory committee.
Mr Lim Chuan Poh, who is chairman of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine governing board and a member of the NTU board of trustees, said: "Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine is at a point of its development that is ready for the next stage of growth and in a way that is synergistic with NTU and the wider healthcare and research community in Singapore.
"Prof Sung is therefore well positioned to take the School forward to redefine medicine and transform healthcare."
NTU president Subra Suresh said he is looking forward to working with Prof Sung, adding: "NTU is well positioned to focus our interdisciplinary strengths on tackling grand challenges in healthcare, and we are delighted that an individual of Prof Sung's calibre will lead this next chapter of development at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine."
On his impending move to Singapore, Prof Sung said: "I am honoured to be given the opportunity to lead LKCMedicine and to join the current senior leadership team to contribute to the university-wide development of activities that will improve healthcare in Singapore, the region and across the globe."
Prof Sung completed his MBBS degree at the University of Hong Kong in 1983. He obtained his PhD from the University of Calgary in 1992 and Doctor of Medicine degree from CUHK in 1997.
