News: Recently appointed Assistant Deans to take LKCMedicine to new heights

To meet the needs of LKCMedicine’s steadily growing student and research community, the School recently announced a series of new leadership appointments. The latest in this series came earlier this month when the School announced that Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Kevin Pethe has been appointed Assistant Dean for Research. 

His appointment is the latest move on the part of the LKCMedicine to increase support for our research mission. A/Prof Pethe will assist Vice-Dean for Research Professor Lim Kah Leong, who joined the School last October, in ensuring the collaborative execution of the School’s research strategy. He will focus on supporting research at the Experimental Medical Building on the NTU main campus and developing closer research connections with other NTU Schools. A/Prof Pethe’s own research centres on chemical genomics and drug discovery for tuberculosis therapy. He has recently been awarded a prestigious National Research Foundation Investigatorship to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk research.

A/Prof Pethe joined LKCMedicine in September 2014 as Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases and holds a joint appointment with NTU’s School of Biological Sciences. He works closely with clinicians involved in research. Among his collaborators are clinicians from the School’s primary clinical partner, the National Healthcare Group (NHG), which includes Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. During the current Covid-19 outbreak, A/Prof Pethe has played a national role, working closely with the Ministry of Health, Defence Science Organisation  National Laboratories and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research. 

A number of other Assistant Dean appointments over the past year have boosted the education and research leadership as the School continues to grow in medical student and faculty numbers.


At the beginning of the year, LKCMedicine welcomed Associate Professor Tan Cher Heng to the position of Assistant Dean for Clinical Research. A diagnostic radiologist by training, A/Prof Tan previously held the role of Lead for Clinical Research at LKCMedicine. In his new role, he will facilitate clinical research and collaborations that will innovate care between LKCMedicine, NHG, industry and academic groups.

Around the same time, Professor Jennifer Cleland joined the School as Director of the Medical Education Research and Scholarship Unit and Assistant Dean for Assessment, contributing to both education and research. With vast experience in leading and managing many medical education research institutions, Prof Cleland is steering LKCMedicine’s medical education research efforts on the local and international stage.



On the education side, Assistant Dean for Years 1 & 2 Dr Lucy Victoria Rosby (appointed in early 2020), Assistant Dean for Family Medicine Associate Professor Tang Wern Ee (appointed in 2019) and Assistant Dean for Year 3 Associate Professor Koh Nien Yue (appointed in 2019) are ensuring LKCMedicine MBBS students are given the support and guidance they need to become outstanding doctors for Singapore. In close consultation with Vice-Dean for Education Professor Naomi Low-Beer, Vice-Dean for Clinical Affairs Professor Pang Weng Sun and the other Assistant Deans, they have been instrumental in ensuring learning continues and outcomes are met for the undergraduate cohorts in this challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“LKCMedicine celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, proud that we have produced three cohorts of young doctors who are making valuable contributions to Singapore’s healthcare with their hearts and minds,” said LKCMedicine Dean Professor James Best. 

“Our new Assistant Deans will help the School continue to increase medical knowledge through direct research and research collaborations, and ensure that we continue to show leadership and innovation in technology-enhanced medical education.”