A gift from GGV Capital to aspiring doctors

Medical students from financially disadvantaged families who are training to be future doctors at NTU Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) will receive additional financial assistance following a S$5 million gift from global venture capital firm GGV Capital.

Together with matching by the Singapore government, the designated endowed fund will establish a long-term programme to defray a portion of the tuition fees and related out-of-pocket expenses of needy students at LKCMedicine. The fund will go towards the establishment of study awards and supplementary awards.

Named the GGV Capital Award, the wide-reaching gift will provide additional support every year for up to 150 students from Years 1 to 5 who are currently not covered by full scholarships or bursaries. The study awards, alongside applicable MOE and LKCMedicine bursaries, will subsidise up to 90 per cent of the students’ tuition fee.

The annual supplementary awards will help up to 120 students defray out-of-pocket expenses, such as the purchase of reference materials, learning aids and scrubs, that they incur in their clinical years (Years 3 to 5).

The S$5 million gift to LKCMedicine was formalised at a signing ceremony on 23 September between Ms Lien Siaou-Sze, NTU Vice President (University Advancement) and Mr Jixun Foo, Global Managing Partner of GGV Capital. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Professor Joseph Sung, Dean of LKCMedicine and NTU Senior Vice President (Health and Life Sciences), and Mr Joel Kellman, the co-founder of GGV Capital.

Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman of Vertex Holdings, Guest-of-Honour at the event, and Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of the Governing Board of NTU’s LKCMedicine, were observers of the signing.