The Estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, in Singapore, has announced a gift of S$80 million to the Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School Singapore (GMS) to grow the school’s biomedical research initiatives. The gift, the largest single donation granted by the Estate to date, will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Singapore government, bringing the total sum to $160 million (about $104 million in U.S. dollars).

In addition, the GMS has announced that graduates of the four-year GMS program will be awarded a joint Medical Degree from both Duke University and the NUS. This follows the recent decision by the Duke University Board of Trustees to approve the granting of the joint degree.

The Estate’s generous gift will enable the GMS to substantially accelerate and strengthen its planned research programs which are focused on medical and healthcare problems of significance to Singapore and Asia. The gift will support groundbreaking research across GMS’ four Signature Research Programs (SRPs) in infectious diseases, cancer and stem cell biology, neurobehavioral disorders, and cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.

During the formal announcement of the gift, Ms. Mavis Khoo, Tan Sri Khoo’s daughter said: “My late father believed passionately that advances in medical research, education and healthcare will make a real and substantial difference to the lives of people in Singapore, and around the world. By supporting the GMS, we will help GMS and Singapore grow the pool of outstanding clinician-scientists and researchers, and to develop cutting edge research and clinical care programs that will lead to better healthcare outcomes that will benefit patients and their families.”

R. Sanders Williams, M.D., dean of the GMS, also shared his thoughts. “The GMS program, like its sister program in North Carolina, recognizes the important role that biomedical research and medical education programs must play in helping to develop tools that allow for better understanding, prevention, and treatment of disease,” he said. “The Estate’s extraordinary philanthropic gesture will enhance the GMS’ ability to train excellent physician-scientists to create new knowledge, and translate that knowledge into important healthcare practices that lead to better clinical outcomes and reduce the burden of disease in Singapore and around the world.”

Mr Tony Chew, Chairman of the GMS Governing Board said: “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the Estate’s very generous gift to GMS and the award of the joint Duke-NUS degree. They will empower the GMS to excel in research, to attract the very best students and to provide the finest medical education that will produce clinical and academic leaders. These represent the core of the GMS mission.”

In recognition of the Estate’s generosity, the GMS will name its new signature building on the Outram Campus, the “Khoo Teck Puat Building.” To be completed in 2009, the building will house state-of-the-art research, educational and administrative facilities. It will be the permanent home of the GMS, and marks the return of medical education to the Outram Campus, the original site of Singapore’s first medical school.

The GMS, established in April 2005, will enroll its first students in August 2007; the expected size of the inaugural intake is 25, while subsequent classes will comprise 50 students each year.