Speech by Master, Academy of Medicine, Singapore at Induction Comitia 2026

Comitia of the Academy are always special events and remain the highlight of our event calendar. It is where we confer fellowships on medical and dental specialists. It marks a rite of passage for specialists as they publicly declare their allegiance to a professional guild that enshrines the values of scholarship, professionalism, mentorship and collegiality. 

Attending a Comitium is but the beginning of a journey that never ends as long as you are a Fellow of AMS. I wish to congratulate all the Fellows being conferred today as well as the graduates of the Graduate Diploma in Hospital Practice and the Master of Health Professions Education and Annals Reviewers’ Award recipients.

But this year’s Comitium promises to be more than that. This Comitium could well be remembered as a significant milestone in our Academy’s history.

For the first time since our founding, we will confer the title of Eminent Academician or EA, in short. It is a new title, but not a new idea.  For some years , we have reflected on how an Academy should recognise those among us who have gone furthest, given the most, and asked for the least in return. Today, these ideals find their embodiment in 17 distinguished colleagues; 16 local and one foreign; who will shortly come forward to receive this rare honour.

Let me take a moment to explain what this title represents, because it was conceived with deep conviction of purpose and only after much deliberation and planning.

The Academy of Medicine, Singapore was established in 1957, with 34 founding members, on a simple belief: that the specialist professions in medicine and dentistry are best advanced when practitioners hold one another to the highest standards. Today, we number more than 4,500 Fellows and Members across 13 Colleges and 6 Chapters. We have grown, but that founding belief has not changed.

The Eminent Academician title is, in many ways, a return to first principles: a recognition that technical excellence alone has never been enough. What we honour today is technical excellence founded on service to humanity, and scholastic achievement coupled with selflessness.

That is also why this title is deliberately exclusive. It will be conferred on no more than 2% of doctors and dentists in Singapore. And that is why, from the outset, we insisted that the decision to confer the EA title could not be taken by just the Academy leadership of the day. Every nomination for the Eminent Academician title has to have the support of at least three past Masters. In addition, each nomination must have the concurrence of the Director-General of Health, before any conferment is made. We want rigour. We want transparency. And we want this honour, when it is given, to be beyond question.

I want to thank the Ministry of Health, and in particular Minister Ong and DGH Mak personally, for the partnership that made this possible. The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by DGH and me and witnessed by Permanent Secretary Lai in January this year was not a formality. It was a shared commitment, between the Academy and the Ministry, that in Singapore, professional excellence deserves to be recognised, and recognised well. Not unlike how the legal profession here recognises Senior Counsels, or how similarly outstanding and exemplary doctors are recognised in the United States, UK and China.

Now, to the Eminent Academicians themselves.

In a few moments, you will each be called forward. Due to the constraints of time, we will not be reading individual citations. Instead, a brief written description of your area of expertise, professional achievements and contributions is provided for in today’s programme and also reproduced in the press release that accompanies this Comitium. No written citations, however carefully crafted, will do justice to your towering achievements in professional practice, research and teaching or the various leadership roles you have undertaken in your illustrious careers.

In the interests of brevity, I will say this: every one of you was chosen not just because of what you have accomplished in your own professional practice, though that alone would be remarkable. You were chosen because of what you have given away — to your patients, certainly, but also to your juniors, your students, your peers, and to a profession that is stronger tonight because of decades of your quiet, unglamorous, and often unrecognised labour.

The Academy honours you today not only for what you have achieved, but for what you have enabled others to achieve.

Many of you have spent entire careers teaching the next generation without expecting thanks for it. Many of you have carried institutions through difficult years, taken on the unpopular committee work, mentored the junior colleague nobody else had time for, or simply set a standard of conduct that others learned to measure themselves against, often without knowing it. That is the kind of contribution that does not show up easily on a curriculum vitae. Today, we are trying, in our own way, to put it there in the form of this EA title.

You now carry a title that future generations in Singapore will look up to, as they decide what kind of doctor or dentist they wish to become. That is not a small thing to ask of anyone. But if I look at the 17 of you standing before us this afternoon, I have every confidence you will carry it as you have carried everything else so far - with grace and humility, and without ever making it about yourselves.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the families and friends of our EAs, seated proudly among us - thank you for the years of support that made this evening possible for the person you came here to celebrate.

I would now also like to say a few words to the younger Fellows and Members as well as their guests in this hall now. Look closely at what is happening around you, because this is what we hope our Fellows and Members will aspire to — not just the EA title itself, but the years of conduct that earned it. Let the title of EA be a compass, and not just a ceiling.

Before I conclude, let me again acknowledge those whose presence lends special significance to today’s proceedings. Minister Ong, Permanent Secretary Lai, DGH Mak, AMM Master Professor Dato’ Hanafiah, Past Masters, distinguished guests - the Academy is deeply grateful for your presence today.

It is now my honour to invite Minister Ong Ye Kung, to address us before we proceed with the conferment of the title of Eminent Academician as well as that of the new Fellows.

The recording of the full speech is available HERE