MASTER'S MESSAGE 

20 December 2016

Dear Fellow Academicians

2016 has been another busy and fruitful year.  As we reach the close of the year, I would like to wish one and all an enjoyable holiday season and a wonderful new year ahead.

To conclude the year, I am pleased to highlight major events and activities by the Academy and its Colleges which took place in the last few months.

As we continue to grow in numbers, we had the second Induction Comitia for the year which was held on 22 October 2016 at the Health Promotion Board.  We were honoured to have Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Chairman of the Government Parliamentary for Health and Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC as our Guest-of-Honour for the event.

Dr Chia, together with 63 other inductees, were conferred Fellowship of the Academy that afternoon.  In my address to the newly inducted Fellows, I reminded them on the significance of lifelong academic pursuit in their medical career that will help them remain relevant and competent.  They will be part of our professional body that embraces all specialties and I urged them to take advantage of our domain of experts whose individual competency, wealth of knowledge and collective wisdom is a valuable asset to the Singapore’s healthcare system.
 

The Induction Comitia also witnessed the graduation of 39 trainees who had successfully completed their diplomas under the Staff Registrar Scheme (SRS).  With a total of 28 SRS programmes to-date, we hope our graduates will be better equipped to handle the challenges in healthcare and contribute significantly to the middle tiers of patient care.

That afternoon, we also presented the Annals Best Publication Awards 2015 and Annals Gold Reviewer Awards 2015.

The Academy maintained its active engagement with the Senior Management of the Ministry of Health through our annual Dinner and Dialogue session with Permanent Secretary (Health), Mr Chan Heng Kee, on 27 October 2016 at the Academy’s office.
 

The Council updated Mr Chan on the developments of the Academy and discussed on the role of the Academy in the Ministry’s initiatives to maintain the standard of healthcare in Singapore.  Medical education, training and manpower are among the issues discussed during the dialogue.

On behalf of the Council, I am grateful to Mr Chan for taking time off his busy schedule to join us for the dinner.  We had an engaging and fruitful dialogue.  We hope our plans and initiatives reaffirm the Academy’s commitment to medical excellence and we look forward to continue our active engagement with the Senior Management of the Ministry.

The Academy is honoured to host Professor Ian Edward Curran, 2016 AMS Distinguished Academician.  Professor Curran is the Assistant Director of Education and Professional Standards at the UK General Medical Council where he leads policy development and quality assurance of postgraduate medical education.  He was trained as an anaesthetist with an interest in chronic pain management at St Bartholomew’s Hospital where he was appointed Professor of Innovation and Excellence in Healthcare Education.  He is a visiting Professor at the King’s College London and the Cass Business School.
 

During his visit from 4-12 November, he delivered lectures and conducted roundtable discussion with the medical and health professionals, focusing on Professional Capabilities, Professionalism and Professional Excellence.  In his lectures to FAMS, he touched on In Pursuit of Professional Excellence – Developing Capabilities beyond Competency; Emerging Concept in Education Policies and Regulations; Value, Values and Virtues; Leading Innovation/Transformation Leadership and Doctors in Difficulty.

During the above lectures, he introduced the conceptual model of professional excellence that offers a pragmatic framework for professional education.  The framework includes the innovative generic professional capabilities and emphasise the importance of beliefs and values.  He shared how policies and strategies inputs have been implemented into regulations and practices, the challenges faced and how they impact on professional education and training.  He also explained what makes innovation successful and how it draws relevant contemporary impacts on health education.  In addition, he talked about disruptive innovation which leads to transformation or game changing innovations, leaders that create culture and innovation and transformation leadership versus transactional leadership.

The College of Anaesthesiologists hosted him on 11 November and he delivered a lecture on Anaesthesia Education: Trends, Future and Wider Impact. This is followed by a round-table discussion on Leading Interprofessional Education: the Anaesthetic Perspective.
 

For the session with the Chapter of Clinician Educators on 12 November, he covered a lecture on Transitioning from Professional Competence to Excellence and this is concluded with a discussion on Achieving Excellence in Clinical Education.

In the coming months, I look forward to present to you a full review of the Academy in its Annual Report with the Financial Statement for 2016.
 

As we look back at the past one year, many of the accomplishments are only made possible by our Fellow Academicians who have served the Academy’s mission with commitment, passion and professionalism.  I would also like to record my appreciation to the Council members who have volunteered their time and effort altruistically towards the Academy and our profession.
 

We look forward to an exciting new year as we celebrate our Diamond Jubilee in 2017.

Best Wishes

Dr S R E Sayampanathan
Master
Email: master@ams.edu.sg

 

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