by Tng Ying Hui
In 1991, his team pioneered the world first’s micro-injection baby. The method involves injecting weak sperm directly into the egg. In an interview in 2001, Prof P. C. Wong, now a senior consultant at NUH, recalled how Prof Ratnam would encourage younger doctors to go overseas for training. Prof Ratnam’s advice to aspiring obstetricians and gynaecologists was also, “Don’t do anything because it gives you recognition or money. Ask what you enjoy doing most. Is caring for your patients your primary interest? If yes, don’t take on academic medicine, go and be a good doctor and be kind to your patients,” recounted Prof Wilfred Perera, a well-known Sri Lankan gynaecologist, at the 2nd Shan Ratnam Memorial Lecture in 2003. Under Dr Ratnam’s guidance, many of the doctors whom he nurtured have gone on to head O&G departments.
Prof Ratnam also represented Singapore as the secretary-general of the Asia and Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology for 21 years. During this period, he shaped its administrative functions, combining obstetrics, gynaecology and other related research areas into one unit. His efforts further raised the profile and reputation of Singapore’s O&G medical professionals. In 2000, he became the federation’s president-elect and was to be elected officially as its president at the next AOFOG congress. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia in 2001 at the age of 73.
Despite his accomplishments and recognition worldwide, Prof Ratnam, a small-built man who was known for being a smart dresser, was always unassuming. When conferred the title of Emeritus Professor at NUS in 1996, he said of his achievements, “I have been very lucky. God opened doors for me; I happened to be there.” Prof Ratnam, remembered today as a world leader in human reproduction research and the founder of the IVF programme in Singapore, received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1977 and the Public Service Star in 1985.
References
“Administrative Manual,” Asia & Oceania Federation of Obstetrics & Gynaecology,
updated 2009, http://www.aofog.org/files/upload/AOFOG-Administrative-Manual.pdf
“AOFOG Newsletter,” AOFOG Young Gynaecologist Awardees Association, 1 (2005),
http://www.aofog.org/files/upload/YGA_2005.pdf
“‘Frozen Embryo’ Baby all Grown up,” The Straits Times, October 14, 2014.
Geoffrey Bishop, “Emeritus Professor S. Shan Ratnam, 1928-2001,” Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 28, (2002).
Indrani Nadarajah, “Forum Marks Another Breakthrough for Ratnam,” The Straits Times, November 3, 1996.
“Medical Pioneer Ratnam Dies,” The Straits Times, August 7, 2001.
Renowned Asian Gynaecologist Ratnam Dies in Singapore,” AFP, August 7, 2001.
Salma Khalik, “Man of Vision, Mentor to Many,” The Straits Times, August 8, 2001.
Victor H H Goh, S S Ratnam, W F Tsoi, Cries from Within: Transexualism, Gender Confusion
and Sex Change (Singapore: Longman, 1991).
Prof S. S. Ratnam
Sri Lanka, 1928–2001
Prof Jackie Y. Ying
The Passionate Professor
In 2003, world-renowned American Prof Jackie Ying left a stellar career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to build a bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute in Singapore—the world’s first. She also put in place a youth programme so that the country could nurture its own pool of future scientists.
In 2002, Chairman of A*STAR Philip Yeo invited American Professor Jackie Ying to set up the Institute of Bioengineering in Singapore. She made a counter-proposal, asking if the institute could also focus on nanotechnology. “We needed a niche,” said Prof Ying. Yeo agreed and Prof Ying agreed to quit MIT and come to Singapore to head the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN). “My colleagues thought I was crazy,” she said.
Nanotechnology is the study of things at the nanometre scale and is one of the biggest areas in science. This new field that Prof Ying proposed—a combination of bioengineering and nanotechnology—would amplify the sophistication of innovations that could be used to address commercial or medical needs. Today, the IBN is the world’s first centre that integrates bioengineering and nanotechnology research. It conducts interdisciplinary research bridging science, engineering and medicine.
Prof Ying’s ties with Singapore go back to the time when she was seven. In 1973, Prof Ying moved to Singapore when her father came here to teach Chinese Literature at the former Nanyang University. While she was here, she attended Raffles Girls’ School. She has fond memories of her time there and Chemistry was her favourite subject. In Secondary Three, she moved to the US with her family. The close friendships she formed made leaving difficult. She said, “When my father wanted to leave Singapore, I was very reluctant. In an emotional appeal, I wrote a long letter to my father.”
But she soon settled into the US school system and completed her PhD in 1991 at Princeton University at the age of 25. She joined MIT’s Chemical Engineering faculty and within 10 years, became a full professor—the youngest professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering’s history to attain this highest faculty ranking. At MIT, Prof Ying chaired the Molecular Engineering programme under the Singapore-MIT Alliance, which brings together three universities—NUS, NTU and MIT—to collaborate on engineering and scientific research. It was during the course of this programme that she met then-Chairman of A*STAR Philip Yeo, who was looking for talented scientists to lead Singapore’s fledging biotechnology research.
When Prof Ying visited Singapore in 2002, Yeo brought her to the top of the Ministry of Education building, then the tallest building in the Buona Vista area, and pointed to an empty area that would soon be the Biopolis. He said, “This place will work 24 hours every day.” Asked to comment on hers and the IBN’s journey, Prof Ying cited the ease of getting things done in Singapore as a plus point for researchers. The process of filing patents in Singapore is rigorous, but more efficient than the US, she said. To date, she has more than 150 patents issued or pending under her name.
But Prof Ying has had her share of challenges. In the beginning, the IBN faced difficulties finding funds to commercialise its inventions because Singapore lacked venture capitalists then. The IBN now partners MNCs so that inventions can be sold by tapping into the MNCs’ existing market, she said. The institute’s innovations have led to nine spin-off companies working on products for the market. IBN’s latest invention takes the health benefits of green tea to the next level, using a key ingredient in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), to kill breast cancer cells more effectively. “We don’t use green tea by itself. It is formulated into a nano-sized particle,” Prof Ying explained.
When injected into the body, these nano-sized particles act as tiny drug carriers, travelling through the body to track down the tumour before releasing the cancer-destroying drugs when the tumour is found. Unlike existing carrier designs, the IBN’s nano-sized drug carriers display anti-cancer effects and together with the drugs, can actually eradicate more cancer cells. Moreover, they do not accumulate in the vital organs and cause adverse side effects.
This “green tea missile” is one of over 340 patent applications in the IBN’s portfolio, taking up the largest share—37%—of the Biomedical Research Council’s (BMRC) active patent portfolio. The BMRC oversees all A*STAR biomedical research in Singapore. To date, the IBN has licensed 84 patents.
Beyond research, Prof Ying has also focused on recruiting top talent through advertising in scientific journals and through her own network of contacts. Potential candidates are inclined to send her their resumes, given that she is well-known in the field. She also looks out for rising young researchers who are developing strong publication records, and grooms them to lead teams. Of the 170 staff members in IBN, 30 have been with the organisation for more than a decade.
Prof Ying is also aware that Singapore’s push to become a leading biomedical hub would be unsustainable if it does not create a significant pool of local talent, she said. Thus, the IBN set up the Youth Research Program (YRP) in 2003 to pique
the interest of Singapore students in the field of bioengineering and nanotechnology. Over 88,000 students from 290 schools have participated in the IBN’s YRP over the past 12 years. Students visit the IBN to learn about what it does, and also have the opportunity to intern with scientists there. “We want the public to know what [research] is and want the young people to join us in this enterprise,” said Prof Ying. IBN scientists, she said with pride, are keen on mentoring students even though it adds on to their workload. “This is an integral part of the institute’s mission,” she said.
In identifying talent, Prof Ying said she looks for passion in science and research. “Researchers are people who are willing to think outside the box. In our system, people who do well academically, score straight As, might not necessarily be people who can innovate or who like to take risks,” said Prof Ying, who dons white sneakers to work. Describing herself as an educator at heart, she added, “It’s one thing to do research very well but we want the younger generation to do better than us and make a major impact on society.”
References
“Jackie Yi-Ru Ying: Award-winning researcher in nanotechnology,” Singapore’s Women Hall of Fame, accessed Janurary 2015, http://www.swhf.sg/the-inductees/21-science-technology/167-jackie-yi-ru-ying
Interview with Prof Jackie Y. Ying in January 2015.
Prof Jackie Y. Ying
Taiwan, b.1966
SPORTS
Aleksandar Duric
yugoslavia
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Feng Tianwei
China
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Jing Junhong
China
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Ronald Susilo
Indonesia
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Tao Li
China
Aleksandar Duric
Scoring for Singapore
Former Yugoslav Aleksandar Duric won his first cap for Singapore in 2007. That year, he also scored two goals in a football match against Tajikistan to send Singapore into the third round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers—for the very first time.
Playing football professionally was never on the cards for Aleksandar Duric. At 15, he was the junior kayaking champion of Yugoslavia. At 17, he had climbed to eighth in the world. So it came as no surprise when he was picked to represent his country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in canoeing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But his joy was tempered by the civil war in his country, which forced him to seek refuge abroad. After the Olympics, he went to Hungary, dumping canoeing for the better-paying sport of football. But it took time to impress the Hungarians.
In the meantime, Duric suffered a personal tragedy. His mother was killed in an artillery attack in 1993, during the Bosnian War. To get by, he became an illegal moneychanger, dodging both the crime syndicates and the police for three years. “I was hungry. I didn’t have a job and a future. I was ashamed to do it,” he recalled with a furrowed brow. In 1994, a friend in Australia invited him to try out for South Melbourne Hellas, one of Australia’s largest clubs. They were looking for “a tall strong player” who could “play in different positions.” So the 1.92m tall Bosnian left for Australia. By 1998, he was playing for West Adelaide and when it went bankrupt a year later, he moved to Singapore to play for the Tanjong Pagar United Football Club in the S-League, the Singapore professional football league.
At the end of the season, he returned to Australia and became a citizen there, hoping to play for their national team, the Socceroos. But in June 2000, he took up an offer from another club, Home United Football Club, and moved permanently to Singapore. By then, he had married Natasha, a Russian-Australian architectural engineering student. When his daughter Isabella was born in 2002 in Singapore, “it hit me that a part of my life is here,” said Duric. So in 2006, he applied for citizenship but was rejected. Friends thought he was “mad” to give up his Australian citizenship but he persevered. On his third attempt, he became a Singaporean in 2007. “The only thing that would stop me is if the application fee was as steep as $1,000,” he quipped. Very soon after in November that year, Duric won his first cap for Singapore. He was then playing for the Warriors, the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club. The club’s general manager Kok Wai Leong asked to speak to him. Duric thought it would be a “casual conversation”. Instead, Duric was handed a letter and told that it was his “call-up for the national team”.
He crowned his national debut with two goals against Tajikistan in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which sent Singapore into the third round—a first for the country. In 2008, he captained Singapore in a friendly against Bahrain, becoming the first foreign-born player to start a game as skipper. During the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup, Duric scored the winning goal against Malaysia, drubbing Singapore’s arch-rival on their turf 3-0. Singapore went on to win the Cup and Duric retired from international competition. He was 42 years old and had racked up 24 goals in 53 international appearances for Singapore.
In 2014, Duric played his last club match for the Tampines Rovers. He entered the game at half-time and scored a goal in the 73rd minute against Brunei’s Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota (DPMM) Football Club. That night he left the field victorious, but emotional about leaving the team. By then, he had won eight league titles, three Singapore Cups, three Player of the Year honours, four top scorer awards and was on the way to becoming the league’s all-time top scorer. Today, he is the assistant coach at the Tampines Rovers, a job he has described cheekily as “man-managing 25 babies”. He still wakes up before dawn to run 15 kilometres each day. In 2011, Duric adopted a seven-day old Muslim boy, whom he and his wife named Massimo, from a children’s home in Singapore where he has been volunteering for over a decade. He has two older children, Isabella and Alessandro. Duric said Singapore reminds him of his childhood village of Doboj, which was small, multi-religious and tight-knit. There, he celebrated Eid al-Fitr and Christmas with his neighbours. Singaporeans take time to warm up, he said, pointing out that neighbours have looked “shocked” when he greets them in the morning. “But that is until they open up,” he continued, “then they say ‘let’s go to this festival and this night market.’ In the end, it just needs more effort on my side.”
References
Dawn Yip, “Sometimes we Played With no Shoes,” Red Sports, September 19, 2008.
Belmont Lay, “11 Reasons S’poreans Love Footballer Aleksandar Duric as Much as Fandi Ahmad,” Mothership, October 29, 2014.
“Aleksandar Duric: A tribute in Numbers,” The New Paper, November 1, 2015.
“Aleksandar Duric,” Worldfootball.net, accessed October 2015,
http://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/aleksandar-djuric/
Interview with Aleksandar Duric in April 2015.
Aleksandar Duric
Yugoslavia, b.1970
Feng Tianwei
“Cool” Olympic Medallist
The captain of Singapore’s women’s table tennis team is China-born Feng Tianwei. In 2012, she became the second Singaporean after 52 years to win an individual medal at the Olympics.
Feng Tianwei has fans who wait for her at the airport to welcome her home, and a fan club on Facebook with more than 9,600 “likes”. She is described by fans as “cool”, and her quiet confidence and never-say-die attitude are much admired by the young. She succeeds Jing Junhong in continuing Singapore’s achievements in table tennis.
Born in 1986, Feng began playing table tennis when she was five. She left home at the age of 10 to train at the Heilongjiang Sports School where all her team-mates were male and four years older. Her experiences in her teenage years were formative—she sparred with the older boys at the sports school, honing her competitive streak and ability to go in for the killer serve. At 16, Feng trained with the national youth team in Beijing and was about to compete in the national youth championships when her father died. She won the singles title nonetheless, demonstrating sheer perseverance and resilience.
While Feng played for the Chinese national team for two
years, she never got to represent China in international competitions. Her performance was persistently bogged down by myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Feng’s breakthrough came about when Liu Guodong, who was then the coach of the Singapore table tennis team, talent-spotted her in 2007.
Feng arrived in Singapore later that year. She was 21. Homesickness was not a problem as she was used to living away from home since the age of 10. But she found it hard to get used to the food, which she found spicier than what she had eaten in China. Feng became a Singaporean in 2008 and these days, she spends her time indulging in food the same way other Singaporeans do in their spare time. “I eat and shop on other days. I love chilli crab and will try all kinds of local dishes,” she said.
At the Moscow World Team Championships in 2010, Feng played against world number one paddler, Ding Ning, to whom she had lost in all her previous encounters. During the game, Feng lost the first two sets but fought back in the next three sets to win Singapore’s first World Championship title.