About one year before the new National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School is to enroll its first class, Duke administrators and faculty are already voicing enthusiasm for the School and making plans for future collaborations.
In order to diversify and enhance the nation's biomedical cluster, the government instituted the Singapore Biomedical Science Initiative in 2000.
Duke and NUS formally joined in April 2005 to develop the nation's first graduate medical school within NUS--aiming to bolster Singapore's reputation in the areas of biomedical research and clinical application.
"In terms of official planning, we're well on our way with all the milestones," said Dr. R. Sanders Williams, who will serve as the dean of Singapore's GMS.
Under the seven-year agreement, Duke will help NUS develop a graduate medical school with a parallel infrastructure and curriculum, while NUS will invest more than $300 million--a large portion of which will be dedicated to research.
Faculty already hired to teach at the graduate school will study areas of major focus at Duke such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, emerging infectious diseases, neurobehavioral disorders and metabolic and eye disorders, said Williams.
Dr. Terri Young, who studies eye disorders, is one of a several Duke faculty who will visit NUS for collaborative learning and research efforts during the life of the seven-year partnership.
On a continent where as many as 90 percent of the population suffers from myopia, the epidemiological resources for studying certain eye diseases in Singapore significantly surpass those in the United States.
Duke will gain much more than money through its collaboration with NUS.
"The collaboration will give Duke access to numerous resources outside of the official arrangements," Williams said.
Duke researchers will have access to alternative bioethics regulations and the county's nationalized health care system, noted for its organization of health data for a vast number of Singaporeans of various socio-economic classes.
Additionally, the arrangement will allow various Duke faculty affiliated with NUS to ally with researchers in Singapore's new Biopolis--the major research and development hub of Asia that has recently made international news headlines for its success in recruiting top stem cell researchers.
Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of Duke University Health System, said he is most excited about "promising advances in stem cell research" not permitted in the United States.
"This is not a way to get around any form of government policy, but a way to collaborate-to go around and exchange resources," he said.
Singapore's "enlightened" bioethics regulations could eventually pave the way for joint efforts between global researchers, Williams said.
As is common with other U.S. schools affiliated with Asian universities, however, no Duke researcher has voiced intentions to work alongside stem cell experts in Singapore so far-=and the nature of future collaborations remains uncertain.
When asked what form joint ventures between the schools could one day take, Dzau noted that the most promising outcome would be "shared knowledge among a global community."
Dzau added Duke's unprecedented approach to joint biomedical affairs in Asia promises to have a major impact on how nations around the world make advances.
"It reminds me of early experiments [with Western biomedicine]... in China," he said. "This is an enormous project."
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