SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Singapore has announced a transformational gift of $50 million from the Lee Foundation that will support the advancement of innovation and research through programmes and initiatives in the AMC Health Discovery District – an ecosystem of innovation centres connecting each SingHealth campus, including the upcoming Eastern General Hospital.

The Academic Medicine Innovation Institute, that was established in 2021, will oversee the fostering of a vibrant innovation culture in the ecosystem.

The Lee Foundation’s gift will boost the AMC’s efforts to design and strengthen frameworks to hasten advancements in healthcare innovation, seed the potential for discovery and innovation through funding and pilot grants, and push the boundaries of medicine through novel research programmes.

Cheng Wai Keung, Chairman, SingHealth, presented a $9 million gift in support of the “Ecosystem for Dementia” programme at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI). A total of 30 donors contributed towards this gift. To be launched in April 2023, this three-year programme aims to deliver vital life-transforming services and provide compassionate support across the continuum of care for dementia patients, their caregivers and families, ranging from community care and screening to rehabilitation and intervention.

The G.K. Goh family presented a $5 million gift, made in honour of Goh Geok Khim, Founder and Executive Chairman of G.K. Goh Holdings, who is also Chairman Emeritus of the international executive board of Temasek Foundation International and a member of the board of Temasek Foundation Ltd.

The gift will establish a proposed centre for neuroscience research that will enable scientists from Duke-NUS, National Neuroscience Institute and the wider AMC to investigate the mechanisms behind the ageing of the human brain as well as those underpinning degenerative disorders, with the aim of developing effective new therapeutics and strategies to slow the ageing process and treat debilitating neurological illnesses.