Prior to joining the UBD in 2012, he worked full time at the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 1985. He was the previous Head of the Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine and Director of the Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research. His appointments prior to joining the NUS were Assistant Director in the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, National Productivity Board, and Medical Director in a multinational insurance company.
Dr Koh has been appointed as Visiting Professor, Adviser and/or Examiner to universities in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia. He has been engaged by the World Health Organization as a consultant in occupational and environmental health to countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands, and undertaken international consulting work with large organizations and multinational companies in the Asia-Pacific Region.
His research and teaching interests are in occupational and environmental health. He has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and had edited several books, including the Textbook of Occupational Medicine Practice, which is now in its third edition. He also serves on the advisory and editorial boards of major international occupational and environmental health journals.
Dr Koh has received international recognition for his academic work, including the Smiley medal from the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Ireland, the Wilf Howe Prize from the Faculty of Medicine, UK, and the William J Gies award from the Journal of Dental Research, USA.
Dr Cynthia Maung has received multiple international awards including the 2018 Roux Prize and UNDPs N-Peace Award
Karyn has recently published a book entitled “The Economics of the Marine” with Rowan and Littlefield. Karyn has extensive experience in capacity building in Developing countries having been a Co-Investigation on a Newton-Omar British Council research project with colleagues in Malaysia to examine the impact of Big Weather Events on the Elderly Population in the Kuala Lumpur region and a Co-Investigator on the GCRF NERC-ESRC-AHRC funded research project examining socio-economical resilience in coastal communities.
Karyn is an editorial board member of the Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics and Marine Policy
Dr Phua has produced over 200 publications and papers in the field of health policy & management and related areas, including history of health services, population ageing, health economics & financing. He is the author of Singapore Chronicles: Healthcare (2018) and co-editor of Ageing Asia: Contemporary Trends and Policy Issues (2019). He led the Rockefeller Foundation-funded project on Trends Monitoring in Asia, from 1999-2014 as Principal Investigator of the health systems component, and is co-lead editor of the Social Science & Medicine special issue on Health Systems in Asia (2017), and co-lead author of the overview for the Lancet series on Health in Southeast Asia (2011). He is a founding member of the Asian Health Systems Reform Network (DRAGONET); and was past Chair, Executive Board of Asia-Pacific Health Economics Network; and past Associate Editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health and Singapore Economic Review. He delivered the 2012 ST Lee Lecture at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney and the Australian National University.
Dr Phua received The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore award in 1992 for his contributions to health policy and community service. He is a past Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Red Cross and Chair, International Services Committee, having served as its Director of Welfare and chairman of various humanitarian projects and medical missions throughout the region. He served on the Board of Management of the Home Nursing Foundation and was a founder Council Member and Chairman, Resource Committee of the Gerontological Society. He was Chairman of the Task Force on Social Services 2015, to develop a strategic plan for the National Council of Social Service. He was appointed on many national advisory committees, including the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Resource Panel on Health (1989-2013), National Advisory Council on the Family and Aged (1989-1994), Review Committee on National Health Policies (1991-1992), and Health Advisory Council, (1989-1992).
He has undertaken numerous consulting assignments for regional governments and non-governmental organizations in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, India, Bangladesh and the Middle East. Internationally, he served as Chairman, Technical Advisory Group on Health Sector Development of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (2000-2005) and moderated the Ministerial Roundtable on Health and Poverty at the WHO Regional Meeting in 2000 and the WHO Bi-Regional Meeting on Health Care Financing in 2005. He has consulted in health policy and management to many public, voluntary and international agencies within the Asia-Pacific region, including the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health, Red Cross, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Economic & Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific, World Bank and World Health Organization.
Dr. Santosham serves on numerous national and international committees to promote childhood health throughout the world. He consults for numerous international agencies including WHO, USAID, UNICEF and the Gates Foundation on aspects of child survival in over 30 countries. He is the author of over 280 peer-reviewed journals and serves as a reviewer for several international medical journals. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Thrasher Research Fund Award for Excellence in Research (1988), Maurice Hilleman Lecturer at CDC (2008), and the Bob Austrian Orator, for International Symposium on Pneumococcas and Pneumococcal Disease (2006). He was also awarded the Indian Health Service Directors Award for Career Service in 2011, recognizing his personal dedication, commitment and contribution to the overall Indian Health Service Research Program and the global impact of his work. He received the Albert Sabin Gold Medal Award on April 29th, 2014. The Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal has been awarded annually since 1994 to a distinguished member of the research community who has made extraordinary contributions in the field of Vaccine sciences or a complementary field. On Oct 7th, 2014, he received the 2014 Fries Prize for Improving Health, “For his seminal research, vaccine development, policy, and advocacy toward the global prevention of Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) disease saving each year more than 370,000 children’s lives. He is currently the chair of the ROTA Council which is an organization that is dedicated to advocating for the use of rotavirus vaccines around the world particularly in Asia and Africa. In January 2018, he was awarded the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health for his work on Hib vaccines especially his role in ensuring that the vaccine is made available to all children around the world which is estimated to save 1.5 to 2 million lives by 2020.