The estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, a pioneering banker, investor, and philanthropist of Singapore announced in January a gift of $80 million to the Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School (GMS).

The gift—the largest single donation granted by the estate to date—will be matched dollar for dollar by the Singapore government for a total of $160 million. Graduates of GMS will be awarded a joint medical degree from both Duke University and NUS, thanks to a recent decision by Duke’s Board of Trustees.

GMS plans to substantially accelerate and strengthen its planned research programs, which are focused on medical and health care problems of significance to Singapore and Asia. The gift will support groundbreaking research across GMS’ four Signature Research Programs in infectious diseases, cancer and stem cell biology, neurobehavioral disorders, and cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.

In September a groundbreaking ceremony was held on the NUS Outram campus for GMS, which will have a research intensive curriculum based on the Duke model. It is designed to produce physicians who can be further trained as physician-scientists,
able to bridge the basic sciences and clinical medicine and spur robust research to benefit the people of Singapore and people worldwide.

The first students will enroll in fall of 2007 and some Duke medical students, residents, and faculty will have the opportunity to study in Singapore.