The COVID-19 pandemic has done enormous damage and harm to the economy and people of the world. Singapore has done relatively well in responding to the pandemic, and managing its impact on the economy and on the health of the people. What lessons can we learn from our fight against COVID-19? How can we prepare for the next pandemic?
For the first Corporate Associates Lunch Dialogue of the year, IPS has invited Prof Wang Linfa to share his insights. Affectionately known as Singapore’s Batman, Prof Wang has studied infectious diseases in bats for more than 30 years and is globally recognised as a leading expert on infectious diseases. During the pandemic, Prof Wang was a key member of the National COVID-19 Research Workgroup convened by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) to coordinate national research efforts on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Prof Wang’s team was able to isolate the virus within days of the first local confirmed COVID-19 case, and their work laid the foundation for subsequent research, in addition to offering key insights to inform the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its formulation of COVID-19 measures. More recently, Prof Wang was appointed as the Executive Director of MOH’s Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and REsponse (PREPARE). Launched in November 2022, the Programme aims to strengthen Singapore’s key research capabilities, translational platforms, and expertise; so as to develop tools, methods and products to detect, respond to, and contain future infectious disease threats.
The session will be moderated by Prof Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Special Adviser to IPS.