Alfred Kow Wei Chieh

Fellow

I am very passionate about teaching Medicine since I was a trainee years ago. To me, teaching forms the centerpiece of a successful society as it entails transference of knowledge and skills to the younger generation. This is extremely important in medical education in particular, as the newer generation of doctors will be the ones to look after us in the future. Education, research, clinical service and medical innovation form the main pillars of academic missions and I aspire to do my best in all these areas. Innovative teaching programs need to be created to allow students to build up clinical reasoning and form a solid foundation for their future independent learning in Medicine. I wish to contribute to better learning in NUS as a whole in the future.   

Biodata

Dr Alfred Kow Wei Chieh is the Assistant Dean (Education) of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at National University of Singapore. He chairs the Curriculum Rationalization Task Force and the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UGCC) at the medical school. Concurrently, he is a fulltime surgeon at the National University Health System (National University Hospital), working as a hepatobiliary surgeon (predominantly liver, pancreas and gallbladder diseases, liver transplantation and general surgery). He is also the Undergraduate Medical Education Director at the Department of Surgery, NUS. Dr Kow has been teaching Surgery to undergraduate medical students since he was working at Tan Tock Seng Hospital from 2005 to 2010. After joining NUHS in 2010, he is one of the main drivers for curriculum reform in the Department of Surgery at NUS. He has received many teaching awards since 2007 as shown. He crafted many new teaching programs and modules to cater to the changing practices of Medicine in Singapore, including reforming the Student Internship Program in Surgery and using technology to teach medical students on patient safety. His research areas of interest include the clinical outcomes of diseases involving liver, gallbladder and pancreas diseases/ malignancies and liver transplantation. He is also a champion of minimally invasive surgery in these areas. In addition to the clinical research, he is actively involved in scholarly and academic work involving teaching pedagogy in Medicine and Surgery. He created a new IPad game called PASSED (PAtient Safety in Surgical EDucation) to enhance the training of medical students in this area. He was awarded the Ten Outstanding Young Malaysian (TOYM) Award (Medical Innovation Category) in 2014 for his contributions in liver transplantation and medical education. He is married to Dr Flora Yuan, who is an anaesthetist, and they have 3 lovely children.

About being a part of the Academy…

I am very excited to be part of the NUS Teaching Academy as there are many colleagues in the academy that we can work with to bring teaching and education quality to a greater level. Medical education is often viewed to be unique as it involves teaching medical students to be doctors, often time with real patients as the learning subjects. However, there is a great need to innovate and create new ways of teaching medical knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet the future challenges of medical practice. Increasingly, technologies and new innovations have taken a central role in education, including medical education. I wish to be the trend changer in this area to help work with experts and colleagues in this area to enhance the quality of education in NUS.

Teaching Awards / Accolades

• Best Teacher Award, Junior Category, Division of Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 2007.
• Teaching Appreciation Award for Teacher’s Day 2008, Medical Student Society, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
• Top 10 Best Teacher’s Award, Teaching Appreciation Award for Teacher’s Day 2009, Medical Student Society, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
• Top 10 Best Teacher, Division of Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital 2009 – 2010.
• Best Tutor Award 2010, Medical Student Society, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
• Best Tutor Award 2012, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS
• Nominated as Role Model by Class of 2012 Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the Graduate Exit Questionnaire
• Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence, AY2011/2012, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (FTEA) 2011/2012, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Annual Teaching Excellence Award (ATEA) 2011/2012, National University of Singapore
• Wong Hock Boon Society – Singapore Medical Association, Outstanding Mentor Award 2013.
• NUS Medical Society Outstanding Tutor Award 2012/2013.
• Certificate of Commendation, Role Model for the medical class of 2013, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
• NUH Teaching Excellence Award 2014.
• Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence AY 2012/2013, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
• Certificate of Commendation, Role Model for the medical class of 2014, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
• Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence AY2014/2015, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
• Special Recognition Award as Role Model for Medicine Graduating Class of 2015, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
• Outstanding Tutor Award 2014/15. NUS Medical Student Society, Awards and Appreciation Night 2015
• Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (FTEA) 2014/2015, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Annual Teaching Excellence Award (ATEA) 2014/2015, National University of Singapore