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Wee Joo Chng: Nothing Happens by Chance – Singapore’s Remarkable Success Stories

Wee Joo Chng/nus.edu.sg

Jul 5, 2025, 12:20

Wee Joo Chng: Nothing Happens by Chance – Singapore’s Remarkable Success Stories

Wee Joo Chng, Professor in Medical Oncology at the National University of Singapore, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Yesterday marks with 120th Anniversary of the founding of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and National University of Singapore. There were many media reports over the last 2 days to celebrate this momentous occasion, as we start a year long of celebrations.

Similar to many of Singapore’s remarkable success stories, such as our island nation growing from third world to first, our world class airline, airport, sea port and many more, the development of our University and Medical School from its humble beginning to now amongst the best in the world is nothing short of miraculous.

But nothing happens by chance. I belief all this is possible due to bold and great vision, strong and purposeful leadership and immense beliefs, grit and effort of many people over the years, contributing in different ways, big or small.

As a Singaporean, an Alumni (PhD ’11), a previous member of the leadership team of the School of Medicine and now a member of the leadership team of NUS, I am immensely proud of how far we have come, the people we have, and the deep purpose we serve, not just to educate our next generation but to create solutions for many of the world’s biggest challenges.

It also fills me with excitement about future possibilities as the best is clearly yet to come. If there is something that the last 120 years taught us, it is that we cannot stand still, we must channel our restless discontent and sense of wonderment and curiosity to continue to push the boundaries for the betterment of humankind. The pursuit of excellence at the frontiers of possibilities is hardwired into our DNA. This together with our strong sense of purpose, is perhaps the ‘soul’ that continues to drive the organisation forward, and enlivens our people’s collective experience on the journey.

Onwards and upwards and looking forward to 120 years more of inspiration!

There are simply too many exciting things that we are doing for me to write about here. For those interested to see and learn more, you can also look at the links and websites below: