Professor Tan Chorh Chuan was appointed as the inaugural Chief Health Scientist and concurrently, Executive Director of the new Office for Healthcare Transformation in Singapore’s Ministry of Health since 1 January 2018.

Before joining MOHT Professor Tan served as President of the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2008 to 2017. Prior to that he also held the positions of NUS Provost, then Senior Deputy President between the years of 2004 and 2008. He was former Dean of the NUS Faculty of Medicine and served as the Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, from 2000 to 2004, where he was responsible for leading the public health response to the 2003 SARS epidemic. In 2020, he was appointed as a member of the Planning Group (Vaccine and Therapeutics) and the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination which advise the government on Singapore’s procurement and vaccination strategy respectively.

In 2022, Professor Tan was conferred The Distinguished Service Order by the Singapore government. He was also conferred with the Knight of the French Order of the Legion of Honour for his outstanding contributions in health and science, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which helped to strengthen ties between France and Singapore.

His other awards include the Public Service Star in 2003 for outstanding contributions to overcoming SARS in Singapore; the Public Administration Gold Medal in 2004 for his work as Director of Medical Services in the Ministry of Health; the Meritorious Service Medal in 2015; and the Public Service Star (COVID-19) in 2022. He was awarded the National Science and Technology Medal in 2008 and is the first Singaporean to be elected as an international member of the US National Academy of Medicine.

A renal physician, Professor Tan obtained his medical training at NUS, and research training at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford.