Singapore, 3 July 2023 – SingHealth today announced two key leadership changes. Professor Ivy Ng will be passing the baton to Professor Ng Wai Hoe as the Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth, after 12 years of outstanding service. Professor Ng Wai Hoe is currently the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (Strategy & Planning) [DGCEO (S&P)], SingHealth, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Changi General Hospital (CGH). He will be appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer (Designate), SingHealth, on 1 August 2023 and subsequently as Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth, on 1 February 2024. He will relinquish his appointments as DGCEO (S&P), SingHealth, and CEO, CGH, on the same date.

Taking over Prof Ng Wai Hoe as CEO, CGH, is Clinical Associate Professor Ng Kee Chong, who is currently Deputy Group Chairman Medical Board (Disease Outbreak and Preparedness) [DGCMB (DO&P)], SingHealth. Clin Assoc Prof Ng will be appointed CEO (Designate), CGH, on 1 August 2023, and subsequently CEO, CGH, on 1 February 2024. He will continue in his role as DGCMB (DO&P).

“We are deeply grateful to Professor Ivy Ng for her distinguished leadership. Compassion, an unwavering belief in the importance of staff well-being and engagement as well as her unstinting support for staff during challenging times are the distinctive hallmarks of her leadership. She is a visionary and inspirational leader who has transformed SingHealth over the past decade. Under her strategic guidance in establishing and fostering the academic medicine culture, SingHealth is, today, a leading, global Academic Medical Centre in partnership with Duke-NUS Medical School, and a healthcare cluster of choice nationally with several of its institutions consistently ranked among the best in the region and in the world,” said Mr Cheng Wai Keung, Chairman, SingHealth.

Mr Cheng added, “Professor Ng Wai Hoe is an exemplary clinician leader and researcher. I look forward to him harnessing his extensive experience as well as excellent understanding of clinical and management perspectives, with his unique brand of leadership, to lead and propel SingHealth to greater heights of clinical and academic medicine achievements as the new Group Chief Executive Officer.”

Prof Ng Wai Hoe is a respected neurosurgeon who has paved the way for world-class research programmes in Parkinson’s Disease and Neuro-oncology and developing, through strategic partnerships, research in areas such as brain-computer interface, artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies at the National Neuroscience Institute where he was Medical Director.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020, he took over the leadership reins at CGH. Under Prof Ng’s dynamic and astute leadership, CGH has consolidated its reputation as one of Singapore’s Best Employers and as a leader in healthcare innovation and in pushing the frontiers of regional and community care. CGH has been consistently ranked by Newsweek to be one of the best and smart hospitals in the world. During his tenure, Prof Ng has also strategically positioned CGH as a key medical partner across the aviation and correctional and rehabilitation industries, as well as trailblazed collaborations that will advance care for youths and seniors, especially those who are vulnerable, in the community.

“I am deeply humbled for this privilege to lead SingHealth’s next phase of growth as a globally recognised Academic Medical Centre. I am also excited with the opportunity to pave the way forward in redefining care delivery paradigms as we pivot towards population health as a nation. I stand on the shoulders of giants and have a strong leadership team. Building on the solid foundation laid by Professor Ivy Ng, we will leverage the collective strengths of SingHealth and its institutions to define tomorrow’s medicine for public healthcare and to foster a healthier future for Singaporeans,” said Prof Ng Wai Hoe.

Chief Executive Officer, CGH

Helming the leadership of CGH will be Clin Assoc Prof Ng Kee Chong, a pioneer in paediatric emergency medicine and a well-respected leader, who led the KK Women’s and Children Hospital Medical Board with distinction over the past six years. With keen insight and deep commitment to clinical strategy policy, governance, clinical services and quality, clinical infrastructure capacity and patient safety as well his wealth of medical leadership experience, Prof Ng Kee Chong stands in good stead to continue advancing CGH’s quest for excellence in clinical and community care services, education and research.