Duke-NUS Medical School

Duke-NUS Medical School is Singapore's flagship graduate-entry medical school, established on 14 April 2005 through a partnership between Duke University (USA) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is Singapore's only graduate-entry medical school, admitting students who already hold a bachelor's degree into a four-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) programme, along with MD-PhD and PhD pathways. The school is located at the Outram medical district and is closely integrated with Singapore's healthcare and biomedical ecosystem, including the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre. The school follows a "Clinician First, Clinician Plus" educational model, training physicians who can also contribute as researchers, educators, innovators, and healthcare leaders. Its curriculum is research-intensive and draws on Duke University's medical education expertise, emphasizing translational research that connects laboratory discoveries with clinical care. Recent MD entering classes matriculate roughly 70–80 students annually from diverse academic backgrounds and universities worldwide. Duke-NUS was created following a 2001 medical education review commissioned by Singapore's Ministry of Education, with substantial initial government support from Singapore's Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Trade and Industry. The school welcomed its inaugural cohort of 26 MD students in August 2007 and is housed in the Khoo Teck Puat Building at 8 College Road, which was officially inaugurated by Singapore's Prime Minister in 2009.