Dr Charles Toh Chai Soon
Advisor of SMA Charity Fund Board
Director of the company since 2014.
Dr. Charles Toh has been a director of the SMA Charity Fund since 2014.
Dr. Charles Toh received his early education at the Anderson School in Ipoh and then moved to Sydney Grammar School in Australia in 1948. He then went on to obtain his MBBS degree in Sydney in 1955 and then his MRCP (London) in 1959, and finally his FRCP (London) and FRACP in 1973.
Upon completion of his training in Cardiology, he returned to Singapore in 1961 and was appointed Lecturer and Physician at the University of Singapore, Department of Medicine and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1966. Three years later, he became Vice Dean and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Medicine between 1969 and 1972. At that period of time he was also promoted to Associate Professor in Medicine. He then left for private practice at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in 1975 and has been there until today. He was a member of the Public Service Commission (1992-2010) and was appointed the Deputy Chairman of the Public Service Commission (2010-2013). His professional career has spanned over 60 years.
Dr. Toh is truly one of the early pioneers in the field of modern Cardiology in Singapore. He played a pivotal role in shaping and transforming the landscape of Cardiology that has brought about a “world class Cardiology service” in Singapore. He became a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology in 1971, an International Fellow in Clinical Cardiology, American Heart Association in 1985, and a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2001. He was the President of the Singapore Cardiac Society from 1966-1970 and again 1974-1975
Dr. Toh was also the Organising Chairman of the 5th Asia Pacific Congress of Cardiology in 1972, which was the first high-profile Cardiology meeting in this region. His great intuitive insights into what the future of Cardiology should be earned him the respect of the government of Singapore, and he was tasked with the responsibility of advising the Ministry of Health on the formation of the National Heart Centre.
Dr. Toh was appointed the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the development of the National Heart Centre in 1996, and then as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Heart Centre from 1997 to 2000. The rest is history, as the National Heart Centre developed into a renowned centre of excellence for the management of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, for his immense medical knowledge and his firm belief in the pursuit of clinical research as a necessary requirement to achieve medical excellence and international recognition for Singapore Medicine, Dr Toh was appointed the Chairman of the National Medical Research Council from 1994 to 2000, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Cancer Centre Research Fund from 2006 to the present, member of the Board of Trustees, Singapore Cardiac Society for more than ten years and member of the Subcommittee on Medical Specialisation from 1990 to 1991. In his medical career, Dr Toh has also published numerous papers, about 55 of them in both local and international journals.
Apart from his illustrious career as a cardiologist, Dr. Toh too held numerous positions in the public service sector. From 1968 to 1970 he was member of the Singapore Telephone Board. He was also a member of the Health Advisory Council (1986-90), a member of the Disciplinary Panel of Public Service Commission (1968-74), Resource Member, Government Parliamentary Committee, Defence and Foreign Affairs (1987-90), member of the Education Service Commission (1993-98), member of the Public Service Commission from 1992-2010 and Deputy Chairman of Public Service Commission (2010-2013). The above have therefore, not surprisingly, earned him several prestigious national awards and honours which include the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1970, the BBM (Public Service Medal) on National Day in 1999 and the Public Service Star (Bar) in 2009.
The above information is accurate as at 26 July 2018.
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