Dean of NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and a Professor from Department of Microbiology in National Scientific Team Monitoring H1N1 Virus in Singapore

Dean of NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Professor John Wong and Associate Professor Vincent Chow, Department of Microbiology, together with Ministry of Health's Director of Medical Services Prof K Satku will lead a national team of scientists, clinicians and public health personnels to monitor the development and make recommendations on refining our strategy and control measures to handle the Influenza A (H1N1-2009) situation in Singapore.

The Committee will also conduct genomic analysis of the virus and make comparisons with international data. They will undertake serial tracking of the virus over time - to look for mutations and assess the potential impact of mutations on clinical disease.

These will help to establish scientifically if indeed the virus here remains mild and not unlike seasonal flu in terms of public health impact. We could then adapt our containment measures, which currently involve active contact tracing and hospitalisation of each and every case, to focus on treatment of the at-risk groups and seriously ill cases instead.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee are as follows:

1. To review the evidence on clinical, scientific and public health aspects of Influenza A (H1N1-2009) and make recommendations on measures to be taken to manage this outbreak.
2. To propose and review clinical, scientific and public health research studies on Influenza A (H1N1-2009) for the purposes of controlling the outbreak.
3. To provide inputs on any other matters related to Influenza A (H1N1-2009) as requested by MOH.

The Committee consists of the following members:

Clinical:

1. Prof Chee Yam Cheng, Assistant CEO (Clinical), National Healthcare Group
2. A/Prof Leo Yee Sin, Clinical Director, Communicable Disease Centre, TTSH
3. Dr Lim Poh Lian, Senior Infectious Diseases Consultant, TTSH

Scientific:

1. Prof John Wong, Dean, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUHS
2. Prof Edison Liu, Executive Director, Genome Institute of Singapore
3. A/Prof Raymond Lin, Head, National Public Health Laboratory, MOH
4. A/Prof Vincent Chow, Dept. of Microbiology, NUS YLLSoM, NUHS

Public Health:

1. A/Prof Chew Suok Kai, Deputy Director of Medical Services, MOH
2. Dr Lyn James, Director, Communicable Diseases Division, MOH

Dr Derrick Heng, Director, Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, MOH