Prof Kenneth Mak

Member, NUHS Board

Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health, Singapore

Professor Kenneth Mak is Director-General of Health at the Ministry of Health Singapore.

In this role, Professor Mak is the principal medical adviser to the Singapore Government and provides professional input and guidance to other Ministries and public agencies on health and healthcare related issues.

Professor Mak oversees the provision of all health services in Singapore. Within the Ministry of Health, he ensures that clinical services are delivered seamlessly across multiple settings by the public healthcare system. He leads in developing and implementing national healthcare policies in areas such as population health, healthcare regulation, communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, healthcare professional standards as well as the development and enhancement of the performance of the nation’s healthcare system and services. Professor Mak works closely with Singapore’s Regional Health Systems and healthcare institutions on care integration as well as on Singapore’s long-term healthcare transformation strategy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Mak advised the Multi-Ministry Taskforce as well as other governmental agencies in crafting Singapore’s overall strategy for managing the outbreak and oversaw the integrated public health response to control the spread of COVID-19 in our community. Professor Mak is a familiar face in Singapore as he appeared regularly in the media conferences of the COVID-19 Multi-Ministry Taskforce.

Professor Mak is the Registrar of the Singapore Medical Council, which is the Professional Board that ensures that medical practitioners, registered for clinical practice in Singapore, are competent and fit to practice medicine, upholding high standards of clinical practice and maintaining public confidence in the medical profession.

Professor Mak is a general surgeon with subspecialty interests in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, as well as in trauma surgery. He maintains his clinical practice as a Senior Consultant surgeon in the Department of Surgery, at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore. His previous administrative appointments include Chief of Surgery at three public hospitals in Singapore and Chairman of the Medical Board at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore. Professor Mak was Deputy Director of Medical Services (Health Services Group) in MOH from 2015 to end-2019. He was appointed Director of Medical Services in 2020 and this appointment was redesignated in May 2023 to Director-General of Health to better reflect his role as the main overseer of clinical and public health of Singaporeans.

Professor Mak retired from voluntary military service in 2021, as a Colonel with the Singapore Armed Forces. He had held various command and staff appointments at Battalion, Brigade and Division level.