Professor Chua Nam Hai, Distinguished Science Alumnus

Professor Chua Nam Hai is the Andrew Mellon Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University. He has been an elected Fellow of The Royal Society in the United Kingdom since 1988, and was a member of The Glaucoma Foundation Scientific Advisory Board in New York for many years.

Professor Chua’s main research interests are signal transduction and gene regulation during plant development. He is an icon in his academic community, and has an impressive record of service to the academic and international community. For instance, he serves as an advisor in biotechnology to national and international organizations in 13 countries. He is consultant to several agricultural companies, and advises investment banks and venture capital companies on biotechnology investments. He has served on the editorial boards of 21 scientific journals, and has many patents or patents pending in the field of plant molecular biology. Professor Chua has also been an International Advisor in Life Sciences for the World Scientific Publishing Company.

Locally, Professor Chua had participated in numerous advisory panels in Singapore. His involvement included the then Singapore Science Council, National Science and Technology Board, and the National Biotechnology Committee.

He is instrumental in the formation of the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA) at the National University of Singapore. He has served as the Chairman of the Management Board and Scientific Advisory Board with the Institute. The IMA has since been renamed as the Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory. In those capacities, he played a crucial role in attracting top researchers to Singapore. In his multi-facet roles, he played a significant part in charting research directions for the biotechnology sector in Singapore. For his contributions and guidance in promoting biotechnology in Singapore, he was awarded the The Science and Technology Award 1998.

Professor Chua graduated in 1965 from the Singapore University. We are honored to have such an illustrious alumnus amongst us, and the Faculty of Science is indeed pleased to present the Distinguished Alumni Award 2006 to Professor Chua.

Dec 2006