Yee-Sin Leo

Yee-Sin Leo FRCP is a Singaporean physician who is Executive Director of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. Her research considers emerging infectious diseasesShe has been responsible for Singapore's response to several outbreaks, including Nipah, SARS and COVID-19. In 2020 she was selected as one of the BBC's top 100 Women.

Yee-Sin Leo
Leo in 2015
Alma materNational University of Singapore
Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Scientific career
InstitutionsNational Centre for Infectious Diseases

Early life and education

Leo earned her undergraduate degree at the National University of Singapore. She earned her master's of medicine in 1989.[1] She was a medical registrar at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.[2] As a young doctor, Leo was interested in immunology, but after a chance encounter with infectious disease specialist David Allen she became more interested in infectious diseases. She was one of the first doctors to be trained in infectious diseases in Singapore.[3] In 1992 Leo worked as a clinical fellow in Los Angeles, where over half of her workload was HIV cases.[3] When she returned to Singapore she established the country's first HIV programme and patient care centre.[3] Her first frontline experience with infectious diseases were when the Nipah virus infected Singapore in 1999.[3]

Research and career

In 2002 Leo was made a Senior Consultant in the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.[2] She has led the country through Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Influenza A virus subtype H7N9 (bird flu) and Dengue fever outbreaks.[3] Leo said that her experiences dealing with the struggles of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had served her in good stead for taking on COVID-19.[4]

Awards and honours

Selected publications
  • Muthuri, Stella G; Venkatesan, Sudhir; Myles, Puja R; Leonardi-Bee, Jo; Al Khuwaitir, Tarig S A; Al Mamun, Adbullah; Anovadiya, Ashish P; Azziz-Baumgartner, Eduardo; Báez, Clarisa; Bassetti, Matteo; Beovic, Bojana (2014-05-01). "Effectiveness of neuraminidase inhibitors in reducing mortality in patients admitted to hospital with influenza A H1N1pdm09 virus infection: a meta-analysis of individual participant data". The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2 (5): 395–404. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(14)70041-4. hdl:10072/67773. ISSN 2213-2600.
  • Young, Barnaby Edward; Ong, Sean Wei Xiang; Kalimuddin, Shirin; Low, Jenny G.; Tan, Seow Yen; Loh, Jiashen; Ng, Oon-Tek; Marimuthu, Kalisvar; Ang, Li Wei; Mak, Tze Minn; Lau, Sok Kiang (2020-04-21). "Epidemiologic Features and Clinical Course of Patients Infected With SARS-CoV-2 in Singapore". JAMA. 323 (15): 1488. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.3204. ISSN 0098-7484. PMC 7054855. PMID 32125362.
  • Hsu, Li-Yang; Lee, Cheng-Chuan; Green, Justin A.; Ang, Brenda; Paton, Nicholas I.; Lee, Lawrence; Villacian, Jorge S.; Lim, Poh-Lian; Earnest, Arul; Leo, Yee-Sin (2003). "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Singapore: Clinical Features of Index Patient and Initial Contacts". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 9 (6): 713–717. doi:10.3201/eid0906.030264. ISSN 1080-6040. PMC 3000162. PMID 12781012.

Personal life

Leo is married to a biotechnology specialist. Together they have three children.[3]

References
  1. "AMS - Academy of Medicine, Singapore". AMS - Academy Medicine of Singapore. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  2. "LEO Yee Sin". sph.nus.edu.sg. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  3. "A breakout star in battle against virus outbreaks". AsiaOne. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  4. "Why Singapore will overcome Covid-19 even though outbreak could get worse before it gets better". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  5. "Red Ribbon Award". Action for AIDS Singapore. 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  6. "Lee Hsien Loong & Leo Yee-Sin". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  7. "BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.