A 26-year-old Indian-origin doctor, who was instrumental in securing early access to vaccines and therapeutics for Singapore during the coronavirus pandemic, is one of three recipients of the bond-free Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship awarded to outstanding Singaporeans to help them pursue postgraduate studies.
Being from the private sector, Dr. M Premikha will receive an SGD 50,000 stipend from the scholarship for up to two years. She will also begin a one-year master’s degree in public health at Johns Hopkins University in the United States later this month, according to The Straits Times.
It is worth noting that Dr. Premikha’s responsibilities at the Ministry of Health (MOH) from July 2021 until January this year included negotiating advanced purchase agreements with several vaccine producers.
She also worked with Gavi, the worldwide vaccination alliance, to send vaccines into the country through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) initiative, and collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United Kingdom to provide vaccines to neighbouring nations in need.
The Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship was established in 1991 by the Tanjong Pagar Citizens’ Consultative Committee to honour Singapore’s founding prime minister’s major accomplishments. It is awarded to exceptional Singaporeans to assist them to continue postgraduate studies. On Thursday, the scholarships were presented.
Dr. Hairil Rizal Abdullah, 42, and Matthew Lee Mun Hong, 32, who has worked for the government since 2014, are the other two honorees. Their postgraduate courses will be funded by their agency, and they will receive a one-time prize of SGD 10,000.
