Singapura, 18 Mei 2016 – Today the Tanoto Foundation Professorship in Medical Oncology was conferred to Associate Professor Lim Soon Thye, an outstanding clinician and researcher who has demonstrated academic leadership with his pioneering work on the genetic basis of cancers prevalent in Asia.

A SGD 2.5 million donation from Tanoto Foundation, the Professorship will focus on research to improve diagnostic and clinical outcomes for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The Tanoto Foundation Professorship in Medical Oncology is part of a SGD 3 million gift from Tanoto Foundation. The remaining sum will be used to set up the Tanoto Foundation initiative in Asian Lymphoma Research.

Sukanto Tanoto, founder of Tanoto Foundation, said, “I look forward to the research benefitting patients and families living with lymphoma. Asia-focused lymphoma research is an area that deserves greater attention and Tanoto Foundation is honored to support this endeavor.”

These recent developments represent another step in Tanoto Foundation work to enhance quality of life through the fight against ailments that are leading causes of adult deaths.

Partnering Duke-NUS, Tanoto Foundation has contributed a total SGD 11 million to advance Asia-focused research in diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and lymphoma. This contribution was matched dollar-for-dollar by the Singapore Government.

Press Contact

Lestari H. Boediono
Head of Corporate Communications
Tanoto Foundation
Tel: +62 (21) 392 30134
Email: lestari_boediono@www.tanotofoundation.org

About Tanoto Foundation

Founded by Sukanto Tanoto and his wife Tinah Bingei Tanoto, Tanoto Foundation strives to be a centre of excellence in poverty alleviation through education, empowerment, and enhancement of quality of lives. As Mr and Mrs Sukanto Tanoto believe that every individual should be given an opportunity to realise their potential, Tanoto Foundation’s mission is to work with communities and partners to address root causes of poverty in countries where the Tanoto family has significant presence.

To date, Tanoto Foundation has disbursed over 20,000 scholarships, built several schools and education facilities that produced 27,000 graduates, developed 60,000 hectares of Community Livelihood Plantations and created more than 1,800 jobs in local communities through Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) programmes.

Visit: https://www.tanotofoundation.org/

Singapura, 11 Mei 2016 – Forty-four seventh and eighth grade students from Mutiara Harapan, a Cambridge certified Junior High School in Riau, Indonesia, visited the Singapore Management University (SMU) today as part of their biennial overseas cultural exchange programme, Edu-Trip.

This visit is the last stop of a four-day trip to the region where they also visited Melaka Museum, Maritime Museum in Malacca, Aqua KLCC in Kuala Lumpur and the Singapore Science Centre. Recipients of Tanoto Foundation scholarships or Tanoto Scholars and alumni from SMU hosted and shared their experience studying and working in Singapore. The group later toured the SMU campus before concluding the visit with a question-and-answer session.

“It is heartening to see familiar faces. The first time I met them was at Project Sukacita IV in December 2015 at Pangkalan Kerinci where we worked together for some activities. Today I am happy to continue to give back and inspire them to study hard,” said Jessica Chandra, a Tanoto Scholar, year-two business student from Singapore Management University.

Now in its fourth instalment, Edu-Trip aims to foster stronger cultural understanding among countries in the region, and cultivate in its participating students a more international perspective and mindset. The last Edu-Trip to Singapore saw Mutiara Harapanstudents performing an item at host Raffles Girls’ School’s Open House.

Located at Pangkalan Kerinci, Mutiara Harapan School was established and funded by pulp and paper company APRIL Group and is supported by Tanoto Foundation, the philanthropic arm of renowned Indonesian entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto and his family. The school has an international student body comprising mainly children of APRIL’s employees from 15 different countries including Canada, the United States, India and Indonesia. Its elementary school is also the only International Baccalaureate-certified school in Riau, Indonesia.

Tanoto Foundation supports Mutiara Harapan School’s teachers to improve their capacity through training sessions and comparative visits to other schools. Tanoto Foundation also encourages students to improve their skills by participating in national and international competitions in different fields. It also partners with Mutiara Harapan to develop community service programmes across the region.

Press Contact

Lestari H. Boediono
Head of Corporate Communications
Tanoto Foundation
Tel: +62 (21) 392 30134
Email: lestari_boediono@www.tanotofoundation.org

About Tanoto Foundation

Founded by Sukanto Tanoto and his wife Tinah Bingei Tanoto, Tanoto Foundation strives to be a centre of excellence in poverty alleviation through education, empowerment, and enhancement of quality of lives. As Mr and Mrs Sukanto Tanoto believe that every individual should be given an opportunity to realize their potential, Tanoto Foundation’s mission is to work with communities and partners to address root causes of poverty in countries where the Tanoto family has significant presence.

To date, Tanoto Foundation has disbursed over 20,000 scholarships, built several schools and education facilities that produced 27,000 graduates, developed 60,000 hectares of Community Livelihood Plantations and created more than 1,800 jobs in local communities through Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) programs.

Visit: https://www.tanotofoundation.org/

Professorship will focus on research to improve diagnostic and clinical outcomes for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Singapore, May 18, 2016 – The SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre announced today that a S$2.5 million Tanoto Foundation Professorship in Medical Oncology has been conferred to Assoc Prof Lim Soon Thye, Head and Senior Consultant of the Division of Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore; and Assistant Dean at Duke-NUS Medical School.

The Professorship recognises Assoc Prof Lim as an outstanding clinician and researcher who has demonstrated academic leadership with his pioneering work on the genetic basis of cancers that are prevalent in Asia. The funding aims to advance Assoc Prof Lim’s research on Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer prevalent in Asia that ranks among the top 10 cancers in Singapore.

Assoc Prof Lim’s research focuses on lymphoid malignancies, and particularly on T and NK/T cell lymphomas that occur more frequently among Asians. There is currently no standard accepted treatment for these lymphomas, and even with conventional chemotherapy, less than 50 per cent of these patients can be cured.

He is co-founder of the Asian Lymphoma Study Group, which brings together researchers across Asia to collaborate on Asian-related lymphoma studies. He is also founder of the Singapore Lymphoma Study Group that galvanises Singapore researchers in basic and translational research for lymphoma. To date, the group has set up a clinical and pathological database of more than 3,000 patients in Singapore and a tissue bank encompassing more than 1,000 blood and close to 500 frozen tissue specimens. Together, these resources have boosted researchers’ ability to examine the lymphoma’s molecular manner of development.

Professor Soo Khee Chee, Deputy CEO (Research & Education), SingHealth and Senior Vice Dean, Clinical, Academic & Faculty Affairs, Duke-NUS Medical School shares, “The incidence of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma has increased dramatically worldwide, especially in Asia, but diagnostic and treatment outcomes remain poor. This Professorship will advance the search for novel diagnostic strategies, drugs and treatments that can improve survival for lymphoma patients.”

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