Prof. Ee Heok Kua

Professor Kua received his undergraduate medical studies at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He then trained in psychiatry at the University of Oxford and obtained the Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK). He was awarded a scholarship for geriatric psychiatry fellowship training at Harvard University, and a medical doctorate for research from the National University of Singapore. Prof. Kua also spent time at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) USA to conduct psychiatric research. He was also elected to become Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK).

While serving as Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Prof. Kua started the first memory clinic in Singapore in 1990. He was the CEO and Medical Director, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore (1999 – 2002), and was the Chairman of the Singapore Armed Forces Psychiatry Advisory Board (2013 – 2019).

Prof. Kua’s special interests include psychological disorders in old age and has wide clinical experiences particularly in psychotherapy and stress management. He was a member of the World Health Organization Research Team for the Global Study of Dementia. He is also involved in international psychiatric organizations and international journals. Prof. Kua was the President of the Pacific-Rim College of Psychiatrists, and the Editor of Asia-Pacific Psychiatry. In addition, he has written 270 research papers on subjects ranging from ageing to addiction, along with 23 books on psychiatry, dementia, depression and stress. His novel, ‘Listening to Letter from America’ is now used in Harvard University for a course on anthropology. He is one of the Editors-in-Chief, with Professor Norman Sartorius, for the seven-volume ‘Mental Health and Illness Worldwide’.

Prof. Kua has received multiple awards, including Sandoz Research Award for Gerontology (1990) and first prize in ASEAN Psychiatry Research (1992). He was invited to speak at the United Nations World Forum on depression in 1999. He was conferred the Distinguished Psychiatrist Award 2015 by Singapore Psychiatric Association and Lifetime Achievement Award by the Singapore Gerontological Society in 2015.