Professor Lee Wei Ling, Director, National Neuroscience Institute, 2004 to 2014, has passed away. Staff pay tribute to the impact she made on patients and neuroscience care.
Professor Lee Wei Ling, or Dr Lee as she preferred to be known, always prioritised patients and expected the same of all who worked with her at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI).
“Dr Lee contributed much to NNI, from its first conception when she was then Deputy Director (Clinical), to setting the patient centric culture for NNI when she was Director of NNI for 11 years. She cared for her patients and staff, and would go all out to help them,” says
Associate Professor Au Wing Lok, Chief Executive Officer, NNI.
When Dr Lee was appointed Director, NNI in January 2004, her first priority was to get all the doctors to make patient care their top priority.
“Dr Lee instilled in us that every patient matters and we must do our best for them regardless of whether they are private or subsidised,” remembers
Associate Professor Loh Ngai Kun, Senior Consultant, Neurology, NNI. “Dr Lee always had a heart for the ‘underdog’ and had a soft spot for patients with epilepsy who also had disabilities.”
A paediatrician by training, Dr Lee specialised in neurology with a focus on epilepsy.
“Dr Lee was always kind to her patients and her patients loved her for it. Some were patients she had seen as children, and she continued managing their epilepsy at NNI when they became adults,” says Kathleen Yip, Senior Secretary, NNI, who assisted Dr Lee during her clinics. “Dr Lee saw some of her patients through pregnancy and they would bring their babies to the clinic to meet her.”
Many NNI doctors remember Dr Lee’s clinical acumen, willingness to teach and her strong character. She fought hard for NNI, and championed the needs of patients, research and education to improve care.
However, she was also known for her kindness, telling colleagues “If I don't take care of you, how are you going to take care of my patients?”
Under Dr Lee’s leadership, NNI expanded its services, providing neuroscience care at five public hospitals in Singapore (Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital) and collaborated with community care partners to provide home care to patients with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Keen to advance neuroscience care, Dr Lee established the Health Research Endowment Fund to champion education and translational research to improve clinical services and patients’ quality of life.
“We will continue to do our best to improve patient care, remembering never to rest on our laurels, because the day we think we have made it, that day marks the beginning of our slide down a steep slippery slope. We will always function as Team NNI, with all our members who include doctors, researchers, nurses, medical technologists, radiographers and administrative staff pulling together with one common purpose, that is to provide the best neuroscience care we can to all our patients.”
– Professor Lee Wei Ling, 2009, NNI 10th Anniversary Commemorative Special
Dr Lee stepped down as Director on 31 Dec 2014, passing the baton to
Professor Ng Wai Hoe, now Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth. Dr Lee was conferred the title of Emeritus Consultant, National Neuroscience Institute, SingHealth on 1 January 2020.
During NNI’s 20th Anniversary celebrations in 2019, Dr Lee shared her thoughts on the future of neuroscience care:
"My hopes for NNI would be to continue to put patients at the heart of what we do. We became doctors because we want to take care of patients and help them get better — whether by research or by actual patient care or teaching the next generation."
Dr Lee’s legacy of patient-centred care remains at the core of NNI as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary in 2024.
