Paul Tambyah, chairman of Singapore Democratic Party and one of Singapore's top infectious disease experts, will become the President of International Society of Infectious Diseases in 2022.

Tambyah is currently a professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore and a senior consultant infectious diseases physician at the National University Hospital with over 20 years of experience in this field.

He has been consulted and appeared as an expert on multiple occasions to help Singaporeans make sense of Covid-19 in the past few months.

Tambyah has recently assumed a new role on the global stage in March 2020.

President-elect of International Society of Infectious Diseases

He has been appointed as the president-elect of the International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID)'s executive committee since March 10.

The ISID is a non-profit medical organisation created in 1986 to support a global network of health professionals, non-government organisations, and governments in preventing and managing any infectious disease outbreak when it occurs.

The non-profit particularly focuses on countries that are in need of resources and are affected disproportionately by any outbreaks.

As the president-elect of the society, Tambyah will help support the president and learn the means of operations for ISID.

He will also chair some committees at the discretion of the president.

The former president of ISID, Marc Mendelson, lauded Tambyah as one with "formidable experience" and is "well-known to all in the field of infectious disease".

Mendelson said:

"Paul is well-known to all in the field of infectious diseases, and brings a wealth of experience from his time with multiple international societies and august bodies, as well as formidable experience across the spectrum of infection, including outbreaks, tropical medicine, and clinical applied research. He is a go-to speaker on so many topics and currently serves as Chair of the ISID Publications Committee, playing a vital role in the success of our journal IJID.”

The current ISID executive committee's president is Alison Holmes, an infectious disease professor from Imperial College London.

Tambyah will take over the role as the president of ISID from Holmes in 2022.

In the congratulatory post by SDP, the party also revealed that Tambyah will still be based in Singapore while fulfilling his role in ISID.

In response to Mothership's query, Tambyah said:

"It is a great honor to be the ISID President-elect – these are challenging times for infectious diseases globally especially in the low and middle-income countries where ISID has had an impact."

Top image from CNA Youtube video