Chin Hin Chew, Cecil, was born in Singapore in 1931. Always known to his friends as Chin Hin, he comes from a well-regarded medical family. His boyhood days were spent in the grounds of two of Singapore's oldest hospitals. His father Benjamin was born in Malacca and came to Singapore at the age of ten, graduating in 1929 from Singapore's King Edward VII College of Medicine, first of the class aged twenty one. He was a distinguished physician at Singapore's General Hospital (SGH) in the 1930s and during the Japanese Occupation was head of medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 1942 to 1945. It was he who administered the first life saving penicillin injections – dropped by US B29 over the POW camps in Singapore – in August 1945 to his physician colleague for a lung abscess. Life was difficult during this period; Chin Hin experiencing and witnessing horrendous war and Japanese occupation atrocities. Prof Chew's devoted wife, Dr Anna Hui was classmate in Hong Kong University, both graduating in 1955 from the University of Hong Kong (HKU). They were contemporaries of Professor Sir David Todd, the first non-Australasian to be elected to The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Council.
As a house physician, Chin Hin served in the wards of Sir Gordon Ransome at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in 1956 before proceeding to physician and respiratory medicine training at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in 1957, and Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary and City Hospital under Sir John Crofton (1959 to 1961). He returned to Singapore in 1961 after passing the membership examinations (MRCP), progressing rapidly through the ranks of senior registrar, consultant and made Foundation Head of Medicine IV in 1964, Medical Director, TTSH in 1978 and Deputy Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health overseeing all government Hospitals in 1981 to 1991. During this tenure, the concept of restructuring hospitals was conceived, including the rebuilding of hospitals, the first being the opening of the new National University Hospital (NUH) in 1986. He also introduced new specialities in Singapore including the specialities of rheumatology and geriatric medicine, based at TTSH, which are now well established in all of Singapore’s tertiary hospitals.
As a clinician, Chin Hin's interests were in chest diseases – very much aligned to what TTSH was all about in those years. Tuberculosis (TB) was a threat and he contributed much to TB research in Singapore as Chairman of the TB Research Committee, which collaborated with the British Medical Council (headed by Dr Wallace Fox) to produce landmark papers (in journals including the Bulletin of the Union against TB, Tubercle, Lancet and American Review of Respiratory Diseases) on controlled chemotherapy trials and 6 month short course regimens with Rifampicin. These are still used as standard therapy today the world over. As a consequence he was most suited to being elected the President of the 26th World Congress on TB and Respiratory Diseases in 1986 and President of the 19th Eastern Region Conference of the International Union against TB and Lung Disease in 1987.
As a physician, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore in 1963 and climbed through the Council ranks to be the master 1973 to 1975. In this capacity he conferred the Honorary Fellowship on Mr Lee Kuan Yew, then prime minister of Singapore. He served on the Singapore Medical Council from 1972 for 21 years, and on the invitation of the minister for health he became the first Chairman of the National Medical Ethics Committee from 1994 to 2000, medical ethics being another of Chin Hin's abiding interests. He served on the Civil Aviation Medical Board as member, chairman and advisor from 1970 to the present. Sought after as an orator, he delivered the first Seah Cheng Siang Lecture in 1991, the first TTSH Oration in 1997, the first Gerald Choa Lecture (HKCP) in 2002, the Singapore Medical Association Lecture in 1998, the College of Physicians Lecture in 2005, the Gordon A Ransome Oration in 2007 and the Sreenivasan Oration in 2016. He has over 70 publications in numerous learned and peer reviewed journals and contributions to books. These reflect his love for literature and classical music and devotion to his Christian faith. He has been a faithful member of The Brethren Church (Bethesda) in Singapore since boyhood.
As a medical educator, he was examiner for BDS, MBBS, MMed (internal medicine) of National University of Singapore (NUS) held jointly since 1995 with MRCP (UK). He had also examined for the MRCP (Ireland). At the Division of Graduate Medical Studies of NUS Medical School, he has been board member, deputy director and continues serving as honorary advisor and adjunct professor, having been a teacher in the NUS Department of Medicine since 1961. He has served on the Specialist Accreditation Board, the Joint Committee of Specialist Training and continues to chair the Accreditation Team.
As a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh, Glasgow and London), The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) and the American College of Physicians (ACP), Chin Hin has been Singapore's roving ambassador, building strong medical friendships and international relationships. Presidents of fraternal colleges regularly attend the Singapore-Malaysia Congresses of Medicine, and in recent years, this annual congress has been extended to include Hong Kong. When the RACP had its first Annual Scientific Meeting overseas, it was held in Singapore during the Mastership of Prof Chew in 1975. He and his council helped and facilitated in large measure the organisation of this successful meeting. He has served on the Asia Pacific Committee, RACP and the Management Board, MRCPUK in the 80s and 90s. In 2010, he was conferred Master of the ACP, the first Singapore physician to receive the highest honour of the College (MACP). He was also the first non-Australasian to be awarded the College Medal by RACP during the presidency of Prof Alex Cohen, and was given a Gold Medal as Emeritus Advisor by Prof James Petrie, PRCP Edinburgh. He was conferred the Honorary Fellowship by the Hong Kong College of Physicians and in Singapore by the home Colleges of Physicians and of Family Physicians. In addition, the Singapore Medical Association, the Singapore Thoracic Society and Society of Aviation Medicine have awarded their highest honour, the Honorary Membership and the National Arthritis Foundation the Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a senior member of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland which was foundered by Sir William Osler and his peers in 1907. For his contributions to medicine, education and research, the Singapore Government conferred on him the National Award of PPA(E), the Public Administration Gold Medal in 1983 and on retirement, the Long Service Medal in 1991. Several medals were awarded by the Singapore Armed Forces for his pioneering work in establishing field hospitals when Singapore became an independent nation in 1965.
Sports had always been an important interest to Chin Hin, especially in his early years, representing school and university in hockey and cricket. He excelled in hockey and led successfully the HKU XI (1952 to 1954). He contributed a chapter on Sports in the University of Hong Kong, 1949 to 1955 in Hong Kong's first historical post World War 2 book 50 Years of Amateur Sports in Hong Kong, 1947 to 1997: the Quest for Gold by SF Lam and Julian Chang, published by HKU Press. He was in the Anglo Chinese School chess team that became the first Singapore league champions in 1949. In post-retirement years, golf provided him and Anna pleasurable times and recreation, and playing in numerous scenic courses the world over including Pebble Beach in the US, Canoustie in Scotland and the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Chin Hin's students of medicine have respectfully regarded him a 'timeless teacher' and Dr John MacKay, the profile editor of HKCP's Synapse, after an interview wrote 'Looking back he recalls with humility and satisfaction the role he played... and recalls with joy the successful careers of the students and young doctors he taught. Prof Chin Hin Chew was keen to pass on his advice that to teach... others is a lifelong process and the best way to enhance your own learning. Listening to his eloquent and kindly conversation it is easy to imagine the pleasure with which his students enjoyed his ward rounds'.
In a citation, Prof YC Chee, a past master, AMS said 'Dr Chew retired in 1991...but continues his hectic schedule...throughout his service and in every task he has undertaken, he has consistently and tenaciously pursued excellence'. He regards this as a post retirement 'National Service'.
In a tribute to healthcare pioneers in August 2014, the Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong expressed 'the importance of investing heavily in our best resource – our people, training them to excel in their fields and to care for Singaporeans. Professor Chew Chin Hin knows this and has always been passionate about medical education. He recognised very early on, that Singapore could not depend on other countries to raise the standard of specialised training. As Master of the Academy of Medicine, Prof Chew was instrumental in the development of local postgraduate qualifications. He was a man who demanded excellence and insisted that our qualifications be as robust as those in the UK and Australia. Even after retirement, Prof Chew continues to serve actively and contribute to the progress of graduate medical studies in Singapore. In fact, he is proud to share that at 83 years old, he is only the second oldest faculty member! I am confident that our new generations of healthcare professionals will be infected by his dedication and will be more than ready for the future'.
The newest medical school, Singapore's third, The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine has established in perpetuity a Gold Medal for Clinical Medicine and prize in his name from 2019. A devoted family man, Anna and Chin Hin have four children: daughter Elaine, twin daughters Eileen and Eirene, son Edward, and two grandchildren, Caleb Euan and Sarah Jade.