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Professor Chng Wee Joo has been conferred the 2020 Brian G.M. Durie Outstanding Achievement Award by the International Myeloma Foundation at the 11th Annual International Myeloma Working Group Summit held on 26th August 2020. He is the first Asian to receive this prestigious award. This international award is given to an individual who has demonstrated excellence in multiple myeloma research, and has significantly improved the lives of patients. The prestigious accolade is judged by a working group comprising more than 200 international myeloma experts who conduct collaborative basic, clinical, and translational research to improve health outcomes.

The scope of Professor Chng’s research projects include: “Understanding genetic abnormalities and the role they play in myeloma development”; “Stratification of patients into different risk group”; “Understanding the reasons underlying high risk disease that remain a therapeutic challenge”, and “Developing an Asia-wide clinical trial network that provide early access to novel effective treatment” (not just in Singapore but also in other Asian countries). These contributions have resulted in better ways to stratify patients, potential new therapeutic strategies for high risk patients, and an improvement in outcomes of patients due to access to trials.