Professor William Hwang, a clinician as well as UCLA-NUS Executive MBA (EMBA) alumnus, believes in nurturing his colleagues as much as his patients.

“I look after my patients like my family and dear ones. It affects me deeply when my patients are not doing well,” said William, who is a Senior Advisor at SingHealth, Co-Director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Singapore (REMEDIS), and Senior Consultant at Haematology, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS). He was the previous Chief Executive Officer of NCCS.

William recalled a fateful episode from his early days as a doctor where he could not save his leukaemia patient, but the parents still thanked him even when they were grieving. “I should be comforting them, yet they were thanking me.”

“I have always tried to put patients first in all my decisions, and learn from each patient to do better for the next,” said William.

Till today, William often checks on his patients even after midnight. But he cannot always be there and he has to rely on his colleagues to see his patients when he is unavailable.

“Fortunately, the teams in SGH and NCCS are very reliable, and I am always grateful for the teamwork,” William explained.

The value of teamwork

“I recognise the importance of teamwork in the healthcare setting. So, I usually choose the best people and provide them with as much support and guidance as I can. Then I try to step back and resist the temptation of interfering if they were delivering results,” he said.

One influence on William’s management style came from a visit to Sweden’s Vasa Museum, which houses a warship called Vasa built in 1628. It sank during its maiden voyage because the Swedish king rushed the building process. The story was that people knew the ship would sink, but no one dared to tell the Swedish king, who wanted the ship built at all costs.

“I learned, there and then, that I must never create an environment where everyone would rather “let you sink the ship than to speak up”. In a team, everyone should be empowered to speak up as much as being a much better listener,” he said.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic was another event that deeply influenced William’s outlook. He saw how decisions on the ground had to be made in the absence of clear guidelines back then.

“I saw how patient outcomes were extremely dependent on national healthcare policies and hospital leadership,” he said as he embraced leadership roles during his career. “Patients, the public and staff had to be engaged at every level to garner their support and address their concerns. ”

The lessons from the SARS pandemic were an invaluable experience for Singapore. “We did so much better through the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The teamwork and shared responsibility across the nation contributed to our success overcoming the challenges of COVID-19,” said William.

Joining NUS

In 2021, William decided to further his learning journey by enrolling in the UCLA-NUS EMBA programme. It was in light of the plan to expand NCCS’ capacity to cope with increasing cancer treatment services as the disease was fast becoming the leading cause of death in Singapore.

“It was going to be five times the original size. The scale and complexity of NCCS would increase, and I wanted to ensure a smooth transition to the new building, a new leadership team, and more importantly, a new NCCS as the premier cancer centre for the region,” William said.

Today, NCCS has successfully opened in the new building and incorporated many departments and services from the Singapore General Hospital and housed national entities like the Singapore Cancer Society and the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute of Singapore.

The UCLA-NUS EMBA programme has helped William, in his words, “become a better doctor in many ways”. “Engaging and influencing patients and our medical teams while keeping cost-effectiveness in mind is a very important part of being a doctor. I refined these areas through leadership, negotiation, and other modules,” he said. The statistics module showed him how to analyse and interpret data for decision-making.

Award win

William recently won the National Outstanding Clinician Award at Singapore’s Ministry of Health’s National Medical Excellence Awards. He was lauded for advancing haemato-oncology (blood cancer) and stem cell transplantation treatment, dedication to his patients, and leadership of NCCS. William has published over a hundred clinical and scientific papers and one of his achievements includes performing a stem cell transplant by growing cord blood cells — the first in Asia.

“I think that the award is not just an acknowledgement of my work but also my teams. It has been a joy seeing the people I nurture grow over time,” William said.

So what’s next for William after his award? “I have done all I set out to do for NCCS and am ready to tackle new challenges. But for now, I will savour the moment and focus on my patient care and research,” he said.