The SMA Lecture was instituted in 1963, by a grant from the SMA to the Faculty of Medicine, to establish an Annual Lecture on medical ethics and related topics. Two lectures were held in 1963 and 1964. In 1969, the SMA Lecture was incorporated into the 2nd SMA National Medical Convention held in conjunction with the 4th Singapore-Malaysia Congress of the Academy of Medicine to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Singapore. Since then, it has become an Annual Lecture and the key feature of the SMA Medical Convention until 1990, when it was delivered for the first time during the SMA Annual Dinner. From 1997, the SMA Lecture was organised annually in conjunction with the SMA Ethics Convention.
The theme of the Lecture is centred on medical ethics and related topics. The first non-SMA Member to be invited to deliver this Lecture was Dr M K Rajakumar from Malaysia in 1983, and the first non-doctor was Mr Justice P Coomaraswamy in 1989.
SMA Lecturers are appointed on the invitation of the SMA Council and the Lectureship is awarded to eminent and distinguished persons who have made significant contributions to Medicine and the community.
Browse Past SMA Lecturers and Lecture topics