President's son who won President's Science Award recently assuming new directorial role

Professor Patrick Tan who joined the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) in 2004 and has been working on cancer genomics/epigenomics and infectious diseases, will assume the appointment of Deputy Executive Director (DED) Biomedical Research Centre with effect from today (1 May).
His pioneering work on Asian cancer genomics was recognised with the award of the President’s Science Award to his team in September 2015. He received the prestigious award from his father, President Tony Tan.
Professor Tan came under intense public scrutiny during the 2011 Presidential Election period where several netizens pointed out that he was granted 12 years disruption from National Service to complete his further education. Professor Tan’s father became the Defence Minister of Singapore in Aug 1995 and served in the Ministry till Aug 2003.
In 2011, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen had to clarify that he was granted deferment from the years 1988 to 2000 as it was in-line with the prevailing Defence Ministry guidelines at that time.
Professor Tan also posted in Facebook that the allegations about him are false and are intended to hurt his father during the 2011 Presidential Election.
Patrick is a highly-awarded biomedical researcher and will continue to hold a joint appointment with the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.