AWDS PRESIDENT’s REPORT 2008-2009

Dear AWDS members & friends,

Last year, we increased membership by 14%. So, thank you for all your support , and coming to the activities organized by my exco helming AWDS from 2008- 2010 !

We celebrated the 10th anniversary of AWDS in 2008 and for the newbies in the audience, just to let you know…the society has come a long way since it was first registered in July 1998. AWDS first fought for the abolishment of the gender quota that, up until its termination in 2002, restricted the intake of deserving female medical students into the medical degree course in Singapore. AWDS has evolved through its teething years as a society, and is recognized as pivotal in promoting women’s rights in relation to health and career advancement in medical practice.

Since then, the association has grown from strength to strength in recent years with an increasing number of activities and collaborations with other women’s groups eg. UNIFEM, AWARE, WINGS, Financial Women’s Association (FWA), Business & Professional Women’s Association (BPWA) to name a few, and is also invited to engage in Ministerial Dialogue Sessions by the PAP Women’s Wing. AWDS joined the Singapore Council of Women’s Organizations (SCWO) in 2005 and established a website in mid 2006.

Last 3 years has seen AWDS focusing on

• medical advocacy & public education on various aspects of women’s and children’s health (like cervical cancer awareness & prevention, raising sexual health awareness amongst teenagers, etc)
  
  
• a heart for charity (with our inaugural AWDS Charity Dinner in 2007 benefiting Star Shelter, for abused women & Sanctuary House, for abandoned babies, other smaller initiatives like gourmet cooking classes and self defense workshops)
  
  
• and increasing the bond between women doctors, with a myriad of fun activities.

We will continue to have activities planned around our mission statement. We also aim to reach out to our younger colleagues through our fun activities, and we hope to recruit more junior members to join our ranks to network, socialize outside of the medical fraternity and help do our bit for the public health and social areas.

Moving ahead, we will be supporting needy women with cancer through our May 5, 2010 “From a Jack to a King” AWDS/ British Theatre Playhouse’s Charity Gala Dinner Theatre, in aid of the KK Hospital Health Endowment Fund (KKHHEF).Held at the Raffles Hotel, join us for a night of fun, fine food, wine and a West End rock and roll musical !

Also in the pipeline, we have a public health and wellness forum coming up, networking sessions with other professional bodies (lawyers, bankers, women’s groups, etc), jewellery appreciation, spa treats and small charitable activities along the way. So stay tuned !

Dr Wendy Teoh, President AWDS

Updated Dec 2009