Associate Professor Kenneth Mak is the director of medical services at the Ministry of Health (MOH), where he oversees the provision of health services in primary care, community care and hospital settings, including mental health services. Associate professor Mak was appointed to the role in February 2020, just when the Covid-19 pandemic was starting to spread across the globe.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Associate Professor Mak has been heavily involved in national efforts to control the outbreak in Singapore.

He is one of the public faces of the Singapore Government’s response to the pandemic, frequently seen at media conferences and doorstop interviews to offer updates on governmental measures and the ongoing situation. As director of medical services in MOH, he advises the Covid-19 Multi-Ministry Taskforce, as well as other governmental agencies, in crafting the overall strategy for managing the outbreak and oversees the public health response to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Associate Professor Mak started his medical career at National University Hospital and later Alexandra Hospital, where he headed its department of surgery. His subsequent roles included chairman of the medical board at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) from June 2011 to December 2015, after which he joined the Ministry of Health as deputy director of medical services for the Health Services Group. He continues to engage in clinical practice as a senior surgical consultant at KTPH; his specialities are hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, and trauma surgery.