The Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) is proud to announce that APCO Chairperson, Professor Manju Chandran, and Scientific Advisory Member, Dato Dr Joon-Kiong Lee have been conferred two of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD)’s most prestigious awards – the 2023 ISCD Clinician of the Year award and the Dr. John P. Bilezikian ISCD Global Leadership Award, respectively. The ISCD is the global voice for health care professionals devoted to musculoskeletal health assessment, their chief advocate, and trusted peer group. The Society represents all professions who provide quality musculoskeletal health assessments and therapies to those living with osteoporosis and other bone disorders.

The ISCD Clinician of the Year award is presented to an outstanding clinician for distinguished service to the field of densitometry in the areas of publication, education, or leadership. As Senior Consultant Endocrinologist and Director of the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Prof Chandran established the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit at SGH in 2007, when the field was essentially non-existent in Singapore. Ever since, her ground-breaking clinical and research work in the field of metabolic bone disease has placed Singapore on the global map, and further, garnered her numerous international awards, including the most prestigious award in the IOF Pantheon – the Olof Johnell Science award in 2021- an award that honours an individual who has made internationally recognised contributions to the field of osteoporosis in the scientific and policy implementation arenas, the IOF Young Investigator Award, the IOF CNS medal, and many Singapore-based awards, such as the Most Inspiring Mentor in the Bicentennial year celebrations of SGH.

Prof Chandran is Chairperson of the Ministry of Health Singapore’s Appropriate Care Guidance on Osteoporosis, Past President of the Endocrine and Metabolic Society of Singapore, Immediate Past Chairperson of the Chapter of Endocrinologists, College of Physicians Singapore, and the founding Chairperson of APCO. Prof Chandran is the Deputy Chairperson of the Asia Pacific panel of the International Society of Clinical Densitometry and has worked tirelessly over the last 20 years to further the mission of the ISCD which is to advance excellence in the assessment of musculoskeletal health globally.

The Dr. John P. Bilezikian ISCD Global Leadership Award is presented to an individual for distinguished service and leadership in the global promotion of the field of bone densitometry and the ISCD. Dato’ Dr Joon-Kiong Lee is currently Deputy Medical Director, Chair of the Surgical Committee at Beacon Hospital, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. He is former President of the ISCD, and is current President of the Fragility Fracture Network Malaysia (FFNM). Dato’ Lee serves as the lead of the ISCD Orthopaedic Osteoporosis and Densitometry Course, and he was the winner of the 2018 Dr Paul D. Miller Service Award.

The awards were conferred upon Prof Chandran and Dr Lee by Dr Zhao Yanling – immediate Past President of the ISCD and APCO member, and Dr Ranjodh Gill – President of the ISCD, at a glittering award ceremony on Friday, March 31, 2023, in conjunction with the 2023 Annual Meeting of the ISCD that was held in Chicago, Illinois from March 28 – April 1, 2023. The meeting coincided with the 30^th Anniversary Celebration of the ISCD, and was especially poignant for Prof Chandran and Dr Lee, both of whom have been associated with the ISCD for the past 20 years.