SINGAPORE – Veteran medical social worker Gilbert Fan, who served twice as the president of the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW), died on March 31 after a battle with colorectal cancer. He was 67 years old.
Dr Fan was a master medical social worker with the psychosocial oncology department at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and president of social service agency Viriya Community Services’ management committee.
He was also an adjunct assistant professor with the National University of Singapore’s Department of Social Work.
Medical social workers are healthcare professionals who help patients and their families address psychosocial, financial and emotional challenges associated with their conditions.
Dr Fan began his career in medical social work at Changi General Hospital before serving with the National University Hospital, where his work also involved counselling male victims of sexual attacks, a 1991 Straits Times article noted.
In 1999, he joined the then newly formed NCCS, serving as its first medical social worker.
In a statement, SASW described Dr Fan, who was a member of the association’s executive committee, as a pillar of strength and wisdom whose contributions to the social work profession in Singapore were “profound and enduring”.
“An internationally respected leader in oncology social work, Dr Fan was a clinician, educator and scholar who advanced the fields of palliative care and bereavement,” the association said.
