Balaji Sadasivan

Who was Balaji Sadasivan?

Dr. Balaji Sadasivan was a Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon of Indian ancestry. He attended Raffles Institution, Siglap Secondary School and National Junior College, and studied medicine at the University of Singapore. After graduating in 1979, he continued his education at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1984. He also trained at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, from 1985 to 1989, and became a Fellow of Harvard University in 1990. He worked as a neurosurgeon until 2001, publishing over 50 book chapters and journal articles.

In 2001 Sadasivan was elected to the Parliament of Singapore for the Cheng San–Seletar division of the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency. From then until his death he served as Minister of State for the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport; and subsequently Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. In 2007, he was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization. In March 2008, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reshuffled his Cabinet, from which time Sadasivan retained only his portfolio at the Foreign Affairs Ministry until his death in 2010.