Congratulations to Professor Gertjan Medema, Editorial Board Member of W&E Journal, for Winning the 2024 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize!
Published 09 August, 2024
According to Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), Professor Gertjan Medema, Chief Scientist of the KWR Institute for Water Research in the Netherlands and Editorial Board Member of the journal Water & Ecology, has been awarded the 2024 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize for his outstanding contributions to the field of wastewater epidemiology!
Professor Gertjan Medema is a renowned expert in the field of microbiology and serves as Chief Scientist at the KWR Water Institute in the Netherlands, Adjunct Professor in the field of Water and Health at Delft University of Technology, Editorial Board Member of the journal Water & Ecology, Director of the KWR-World Health Organization (WHO) Joint Centre for Water Quality and Health, and Advisor on Microbiological Safety of Infectious Diseases to WHO and its European Commission for the Surveillance of Water Systems and Wastewater. Microbiological Safety Advisor for Infectious Diseases.
His research areas include detection methods, transmission, risk assessment and epidemiological studies of waterborne pathogens, as well as the development of water treatment and removal technologies such as bank filtration and artificial recharge of aquifers.
In a research career spanning more than 25 years, Professor Medema has established QMRA in countries with water quality regulations. He also led the development and application of non-chlorinated drinking water supply technologies in the Netherlands, the case of which has become a global model.
Professor Medema chaired the Microbiology Expert Group of the International Water Association together with Ms. Joan Rose, co-founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Water & Ecology, and together they have actively contributed to technological advances in the field of international water health.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, Professor Medema rapidly developed effluent virus monitoring technology and epidemiological studies based on effluent monitoring, which laid the foundation for the establishment of a public health surveillance tool during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed actively to the containment of coronavirus transmission.
——Image info from The Straits Times
