Jarnail Singh

Jarnail Singh (1953/1954 – 6 February 2021) was a Singaporean physician who focused on aviation medicine. He was known for coordinating the aviation community's response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic outbreak in 2003 and had led the International Civil Aviation Organization's anti-SARS projects for impacted states, studying the spread of communicable diseases via air travel. He also led health studies on pilot fatigue on ultra long-haul flights. He was the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore's Medical Board and the first Asian president of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine.

He was a recipient of the Singapore government's Pingat Pentadbiran Awam, Perak award in 2015 for public services.

Education Singh attended medicine school at the Government Medical College at the Panjab University in Patiala in India, as a recipient of a Government of India scholarship. He returned back to Singapore and completed his national service as a physician at the Tengah and Sembawang air force bases. His studies focused on the understanding the spread of communicable diseases via air travel. He also led the organization's committee to study the spread of communicable diseases through air travel.

Singh also led the human factors working group as a part of the investigations of the Singapore Airlines Flight 006 crash in October 2000 that had killed 81 of the 179 occupants.

Singh was a pioneer in establishing aviation medicine as a speciality in Singapore, focusing on training younger physicians and examiners to lead health examinations and assessments of pilots, air crew, and air traffic controllers. He was the first Asian president of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine.

Personal life Singh was married and had two children; a son and a daughter. He died on 6 February 2021, in Singapore. He was 67.

Published works Gan, Wee Hoe, Rayden Low, and Jarnail Singh. "Aviation Medicine: global historical perspectives and the development of Aviation Medicine alongside the growth of Singapore's aviation landscape." Singapore Medical Journal 52.5 (2011): 324.