Ming Joo Koh

Ming Joo Koh is a Singaporean academic and organic chemist who is the Dean's Chair Professor and Deputy Head of Research in the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore.

Early life and education Ming Joo Koh was born and raised in Singapore. He earned a Bachelor of Science with first-class honours in chemistry and biological chemistry from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2012, where he conducted research under Philip Chan on gold‐catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions for heterocycle formation.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Koh pursued doctoral studies in organic chemistry at Boston College under Amir H. Hoveyda. During his Ph.D., he collaborated with Richard R. Schrock at MIT on developing stereoselective olefin metathesis catalysts, focusing on methods to control alkene stereochemistry in natural products and pharmaceutical synthesis. He was promoted to tenured associate professor in 2023, and in 2024 he assumed the role of Deputy Head (Research) of the Chemistry Department and was appointed as a Dean's Chair Professor for 2024–2027. He has also developed a metal-free photochemical method for glycosylation using visible light and an iron-catalyzed remote protoboration technique for selective boron installation on alkenes. 2022: Thieme Chemistry Journals Award 2022: C&EN Talented 12 2023: Asian Scientist 100 2023: Novartis Early Career Award in Chemistry 2023: NUS Researcher Award 2024: Mitsui Chemicals Catalysis Science Award