Kanwaljit Soin

Dr Kanwaljit Soin is a consultant orthopaedic & hand surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore. She has 3 children, one of which to be Umej who is the Ambassador of Singapore to the United Arab Emirates, and Dinesh who is a successful entrepreneur and is the CEO of Trade Hero, and her youngest child, Lokpal who is a heart surgeon.

She studied in Tanjong Katong Girls' School for her secondary education and Victoria School for her pre-university education, and received her MBBS Hons in 1966 when she graduated top of her class. She obtained her Master of Medicine (Surgery) in 1970 from the University of Singapore, and she is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1970) and the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (1975). Dr Soin was also the recipient of a Colombo Plan Scholarship to train in hand surgery in Australia in 1972.

Dr Soin was AWARE President from 1991 to 1993, and became the first female Nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore from 1992 to 1996. In 1992, she became the second person to win the "Woman of the Year" award in Singapore. Soin’s greatest contribution to Singapore was her work resulting in the introduction of Personal Protection Orders for victims of domestic abuse.

In 2000 she was presented the “Women Who Make a Difference Award” by the International Women’s Forum, Washington D.C.

In 2006, Dr Soin was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) Singapore for consistently excelling in her job and for her selfless contribution to society, especially towards the less advantaged.

In 2008, she was presented with the 2008 Singapore Good Samaritan award by the Rotery Club of Singapore, in recognition of her work as founding president of Women's Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS), a non-profit centre to provide support for women in their 40s and above. WINGS has over the past two years helped almost 12,000 women with various programmes.

In 2010, she was one of few women named in the list of personalities who have helped engineer Singapore’s DNA. The article entitled The Power List: 30 People Who Have Shaped Singapore appeared on CNN Go, the network’s online travel portal, in October.

Dr Soin speaks English, Punjabi and Bahasa Indonesia; and is married to former judge, Amarjeet Singh.