News
Year in Review 2023: Building strong foundations through learning and engagement
2 December 2023
This has been a remarkable year for CRIS and our programmes. Join us as we take a look at the key highlights in 2023 in building strong foundations through learning and engagement.
SCRI recognises outstanding Clinical Research Coordinators
In January 2023, the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (opens in new tab) (SCRI) recognised nine outstanding Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC) for the Distinguished Contributor Award 2022, from across the public healthcare clusters.
Winners of the Distinguished Contributor Award 2022
The award recognises the significant contributions and dedication of CRCs to advance clinical research. In conjunction with the awards, SCRI also organised the SCRI-SingHealth CRC Webinar, where distinguished speakers spoke on the importance of a good study design in ensuring the quality of clinical trials.
The recipient of the Distinction award was Michelle Ren, Senior CRC from KK Women's and Children's Hospital. She coordinated a national COVID-19 vaccine study to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccine for young children, and overcame challenges together with her team to complete the recruitment of 150 subjects within three weeks.
Empowering excellence: Training and education programmes for the clinical research industry
The past year has been eventful for the team at the SCRI Academy. From organising national training programmes to developing specialised workshops, the team conducted and tailored courses to support fellow peers in the clinical research industry and equip them with the skills to better tackle their needs and challenges.
SCRI team conducting various workshops and training programmes in 2023
These include the Academy's flagship training and certification programmes for CRCs as well as specialised workshops on grant enhancement, research monitoring, a Cochrane workshop and public webinar on good Clinical Practice guidelines.
Read more here. (opens in new tab)
PRECISE and Science Centre Singapore raises public awareness on precision medicine and genomics
In collaboration with Science Centre Singapore, Precision Health Research, Singapore (opens in new tab) (PRECISE) organised a series of educational initiatives to spark interest and educate youths in precision medicine and genomics.
On 15 April, a DNA forum was organised to mark the 70th Anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix, where members of the public learnt more about precision medicine and its benefits on the course of health and medicine. As part of the event, ISawtheScience (a blog by Science Centre Singapore) also spoke with Dr Seow Shih Wee, Director, Corporate Services at PRECISE, on how precision medicine may revolutionise the course of health and medicine . Read it here (opens in new tab).
Highlights from the Genomic Forums which were co-hosted by PRECISE and Science Centre Singapore
On 4 September, an Understanding Genomics (opens in new tab) forum was held to enlighten the younger generation about the pivotal role genomics plays in maintaining health and causing disease. The speakers included Dr Seow, A/Prof Ng Kar Hui, Senior Consultant, Paediatric Kidney Transplantation Programme, National University Hospital, and A/Prof Joanne Ngeow, Head, Cancer Genetics Service, National Cancer Centre Singapore and Associate Professor of Genomic Medicine at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU.
Some 60 secondary school, pre-tertiary and tertiary students attended the session and learnt about the positive outcomes of precision medicine, the significance of the SG10K_Health (opens in new tab) and PRECISE-SG100K (opens in new tab) studies, A/Prof Ng’s Clinical Implementation Pilot (opens in new tab) for primary glomerular diseases, and the importance of genetics in cancer prevention.
The final installment of the series on 4 November saw esteemed speakers Dr Seow, Dr Li Jingmei from Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)’s Genome Institute of Singapore and A/Prof Wee Hwee Lin from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. They shared insights into the NPM programme, DNA sequencing and effects of medication and how our genes may influence the effects of our medication. Read more here. (opens in new tab)
Navigating the path from innovation to adoption and deployment at scale to improve population health
PRECISE hosted a panel featuring distinguished speakers from public healthcare, start-ups and academia at the Precision Public Health Asia 2023 Conference in July.
Precision Public Health Asia 2023
Panellists shared insights on data and stakeholder management, precision medicine and systems, and discussed two ongoing Clinical Implementation Pilots (opens in new tab) supported by PRECISE on Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and Pharmacogenomics (PGx).
Key learnings and takeaways included leveraging digital platforms for FH awareness, developing training tools for healthcare professionals to provide genetic counselling to families, and fostering public-private collaborations for digital solutions.
If you have missed the event, check out the post-conference report here (opens in new tab).
Empowering tomorrow’s leaders: ACTRIS Cell Therapy Lecture Series fuels education and training for scientists and clinicians
As part of Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore's (opens in new tab) (ACTRIS) commitment to train and educate the next generation of scientists and clinicians in cellular-based therapy support, it continued its series of Cell Therapy Lectures which featured distinguished speakers from public healthcare institutions and institutes of higher learning who shared their expertise generously with attendees. Their insights stirred active participation and keen interest from participants during the question-and-answer segments.
This year, the lectures covered topics such as exosomes and CAR-T therapy, virus-specific T-cells, natural killer cell therapeutics, non-viral reprogrammed mesenchymal stem cells in oncology, dendritic cells for immunotherapy and bone regeneration.
If you had missed the series, catch up on them here (opens in new tab).