Professor Mark Richards, who has led the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS)’s Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) as Head since November 2009 and served as Deputy Centre Director of NUHCS since April 2020, will be retiring on 30th June 2023. During his tenure as Head of CVRI, the centre has expanded from its original team of 3 scientists and 4 technical staff to an institution with more than 200 scientists, which includes 5 NMRC-awarded clinician-scientists. CVRI and NUHCS have produced more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications, and many of which have entered the highest-tier journals such as Circulation, European Heart Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JAMA Cardiology, Nature Reviews Cardiology and the European Journal of Heart Failure. CVRI and NUHCS have also received more than S$150 million extramural grants from federal sources and industry partners in the last 10 years.

He has increased the research capability of CVRI for cardiac biomarker assay, animal models, microRNA, genomics, single cell studies, vascular biology and fostered the establishment and progress of the biobank of surgical samples, blood products and DNA, as well as established many collaborative research links in Singapore, New Zealand and beyond.  

Most importantly, his legacy is the many scientists, clinician-scientists, post-doctoral students, fellows and staff he has mentored in the last 14 years. Mark will return to NUS and CVRI in the capacity as Visiting Professor, even post-retirement for the next 2 years.