The Too Joon Chew Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Prize was established in 2022 by the Too family in memory of their late father, Mr Too Joon Chew.

The award is governed by the following conditions:

  1. Subject to rule 4 below, a cash prize valued at $1,000 each will be awarded to the top three PhD graduate with the most outstanding work done in their respective field of research.
  2. Each award is to be given to a single recipient.
  3. The prizes will be awarded by the Board of Graduate Studies or its nominee.
  4. No award will be made unless there is a candidate of sufficient merit.
  5. This gift shall be governed by the University Statutes and Regulations, specifically, Statute 7 on Gifts to the University and the corresponding Regulation.

 

Winners of the Too Joon Chew PhD Prize 2025

Dr Chen Zijiao, Department of Medicine, Decoding the Mind’s Tapestry: Interpretable FMRI-Based Brain State Analysis Using Advanced Deep Learning Techniques

Dr Chuah You Heng, Department of Physiology, To Investigate the Role of RNF8 in Regulating Mitotic Progression in Gliomas

Dr Lee Wei Jie Jonathan, Department of Medicine, Application of Metagenomics in Inflammatory Gastrointestinal Diseases

 

Winner of the Too Joon Chew PhD Prize 2024

Dr Chiang Yin Ning, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pathogenicity Island-Mediated Prophage Induction

Dr Lee Yun Hua, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Investigating The Role Of Innate Lymphoid Cells And Tc17 In Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Dr Dexter Thng Kai Hao, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Targeting Synthetic Lethal And Combinatorial Vulnerabilities In Gastrointestinal Cancers

 

Winner of the Too Joon Chew PhD Prize 2023

Dr Samira Sadeghi, Department of Medicine, Translational Applications of Thermostable Exoshells: A Detailed Study

Dr Goh Ya Hwee Jasmine, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Rational Design of Optimised Therapeutics Against Relapsed/Refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Dr Kalpana Ramnarayanan, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Gastric Cancer at the Single Cell Level

 

Winner of the Too Joon Chew PhD Prize 2022

Dr Chong Ruifen Joyce, Department of Pharmacology, Novel Biomarkers And Lipids Dysregulation In Neurodegenerative And Vascular Dementias

Dr Lim Jhin Jieh, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Therapeutic Combination Optimization For Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Dr Raghav Sundar, Department of Physiology, Genomic And Epigenetic Mechanisms Of Resistance To Systemic Therapy In Gastroesophageal Cancer

 

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Walter C. Willett

• Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Co-Chair, EAT-Lancet Commission
• Director, Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Faculty Affiliate, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Former Chair, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine, United States
• Author, Nutritional Epidemiology
• Member, MSc NLM Programme Curriculum Committee

Walter C. Willett, a Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Director of the Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition for 25 years. A globally recognised expert in nutritional epidemiology, his research on diet and chronic disease prevention has shaped public health policies worldwide. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, he has published over 2,000 scientific articles and authored influential books, including Nutritional Epidemiology.

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Adj Prof Joanne Yoong Su Yin

• Adjunct Professor, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Founder and Chief Executive, Research for Impact, Singapore
• Honorary Senior Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Adjunct Faculty, Department of Economics, Singapore Management University

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A/Prof Kenneth Ban

Programme Director, National Supercomputing Cluster Singapore (NSCC)
Assoc Prof, Dept of Biochemistry, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Prof Kenneth Ban graduated from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and completed his PhD in Stanford University, As a medical educator and Phase I Director at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Kenneth is leading the development of a Health Informatics track aiming to build foundational competencies in data science for medical students.

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A/Prof Caroline Lee

Vice Dean, NUS Graduate School, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Assoc Prof, Dept of Biochemistry, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Prof Caroline Lee graduated with PhD from Baylor College of Medicine and did her post-doctoral training with Dr. Michael Gottesman at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. She has ~100 peer reviewed publications focused on the functional genomics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pharmacogenetics.
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Aaron Chua

• Principal Lecturer and Consultant, Digital Strategy & Leadership Practice, NUS-ISS

His research interests comprise health-related quality-of-life studies, clinical trials, and modelling transmission of infectious disease. He has also worked with projects in various therapeutic areas including oncology, stroke, ophthalmology and orthopaedics.
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A/Prof Jason Yap

• Associate Professor, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
• Director, Public Health Translation, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

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Prof Seth Gilbert

• Dean’s Chair Associate Professor, NUS School of Computing
• Head, Department of Computer Science, NUS School of Computing

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Adj. Prof Ngiam Kee Yuan

• Head, Department of Biomedical Informatics, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Head, Artificial Intelligence Office, NUHS
• Head & Senior Consultant, Division of General Surgery (Endocrine & Thyroid Surgery), Department of Surgery, NUH

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Dr Aoife Keohane

• Programme Director, MSc in Behavioural and Implementation Sciences
in Health (MSc BIS)
• Senior Lecturer, Centre for Behavioural and Implementation
Science Interventions (BISI) NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

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Prof Nick Sevdalis

• Academic Director, Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions (BISI)
• Visiting Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Academic Director (Joint), Quality Improvement & Implementation Science Clinical Academic Group, King's Health Partners, London, UK

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Dr Volker Patzel

Biomedical Innovation & Enterprise Course Coordinator
Senior Lecturer, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Dr Volker Patzel is a Senior Lecturer at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and holds a PhD from the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg. With more than 20 years of teaching experience, he coordinates six modules at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and leads research on RNA technologies for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Dr Patzel has published over 50 papers, filed 15 patent families, and founded AVECRIS Pte Ltd in Singapore.

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A/Prof Gautam Sethi

Drug Discovery and Development Specialisation Coordinator
Capstone Project Co-Coordinator
Associate Professor, Dept of Pharmacology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

A/Prof Gautam Sethi is a tenured Associate Professor at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, focusing on oncogenic transcription factor activation and cancer therapy. His work has led to over 400 scientific publications in high-impact journals. A/Prof Sethi is an editorial board member for numerous international journals and has been recognized as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers in 2020 and 2021 by Clarivate.

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Dr Sham Lok-To (Chris)

Capstone Project Coordinator
Assistant Professor, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Dr Chris Sham is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, where he teaches multiple microbiology-related courses, including Microbiology and Infection and Immunity He also serves as the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme coordinator and the Deputy Research Director of the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme. His research focuses on bacterial cell envelope synthesis, and in 2019, he received the prestigious National Research Foundation Fellowship.

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Dr Png Chin Wen

Vaccinology and Immunotherapy Specialisation Coordinator
Lecturer, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Dr Png Chin Wen earned his PhD from the University of Queensland and is a Lecturer at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, where he teaches topics such as immunology, cellular signaling, and vaccine development. His research focuses on gut microbiome and mucosal inflammation related to gastrointestinal cancers. Dr Png collaborates with clinicians to explore the role of gut bacteria in disease progression and serves as course coordinator for the MSc in Applied Biomedicine’s Vaccinology and Immunotherapy specialisation.

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Dr Jaishree Tripathi

Infectious Diseases Management Specialisation Coordinator
Lecturer, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Dr Jaishree Tripathi is a Lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, where she leads the Infectious Diseases Management track for the MSc in Applied Biomedicine programme. She has over 11 years of research experience in malaria parasite biology, including drug resistance and host-parasite interactions. Dr Tripathi holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge and has made significant contributions to malaria research using stem-cell-based models and single-cell transcriptomics.
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A/Prof Zhang Yongliang

Co-Programme Director, MSc in Applied Biomedicine (ABM)
Associate Professor, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

A/Prof Zhang Yongliang is a tenured Associate Professor and Deputy Research Director of the Translational Immunology Programme at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. With over 15 years of teaching experience, he has created several programmes focused on infection and cancer. A/Prof Zhang’s contributions to immunology research have earned him recognition, including the Graduate Mentor of the Year award in 2019.

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A/Prof Kevin Tan Shyong Wei

Programme Director, MSc in Applied Biomedicine (ABM)
Associate Professor and Head, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

A/Prof Kevin Tan is the Head of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at NUS and Vice-Dean (Graduate Studies) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He has 20 years of teaching experience and played a key role in developing the world’s first online course on the biomedical aspects of COVID-19. A/Prof Tan has received numerous teaching awards, including the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and Graduate Mentor of the Year.
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Dr Lee Chun Fan

• Assistant Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School

Dr Lee Chun Fan is an assistant professor at the Centre for Quantitative Medicine at the Duke-NUS Medical School. Prior to this, he was also affiliated with the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at The University of Hong Kong and the Singapore Clinical Research Institute.
His research interests comprise health-related quality-of-life studies, clinical trials, and modelling transmission of infectious disease. He has also worked with projects in various therapeutic areas including oncology, stroke, ophthalmology and orthopaedics.
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Dr Cindy Lin Xinyi

• Assistant Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School

Dr. Xinyi (Cindy) Lin is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke- NUS Medical School. She serves as the course coordinator for two modular courses in in the MCI programme: MCI5001 (Design and Planning of Clinical Studies) and MCI5006 (Design and Planning of Epidemiological Studies). Dr. Lin has extensive experience utilising advanced statistical methods in clinical research studies and genetic epidemiology investigations. She has taught biostatistics coursework to a diverse audience, including PhD students and clinical researchers.
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Mihir Gandhi

• Assistant Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School

Mihir Gandhi is an Assistant Professor in the Signature Program in Health Services & Systems Research, Lien Centre for Palliative Care, as well as the Head of Biostatistics Core team at the Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. He is also affiliated with the Singapore Clinical Research Institute, Singapore as the Head of Biostatistics Department and the Global Health Group at the Center for Child Health Research, Tampere University, Finland as a Visiting Researcher.
He is primarily working on planning, analysis and reporting of clinical trials. He has experience in wide range of therapeutic areas such as oncology, paediatrics, and hypertension for drug and health services interventional trials. In addition to clinical trials, he has research interest in applied statistics, health-related quality of life, quality of healthcare and health state valuation.
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A/Prof Edwin Chan

• Associate Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine
• Office of Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUS Medical School

A/Prof Chan is a clinical epidemiologist with over twenty years of experience in clinical research and evidence synthesis as the Chief Scientific Officer of the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI). He has been the Director of Cochrane Singapore since its establishment and is currently the Senior Scientific Advisor to SCRI. He teaches research literature critical appraisal skills and mentors students in clinical research (MCI programme, NUS). He has taught many research methodology courses on clinical trials, biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical practice guidelines (CPG) development, meta-analysis & evidence- based medicine (EBM). His interests are in the teaching of critical appraisal skills, epidemiology, health technology assessment and evidence synthesis.
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Prof Cheung Yin Bun

• Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine
• Deputy Director, Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School

CHEUNG Yin Bun is Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, and Adjunct Professor at Tampere University, Finland. Prior to joining Duke-NUS, he was a Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Chief Scientific Officer at the Singapore Clinical Research Institute.
He received his degrees in social science, medical demography, statistics and paediatric epidemiology from institutions in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. He has broad interest in the studies of global child health, statistical methodology, and quality of life in palliative care setting. He has been the principal investigator of multiple research grants on statistical methodology and quality of life research. He is the author of Statistical Analysis of Human Growth and Development (CRC Press, 2014) and co-author of Survival Analysis: A Practical Approach (Wiley, 2006). He is the developer of the Singapore Caregiver Quality of Life Scale.
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Makoto Yawata, M.D., Ph.D.

• Programme Director, Master of Clinical Investigation
• Clinical-Scientist Mentor, Master of Clinical Investigation
• Research Assistant Professor
• Department of Pediatrics, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator, Immunology Programme, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore
• Principal Investigator, NUS Medicine Immunology Translational Research Programme, National University of Singapore

Makoto YAWATA is the Director of the MCI Programme, where he also serves as a clinician-scientist mentor guiding the students in designing and planning their clinical studies and as coordinator of the MCI wet lab experiential research workshop. He is affiliated with the Department of Paediatrics at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and a Principal Investigator in the Immunology Programme in the NUS Life Sciences Institute and the NUS Medicine Immunology Translational Research Programme. 

His clinical background is autoimmune diseases; however, the research he conducted as postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Structural Biology in Stanford University School of Medicine has led him to become more involved in hematology and transplantation. His laboratory has been investigating the mechanisms of human natural killer cell responses against particular types of virus infections and cancer, and also in transplantation immunology.

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