Winners of the NUS Medicine Outstanding Research Fellow Award 2023

The Outstanding Research Fellow award recognises the efforts and achievements of our research fellows who have demonstrated excellence in all areas of research, service, mentoring, and leadership at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

We are pleased to announce that the following candidates have been selected to receive the NUS Medicine – 2023 Outstanding Research Fellow Award.

Dr Wu Ling

Dr Wu Ling is a senior research fellow at Professor Nicholas Gascoigne’s lab in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. His current research interests span the basic and translational spectrum of understanding ways to combat cancer by immune engineering, e.g. CAR/TCR-T immunotherapy. Dr Wu deeply believes that modern biotechnologies have the potential to empower our immune system and pave the way for the development of novel therapeutics. This fuels his passion to dedicate himself to the creation of innovative therapeutics derived from his research efforts, ultimately aiming to enhance the lives of patients

Dr. Thinesshwary Yogarajah

Dr. Thinesshwary Yogarajah has been affiliated with the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology since 2019. Her passion for understanding virus-host pathogenesis led her to focus on antiviral treatment for medically important positive-sense RNA viruses. She was awarded the bronze medal for the prestige Singapore Young Investigator Award 2022 in the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress scientific competition for her high-impact discovery of a plant-based broad-spectrum antiviral for many different viruses. Dr Yogarajah’s exciting findings have also been published in the high-impact journal, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B. Her support for her peers and dedicated mentorship to students was recognized with the award of the NUS Medicine Outstanding Mentor Award in 2022. More recently, Dr. Yogarajah was awarded the WuXi AppTec-NUS Solitaire Initiative 2022 for her pioneering technology on antiviral therapeutic discovery based on inhibiting viral protein-protein interaction.

Dr. Loh Fei Kean

Dr Loh Fei Kean joined the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Laboratory as Research Fellow to investigate potential host-directed therapy and establish animal models for Tuberculosis, mainly on central nervous system TB and diabetes TB comorbidity. With the great support from Dr Catherine Ong, her Principal Investigator, and her colleagues, Dr Loh has clinched multiple awards including NUS Medicine bench-to-bedside research collaboration grant’21, NCID short-term fellowship’22, IDTRP and SIDS travel sponsorships for ECCMID’23 oral presentation, and NCID Catalyst Grant’23. Since her undergraduate years, Dr Loh has had a specific interest in infectious diseases and is fascinated by the scientific advancement in combating pathogens. Having witnessed how infectious diseases epidemics has led to the devastating loss of lives, Dr Loh is even more determined to contribute her skillset and knowledge to develop novel interventions that can improve outcomes in the field of infectious diseases.

Winners of the NUS Medicine Outstanding Mentor Award for Research Fellows 2023

The Outstanding Mentor Award recognises outstanding research fellows who have demonstrated excellence in mentorship and actively contributed to the personal and professional development of students and research staff at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

We are pleased to announce that the following candidates have been selected to receive the NUS Medicine – 2023 Outstanding Mentor Award for Research Fellows.

Dr. Rijan Gurung

Dr Rijan Gurung is a research fellow under Prof Roger Foo. As a vascular biologist, Dr Gurung research interests lie in discovering cellular and molecular targets that could be important in the progression of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. He had the privilege of being involved in several projects utilising cutting edge technologies such as spatial transcriptomics and CRISPR screening to study altered cell states in disease. Dr Rijan Gurung values the autonomy he has experienced when answering interesting questions creatively in the pursuit of discovery while at the same time working within a larger team and having a dynamic role that involves teaching and plenty of learning. Dr Gurung draws inspiration from collaboration with the people around me, especially highly motivated students that he had the pleasure to supervise.

Dr Szuecs Anna

Dr Anna Szuecs is a Research Fellow from the Department of Medicine, Division of Family Medicine at NUS. Having initially trained as a psychiatrist in Switzerland, her research interests lie in mental health in older adults, in particular depression, suicide risk, and help-seeking for mental distress, and how these conditions/behaviours are shaped by personality, culture, and other individual characteristics. Dr Szuecs conducts both quantitative and qualitative research in these areas. She has collaboration projects with universities abroad like the University of Pittsburgh, Columbia University (USA) as well as at the NUS Centre for Healthy Longevity here in Singapore. On top of these projects, Dr Szuecs is leading a new research programme at NUS Family Medicine which focuses on late-life depression in primary care. Dr Szuecs also provides statistical and research support for numerous other projects within the Division and at the National University Polyclinics. The enthusiasm of her colleagues and mentees is what inspires Dr Szuecs the most. She feels that research is stimulating and fun, and finds it most rewarding when she is able to convey this to others around her.

Dr Lim Zi Xiang

Dr Lim Zi Xiang is a research fellow (Exercise Physiologist and Biochemist) at the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS) and Centre for Healthy Longevity (NUHS). He examines how different exercises affect the physiological systems and circulating biomarkers in humans, and how this differs across the aging process. He aims to understand how exercise can be personalised to improve the physiological systems and healthspan of everyone. To do so, he is inspired to learn new knowledge from mentors and share with his mentees, to further generate more knowledge.