Appointments
- Associate Professor with Tenure (Clinician-Scientist), Department of Medicine, YLLSoM, National University of Singapore
- Principal Investigator, Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore
- Senior Consultant, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital
- Visiting Consultant, Tuberculosis Control Unit (TBCU), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
Dr Catherine W.M. ONG MBBS MRCP(UK) MMed (Int Med) PhD FAMS FRCP is a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, Assistant Dean for Research in NUS Medicine, Head of NUHS Clinician-Scientist Academy, Principal Investigator in iHealthtech, Senior Consultant with Division of Infectious Diseases in NUH and Visiting Consultant at the National Tuberculosis Care Centre Singapore with research and clinical interests in Tuberculosis. She serves in international journal editorial boards; as Associate Editor of the leading European Respiratory Journal and Deputy Editor of the flagship International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Her other portfolios include Elected Executive Council and Treasurer to the ESCMID Study Group for Mycobacterial Infections (ESGMYC). She previously served as Vice-President of Society of Infectious Disease (Singapore) 2018 - 2023, Honorary Secretary to the Chapter of Infectious Disease Academy of Medicine Singapore 2017 - 2023 and elected Council Member and then Treasurer of College of Clinician Scientists Singapore 2020-2023. She is expert reviewer to global funding agencies such as the Wellcome Trust, UK RI and ESCMID and is internationally-recognised.
Catherine graduated in medicine from NUS in 2003, trained in Infectious Diseases and completed a PhD in 2013 at Imperial College London funded by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) NRF-MOH Scholarship. Her laboratory focuses on Tuberculosis host-pathogen interactions, biomarker discovery and TB host-directed therapies in multi-national clinical trials. Work is funded by the NMRC, National Centre for Infectious Diseases and NUS. Her research team of outstanding graduate students and research staff have won multiple national and international-level awards notably from ECCMID, APCCMI and the Wellcome Trust.
On clinical aspects of TB, Catherine serves the Ministry of Health Singapore and works with WHO Coordinating Centres and WHO itself. For her work, she received multiple national and international accolades. They include a Presidential Award at the American Society for Leukocyte Biology 2011, Global Health Travel Award by the Gates Foundation 2012, International Investigator Award by the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2013, NMRC Transition Award 2015, Institut Merieux-SIDS Young Investigator Award 2018, NMRC Clinician Scientist Award (INV) 2018 with renewal in 2022 and the Clinician Scientist Award (Senior) 2024 in recognition of her achievements in the field of Tuberculosis.