Press Releases

27 May 2025

NUS Medicine and IHME joint Lancet Publications

Singapore has achieved exceptional public health successes while confronting emerging challenges, according to a series of four new studies published in the Lancet Public Health. Jointly led by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington School of Medicine, this special series is the first of its kind research focused on injuries, cardiovascular disease (CVD), smoking prevalence, and mental health burden in the ASEAN region. “The findings present a nuanced picture of Singapore’s health progress. While we’ve made remarkable strides in areas like cardiovascular care and tobacco control, the growing burden of mental health conditions and injuries, particularly self-harm and falls, calls for urgent and sustained attention,” said lead author Dr Marie Ng, Associate Professor, NUS Medicine, and Affiliate Associate Professor at IHME.

08 May 2025

Professor Shawn Chen appointed founding Editor-in-Chief of newly launched ACS Nano Medicine

Professor Xiaoyuan (Shawn) Chen, Nasrat Muzayyin Chair Professor in Medicine and Technology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), has been appointed the founding Editor-in-Chief of ACS Nano Medicine, a new peer-reviewed hybrid journal published by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

07 May 2025

Flagship Pioneering, the National University of Singapore, National University Hospital and the National University Health System Announce Collaboration to Advance Biotech Research & Development

Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), National University Hospital (NUH) and the National University Health System (NUHS) today announced a research and development collaboration to advance outcomes in human health and sustainability. Flagship, NUS Medicine, NUH and NUHS outlined the goals of their collaboration via a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed this week.

06 May 2025

Study findings support the use of a personalised medicine approach to treat Soft Tissue Sarcomas

A study conducted by researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with biotech company, KYAN Technologies, has demonstrated that a precision medicine approach improves treatment selection for patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS) in a clinical setting.

30 Apr 2025

Heinz College announces collaboration with the National University of Singapore and FriendsLearn to promote research & development activities on digital therapeutics

The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy will work with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) and School of Computing (NUS Computing), and with the firm FriendsLearn, to promote joint research and development activities of mutual interest. The research will use artificial intelligence (AI) in precision prevention of disease via innovative digital therapeutic solutions such as digital vaccines.

25 Apr 2025

World Sleep Society recommendations on wearable sleep trackers aim to empower consumers and clinicians, and foster industry partnership

Led by Professor Michael Chee, Director of the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), an international team of sleep experts from the US, Australia, Europe and Singapore, took into consideration, industry input, critique from clinicians and previous position papers to develop recommendations that provide clear and practical points for consumers, clinicians, researchers, and manufacturers, to tap the potential of wearable consumer health trackers (CHTs) in an evidence-guided manner. Used regularly, CHTs serve as a "sleep minder," offering a continuous diary of sleep habits, providing insights into sleep patterns over extended periods on a scale previously not possible. However, the accuracy of different devices can vary significantly, depending on the quality and/or configuration of their sensors, and the algorithms used to interpret the data. These new recommendations will enable people make meaningful choices for better sleep and better health.

24 Apr 2025

Right patient, right dose, right time

While artificial intelligence (AI) has shown promising potential, much of its use has remained theoretical or retrospective. Turning its potential into real-world healthcare outcomes, researchers at NUS Medicine have successfully utilised an AI platform to make precise recommendations for dose adjustments in 10 patients at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) in Singapore.

23 Apr 2025

NUS Medicine and HeyVenus study: Menopause is a Critical Workplace Challenge for APAC Business Leaders

Published by NUS Bia-Echo Asia Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (ACRLE) at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), and HeyVenus Integrated Healthscience (HeyVenus), a new white paper that surveyed 1,741 working women across five major Asia Pacific (APAC) countries—Singapore, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, and Indonesia titled ‘Menopause and the Bottom Line: A Critical Leadership Challenge for APAC Leaders’ found that Southeast Asian women report the highest menopausal symptom burden with nearly half of the women surveyed cited significant disruptions to their work performance and daily activities including fatigue, forgetfulness, and difficulty maintaining prolonged focus affecting productivity. The research findings also suggest that the menopause experience is not adequately addressed by employers, leaving many women without the necessary support systems during this critical phase of life. ACRLE and HeyVenus are working on a follow-up white paper and academic manuscript that will address menopause from the perspective of people managers and employers, with a focus on country-specific policies including healthcare access, insurance policies, and workplace benefits.

09 Apr 2025

Beyond Jet Lag: New Study from NUS Unveils Extent of Travel-Related Sleep Disruption from 1.5 Million Nights of Data

A collaborative study conducted by researchers at the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) and ŌURA found that while sleep duration recovers quickly, sleep timing and sleep architecture can take significantly longer to realign when traveling across time zones.

25 Mar 2025

Study confirms accuracy of blood test for early Alzheimer’s detection in Asian populations

A study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, a leading journal in dementia research, has demonstrated the high accuracy of plasma p-tau217 as a blood-based biomarker for detecting abnormal brain beta-amyloid (Aβ) pathology, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). More significantly, the study validates its effectiveness even in individuals with cerebrovascular disease (CeVD), which is highly prevalent in Asian populations. This finding can enhance early diagnosis, improve patient risk stratification, and facilitate better clinical management of AD in diverse populations. The study was led by Dr Mitchell Lai, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacology, NUS Medicine, in collaboration with local and international experts from the National University Health System (NUHS), University of Gothenburg, Institute of Neurology at University College London, and Banner Sun Health Research Institute. While blood biomarkers like p-tau217 have been extensively studied in Western populations—where CeVD is less common—this study uniquely focuses on a Singapore-based cohort, reflective of broader Asian demographics with a high CeVD burden. The results confirm that higher plasma p-tau217 levels correlate with faster cognitive decline, reinforcing its role not just as a diagnostic tool but also as a potential predictor of disease progression.