Appointment of Prof Roger Foo as Vice-Dean (Research), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Published: 01 Dec 2023
Professor Roger Foo Sik Yin will be appointed as Vice-Dean (Research), at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) with effect from 1 January 2024. Prof Foo, Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Professor in Medicine, completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1992 at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He attained Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP) in 1997. He was conferred the Doctor of Medicine from the University of Leicester in 2000. He first undertook post-graduate specialist training at King’s College Hospital in London, followed by Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. In 2003, he was awarded the UK Wellcome Trust Fellowship to pursue post-doctoral research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He then returned to the University of Cambridge as a British Heart Foundation Fellow and Consultant Physician in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.
Upon his return to Singapore, Prof Foo joined the Department of Medicine, NUS Medicine as an Associate Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2019. He is concurrently the Director of the Cardiovascular-Metabolic Translational Research Programme (CVMD-TRP) at NUS Medicine, and a Senior Consultant in the Department of Cardiology at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS). Prof Foo is also jointly appointed as Research Director with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). He has been appointed as the Assistant Dean (Research) in NUS Medicine since October 2019. He is also Head of the National University Health System’s (NUHS) Clinician Scientist Academy, where he helps to train and mentor young clinician researchers.
Prof Foo’s research focus is in the niche area of epigenetics and epigenomics, within the context of cardiology and heart failure. In 2012, his research group was the first to publish an epigenomic map of the failing human heart. Since his return to Singapore, he has successfully set up a research team and established himself as a leader in cardiovascular research. Noteworthy publications from work done by his team include deciphering the first single cell transcriptome of adult cardiomyocytes, performing the first deep analysis of the heart failure chromatin 3D organisation and the discovery of a long noncoding RNA, called Singheart, which is a key epigenetic factor for cardiac gene programme control. To study and implement the best ways to tackle heart disease in Singapore, he is leading an ambitious, large-scale study, Project RESET—launched in September 2023—to gather evidence to map the extent of the disease, identify new biomarkers, as well as develop innovative preventive measures that Singaporeans can adopt.
