Issue 50
May 2024
DOSSIER
Professor Roger Foo Sik Yin has been appointed as Vice-Dean (Research), at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) from 1 January 2024. Prior to his new appointment, he held the role of Assistant Dean (Research) at NUS Medicine since October 2019.
Heart for Research
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). After attaining his 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. Prof Foo first undertook postgraduate 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 postdoctoral research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and subsequently took on the British Heart Foundation Fellow and Consultant Physician in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Cambridge.
Joining the dots in an ever-growing universe of research that now surrounds us, keeping the research community connected, alive, active and exciting, and fostering a culture in which young clinicians are attracted to consider an academic career in research—we clinicians working in biomedical research are truly in a special time today.”
Prof Foo returned to Singapore in 2012 and joined the Department of Medicine at NUS Medicine as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2019. In addition to being Director of the Cardiovascular-Metabolic Translational Research Programme (CVMD TRP) at NUS Medicine, a Senior Consultant in the Department of Cardiology at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS), and Research Director with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), he also serves as the Associate Editor of Physiological Reviews (IF37), the journal of the prestigious American Physiological Society.
Prof Foo is also the Head of the National University Health System’s (NUHS) Clinician Scientist Academy, where he helps to train and mentor young clinician researchers.
Well-known in the field of cardiovascular research, Prof Foo’s research focus is in the niche area of epigenetics and epigenomics, within the context of cardiology and heart failure. His research group was the first to publish an epigenomic map of the failing human heart in 2012 and since then, he has led many noteworthy publications including the deciphering of the first single cell transcriptome of heart failure, performing the first deep analysis of the heart failure chromatin 3D organisation and the discovery of long non-coding RNAs which are key epigenetic factors for cardiac gene programme control. Prof Foo is currently the lead principal investigator for an ambitious, large-scale study, Project RESET—launched in September 2023—to gather evidence to map the extent of sub-clinical disease, identify new biomarkers, as well as develop innovative preventive measures that Singaporeans can adopt.
He also serves as the President of the newly incorporated South East Asia section of the International Society of Heart Research.
Maverick of translational research: Outgoing Vice-Dean for Research
Relinquishing his role as the Vice-Dean for Research at NUS Medicine, Professor Chng Wee Joo will be focusing his energies on spearheading and developing the University’s biomedical-related research, as well as drive strategic collaborations with academic institutes, hospitals and industry partners in his new appointment as Vice-President (Biomedical Sciences Research) in the Office of the Deputy President (Research and Technology) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Presently the NUS Medicine Professor in Medical Oncology, Prof Chng is an esteemed researcher in the fields of genomics, therapeutics and haematologic malignancies, with a wealth of experience spanning clinical practice, administration, and leadership. A haemotologist by training, Prof Chng has produced highly translational research—including the use of global genomic techniques to understand drug resistance and improve disease prognosis in haematological malignancies—that has helped to personalise treatment and improve patient outcomes. His impactful research has won him numerous national and global accolades—and in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements, he was appointed the Provost’s Chair from 2018 to 2022.
Prof Chng has been a Senior Consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH) for over two decades, and also held the role of Executive Director of the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) for nine years, where he officially stepped down on 1 September 2023. He is currently the Group Director of Research at the National University Health System as well as the Senior Principal Investigator at the NUS Cancer Science Institute of Singapore. He is also a member of many leading national and international professional committees, including the American Association of Cancer Research, and former President of the Singapore Society of Haematology.
It has been a pleasure serving the school and helping to grow our research. I am grateful for the opportunity to help establish and develop our translational research programmes, and raise the quality of our research publications. Moving forward, I will focus on helping NUS to develop a mega research cluster in health innovations and biomedical research by leveraging the work done in the school, while enhancing it by integrating it with the rest of NUS—bringing the peaks to a different level. We have great potential and opportunity, and also a great responsibility to ensure our work benefits Singapore and the health of the nation.”
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