Attended by Guest-of-Honour, Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and National Development, the 2-day conference held by ACRLE during National Infertility Awareness Week, from 25 to 26 April featured 10 plenary sessions that delved into topics such as ovarian biology and ageing, and ways to advance women’s reproductive health and lifespan.

Keynote speaker Professor Yousin Suh, Director of Reproductive Ageing in Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, outlined her detailed study of the mechanisms of ovarian ageing that is critical in paving the way for the identification of targets and pathways to delay the ageing of ovaries.

Professor William Ledger, Head of Discipline of Women’s Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, Director of Reproductive Medicine and Senior Staff Specialist at the Royal Hospital for Women and a fertility specialist at City Fertility in Sydney, spoke about using Artificial Intelligence and new serum biomarkers to predict ‘egg quality’ and the search for effective intervention to improve the chances of human eggs becoming a healthy embryo, which will potentially increase the chances of older women having a healthy pregnancy.

Underscoring the important role ovaries play in extending women’s healthspan, the conference had an entire session dedicated to the exploration of the link between reproductive health and longevity. Professor Zhang Cuilin, Director of the Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) at NUS Medicine and Lead of the Population Health Study programme at ACRLE discussed the relevance of reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes for promoting healthy longevity for young, middle-aged, and future elderly women, as well as the next generations, highlighting the critical need for the promotion of healthy longevity to start at a young age.

(From left to right) Keynote speakers Professor Yousin Suh, Professor William Ledger, and Professor Zhang Cuilin, Director of the Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) at NUS Medicine and Lead of the Population Health Study programme at ACRLE.

Professor Jean Yeung, Director of the Centre for Family and Population Research at NUS and a Professor at the Department of Paediatrics, NUS Medicine also presented findings on the changing attitudes and behaviour in family formation from her multi-country study and her policy recommendations for increasing marriage and fertility rates in Singapore.

Accelerating progress towards reproductive longevity

Since its establishment in 2021, ACRLE has made tremendous headway, especially in uncovering the determinants of the reproductive health and life span in Asian women. ACRLE is intensifying efforts to build a strong science community and network to progress reproductive longevity research, and will be embarking on several major endeavours including the establishment of a Reproductive Research Network with Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Limited, as well as working with local and overseas fertility centres to unravel biomarkers predictive of reproductive senescence and longevity. The centre will also be looking more deeply into the impact of drugs targeting ageing pathways and other geroprotective interventions to optimise women’s reproductive healthspan.

“Ongoing research by the Centre already suggests that the rate of ovarian ageing in women differs. One of the key things that we are trying to do at ACRLE is to determine the true ovarian life and healthspan of women. With this knowledge, we will be able to help every woman maximise her reproductive window, and more importantly, it will be a huge step towards progressing our quest in advancing women’s health and well-being,” said Dr Huang Zhongwei, Deputy Director of ACRLE and Consultant at the National University Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Panel featuring Chief Executive Officer of The American Chamber of Commerce, Dr Hsien-Hsien Lei (2^nd from left), Assistant Dean (Undergraduate Studies) of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Adelyn Lim (middle) and President of United Women Singapore, Ms Georgette Tan (2^nd from right) discussing ways to increase education and advocacy on pertinent reproductive issues.

Professor Chong Yap Seng, Lien Ying Chow Professor in Medicine, Dean of NUS Medicine, said, “With global birth rates declining and a rapidly ageing world population, the impetus to improve healthspan is pressing and the pursuit of healthy longevity is one of the most important healthcare challenges of our time. ACRLE’s work on reproductive longevity is critical and timely—by extending the healthspan of women, we would be extending the healthspan of half the population, and in time to come, the healthspan of all.”