GROUP RESEARCH

Research is an integral part of NHG’s River of Life strategy as there is a strong push to translate R&D to better patient outcomes, better healthcare, and a healthier population. As such, NHG Group Research works towards three global outcomes: i) To raise research intensity ii) To build international peaks of excellence iii) To provide real-world evidence to transform population health.

SUPPORTING THE COVID-19 BATTLE

Together with the Infectious Disease Research Training Office at National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), NHG Group Research helped coordinate multi-agency R&D efforts in the fight against COVID-19. Some of the initiatives included:

  • Coordination of COVID-19 R&D efforts across Singapore to better characterise and understand the pathogen and local outbreak.
  • Clinical evaluation and participation in multi-centre trials of novel and repurposed therapeutic agents against COVID-19.
  • Technical evaluation, selection and procurement of vaccine candidates for the national vaccination programme.
  • Development of network analysis of COVID-19 outbreaks in migrant worker dormitories.
  • Survey of perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccines in healthcare workers, as well as support public communication efforts to drive vaccine uptake by the Singapore population.
  • Expedition of approval for surge in Domain Specific Review Board (DSRB) applications for COVID-19 related studies, with more than 460 submissions approved within a mean record time of 21 days and eight days for new and amended proposals, respectively.
  • As part of the Joint Task Force set up by Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Health (MOH), NHG Group Research officers were deployed to coordinate medical support for 14 migrant worker dormitories in the north of Singapore.

NHG PACT PROGRAMME

The Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT Programme) is a pioneering collaboration between NHG and Enterprise Singapore’s (ESG) Clinician-driven Innovation (CDI) initiative. Under PACT, NHG’s Centre for Medical Technologies and Innovations (CMTi) catalyses partnerships between clinicians and Singapore MedTech companies to co-develop and commercialise innovative healthcare products and solutions that are clinically impactful, and which address global health needs. The first of its kind in public healthcare, the success of the PACT programme in NHG has helped proliferate the adoption of the programme in SingHealth and NUHS.

THE NEXT STEP IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

The National Precision Medicine (NPM) strategy was launched in 2017 as a 10-year plan to enhance and accelerate Singapore’s biomedical research, health outcomes, and economic growth. To achieve this, Precision Health Research, Singapore (PRECISE), was set up as the central entity to drive NPM. In NPM Phase II, which started in April 2021, PRECISE collaborates with research and clinical partners from the Singapore ecosystem, including NHG and LKCMedicine, to study the genetic makeup of 100,000 healthy Singaporeans and up to 50,000 people with specific diseases. The genetic data will be integrated with detailed lifestyle, environmental, and clinical data to yield rich insights into factors that contribute to Asian diseases and conditions. PRECISE is supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore and the National Medical Research Council.

“We have to collaborate with the right partners, be it other healthcare institutions, academia or industry, to achieve our goals and deliver quality care to our patients and population.” Professor Benjamin Seet, Deputy Group CEO (Education & Research), NHG