August 2019

The School is proud to announce that Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang and Adjunct Associate Professor Jeremy Lim have been jointly appointed as Co-Directors of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation (LIGHT), with effect from 1 September 2019. LIGHT was established in 2016 to address global health issues that are relevant to Singapore and the School’s regional partners. It aims to be a platform to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas, as well as support international collaborations to facilitate evidence-based solutions that deliver measurable public health impact to Singapore and acrossRead more

The most common reasons for low vaccination take-up rates, which are similar across most high-income countries in the context of influenza vaccines, are lack of recommendation by healthcare providers, lack of knowledge (including misconceptions) about influenza and influenza vaccines, concerns about vaccine efficacy and side effects, and lack of opportunities for vaccination. Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases), and Associate Professor Alex Cook, Vice Dean (Research), suggest a multipronged approach to improve adult vaccination coverage in Singapore. These include running recurrent, consistent and targeted education campaigns to

There have been over 9,700 cases of dengue reported since the start of 2019, five times more than the number seen this time last year and more than double the total cases for all of 2017. This increase is across Southeast Asia, with several neighbouring countries also reporting a sharp rise in dengue infections this year. Assistant Professor Vincent Pang, Director, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER), and Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, Senior Consultant, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, explain the different drivers in dengue epidemics. Firstly,

More than 700 doctors, data scientists, data engineers, software engineers and innovators gathered at the Healthcare AI Datathon and Expo 2019 to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to tackle healthcare challenges. Jointly organised by the School, National University Health System (NUHS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the event held on 17-21 July comprised conferences, seminars, workshops and exhibitions featuring prototypes using machine learning algorithms to improve patient outcomes. Event highlights video from NUHS The Datathon held on 19-21 July brought together clinicians, data scientists and statisticians

On 28 July, the HealthySG taskforce proposed that vaccination subsidies be given to Singaporean adults and Permanent Residents to protect themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the take-up rate for the influenza vaccine is 12 to 14 percent among adults. Among elderly aged 65 to 74 years, the rate is 14 per cent, which is worrying as seniors tend to have weaker immune systems that make it harder for them to fight off infections and also cause them to be more prone to complications.