Email awsu@nus.edu.sg

With over a decade in the social service sector, I am passionate about empowering individuals through community-centred approaches. Starting as a behavioural therapist, I transitioned to community development after early work in the special needs sector and with individuals facing substance abuse challenges—experiences that reinforced my belief in community-centred solutions for social and health challenges.

Since 2015, I have co-developed and evaluated community development initiatives through the Tsao Foundation’s Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA) program and served as Senior Research Fellow at the International Longevity Centre-Singapore, advocating for longevity as an opportunity for growth and development.

My recent work across South and Southeast Asia involves developing the Community Resilience Framework and Good Practice Checklist to help communities build capacity and adapt to challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, livelihood insecurities, ageing, and other psychosocial adversities.

• Assistant Professor, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

• Health Systems and Policies for Older Persons
• Ageing in Place
• Psychology of Ageing
• Biopsychosocial Health and Risk Stratification
• Community Development and Resilience
• Social Impact & Community Capacities
• Implementation Science

• Health Behaviors and Communication
• Community Mobilization and Asset-building approaches
• Community-Based Participatory Research
• Program Evaluation
• Mixed Methods and triangulation
• Social Inclusion and Places
• Social Services and Policies for Older Persons

• PhD in Public Health, National University of Singapore (2020)
• Bachelor of Social Sciences (Psychology), National University of Singapore
• AI200 Applied Machine Learning, Heicoders Academy

• Senior Research Fellow, Tsao Foundation (2022-2024)
• Lecturer (Adjunct), Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (2022-2024)
• Associate Faculty, Singapore University of Social Sciences (2020-2022)
• Research Fellow, Tsao Foundation (2020-2022)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (2019-2020)
• Visiting Scholar, University College London’s Centre of Ageing Population Studies (2019)
• Research Assistant, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (2015-2018)
• Research Officer, Correctional Branch, Singapore Prisons Services (2015)
• Behavioral Therapist, Autism Partnership (2014)

• Population Health Profiling and Risk Stratification, Tsao Foundation
• Jurong Participatory Commons, Evaluation and Co-development
• International Transforming Community and Home Care conference, Organizing Committee
• GivFunds, Research Advisory Panel
• Society of Behavioral Health, Member

• Tan, J. P. Y., Seah, S. J., Harding, S. C., Pay, J. Y., Wang, J., Aw, S., … & Boon Tar Lim, R. (2022). Exploring the Perspective of Diabetes, Diabetes Self-Management, and Quality of Life Among Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A Qualitative Study Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care, 48(3), 163-173
• Aw. S, Koh. C.H.G, Tan. C.S, Wong, M.L, Hubertus, J.M, Harding, C.H, Geronimo M.A, Hildon. Z.J.L (2020) Promoting BioPsychoSocial Health of Community-Dwelling Older Adults using the Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA) Program in Singapore: A Mixed-Methods Theory-Based Evaluation. Social Science & Medicine, 258, 113104. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113104
• Aw. S, Koh. C.H.G, Oh.Y.J, Wong. M.L, Hubertus. J.M, Harding, C.H, Geronimo, M.A, Hildon. Z.J.L (2020) Interacting with place and mapping community needs to context: Comparing and triangulating multiple geospatial-qualitative methods using the Focus-Expand-Compare approach. Methodological Innovations, September-December, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/2059799120987772
• Aw. S, Koh. C.H.G, Oh. Y.J, Wong. M.L, Hubertus. J.M, Harding, C.H, Geronimo, M.A, Yoon, F.L, Hildon, Z.J.L (2017) Explaining the continuum of social participation among older adults in Singapore: from ‘closed doors’ to active ageing in multi-ethnic community settings. Journal of Aging Studies, 42: 46-55. 10.1016/j.jaging.2017.07.002
• Aw. S, Koh. C.H.G, Tan. C.S, Wong, M.L, Hubertus, J.M, Harding, C.H, Geronimo M.A, Hildon. Z.J.L (2019) Theory and design of the Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA) programs in Singapore: connecting BioPsychoSocial health and Quality of Life experiences of older adults. BMC Geriatrics, 19: 254. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-019-1277-x
• Hildon Z.J.L, Tan C.S, Shiraz. F, Ng W.C, Deng. X.P, Koh. C.H.G, Tan K.B, Philp. I, Wiggins. D, Aw. S, Wu. T. (2018) The theoretical and empirical basis of a BioPsychoSocial (BPS) risk screener for detection of older people’s health related needs, planning of community programs, and targeted care programs. BMC Geriatrics, 18: 49. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-018-0739-x
• Frost. R, Nair. P, Aw. S, Gould. R.L, Kalpa. K, Buszewicz. M, Walters. K. (2019) Supporting frail older people with depression and anxiety: a qualitative study. Aging & Mental Health, 1-8. 10.1080/13607863.2019.1647132
• Frost. R, Nair. P, Aw. S, Gould. R.L, Kalpa. K, Buszewicz. M, Walters. (2020) Effectiveness of different post-diagnostic dementia care models delivered by primary care. British Journal of General Practice, e434. 10.3399/bjgp20X710165
• Malhotra. R, Bautista. M.A.C, Müller. A.M, Aw. S, Koh. C.H.G, Theng. Y. L, Hoskins. S.J, Wong C.H, Miao. C, Lim. W.S, Malhotra. C, Chan. A. (2018) The Aging of a Young Nation: Population Aging in Singapore. The Gerontologist. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny16
• Seah, S. J., Harding, S. C., Wang, J., Aw, S., Lam, J., & Lim, R. B. T. (2022). Effectiveness of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Involving Community-Based Intervention for Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Singapore. The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care, 48(6), 505-521. 1177/26350106221125695

• https://tsaofoundation.org/ilcs-community-resilience/framework