CHEN Cynthia

Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

While growing old is inevitable, the twilight years could be spent in good physical and mental health. With the impending demographic shift, the elderly population in Singapore will triple to 900,000 by 2030. This has major implications for both the young and old. Are we prepared? Can we learn from the past and do better?

Dr Chen’s passion for ageing research started a decade ago. She now specialises in the economics of ageing, and is interested in retirement and health outcomes, caregiver burden, health care expenditure, economic evaluation, and the impact of policies. She is currently the principal investigator of multiple grants from NMRC in Singapore.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
• Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California

• Impact Evaluation
• Economic Evaluation
• Economics of Ageing
• Healthcare Financing
• Public Health and Ageing

• Causal Inference and Impact Evaluation
• Public Health Economics
• Public Health and Ageing
• Data Literacy for Healthcare

• PhD in Public Health, NUS
• MSc in Statistics and Applied Probability, NUS
• BSc in Statistics & Minor in Mathematics, NUS

• 2025 Oral Presenter Award, GlobeCores2025, Designing Communities for Longevity: Health, Equity, and Social Connection, Miri, Malaysia
• 2023 – 2026: HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, Singapore
• 2021 / 2022: Teaching Excellence Award, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS, Singapore
• 2021 / 2022: Young Achiever Award, Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Award, NUHS, Singapore
• 2019 / 2020: Young Researcher Award, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS, Singapore
• 2015 – 2017: Overseas Postdoctoral Scholarship, NUS, Singapore

• Assistant Professor, SSHSPH, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Southern California, USA
• Research Associate, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Research Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
• Analyst, National Population of Talent Division, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
• Research Assistant, National University of Singapore, Singapore

• Ministry of Health, Singapore
• Health Promotion Board, Singapore
• Singapore Food Agency, Singapore
• ACAI, Thailand

• Guo X, Tysinger B, Wee HL, Subramaniam M, Ma S, Ng TP, Chen C. Disease burden, lifetime healthcare cost and long-term intervention impact projections among older adults in Singapore. Nature Aging. 2025 Jul;5(7):1358-1369. doi: 10.1038/s43587-025-00915-0.
• Chen C, Sukmanee J, Soon KW, Lim J, D’Souza JLA, Teerawattananon Y. Economic Evaluation of the Next Generation Electronic Medical Records in Singapore: Cost-Utility Analysis. J Med Internet Res (JMIR). 2025 Jun 11;27:e70484. doi: 10.2196/70484.
• Akksilp K, Rouyard T, Isaranuwatchai W, Nakamura R, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Teerawattananon Y, Chen C. The Physical Activity at Work (PAW) Program in Thai Office Workers: Mixed Methods Process Evaluation Study. JMIR Form Res. 2025 Jan 2;9:e57604. doi: 10.2196/57604.
• Chwa A, Vasudevan A,…, Chen C. The association of daily gardening and healthy ageing in Singapore. Nature Scientific Reports 15, 20531 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03392-y
• Chen C, Lim J, Koh J, et al. A global analysis of adaptation to societal aging across low-, middle- and high-income countries using the Global Ageing Society Index. Nat Aging (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-024-00772-3.
• Chen C*, Ang G, Akksilp K, Koh J, Scott JAG, Clark A, Jit M (2024). Re-evaluating the impact and cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduction in 112 low-income and middle-income countries in children younger than 5 years: a modelling study. The Lancet Global Health, 12(9), e1485-e1497. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00232-8. (*Corresponding author)
• Tan V, Ang G, Tan KB, Chen C (2024). Impact of COVID-19 national response on primary care utilisation in Singapore: an interrupted time-series analysis. Nature Scientific Reports; 14(1) doi:10.1038/s41598-024-57142-7
• Ang G, Tan CS, Teerawattananon Y, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Chen C (2024). A nationwide physical activity intervention for 654,500 adults in Singapore: a cost-utility analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 10. doi:10.2196/46178
• Ang G, Tan CS, Lim N, Tan J, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Cook AR, Chen C (2024). Hourly step recommendations to achieve daily goals for working and older adults. Communications Medicine 4, 132. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-024-00537-4
• Chen C, Lim J, Visaria A, Chan A (2023). Societal aging and its impact on Singapore in Long-term care. ed. Jonathan Gruber and Kathleen McGarry. University of Chicago Press. https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/long-term-care-around-world/societal-aging-and-its-impact-singapore
• Tan V, Lim J, Akksilp K, Chow WL, Ma S, Chen C (2023). The societal cost of modifiable risk factors in Singapore. BMC Public Health 23(1) 01 Dec 2023. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16198-2
• Katika A, Koh J, Tan V, Tong E, Budtarad N, Guo X, Dieterich A, Tai BC, Muller AM, Isaranuwatchai W, Rouyard T, Nakamura R, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Teerawattananon Y, Chen C (2022). The physical activity at work (PAW) study: A cluster randomised trial of a multicomponent short-break intervention to reduce sitting time and increase physical activity among office workers in Thailand. The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia; 100086
• Ang G, Edney SM, Tan CS, Lim N, Tan J, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Chen C (2022). Physical activity trends among adults in a national mHealth program: a population-based cohort study of 411,528 adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2022 Nov 7:kwac193. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwac193.
• Ang G, Edney SM, Tan CS, Lim N, Tan J, Müller-Riemenschneider F, Chen C (2022). Physical activity trends among adults in a national mHealth program: a population-based cohort study of 411,528 adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2022 Nov 7:kwac193. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwac193. PMID: 36345089
• Lim JT, Koh J, Ho PJ, Liu J, Lim SH, Tan EY, Tan BKT, Tan VKM, Tan SM, Yong WS, Hartman M, Chen C* (2022). Impact of Subsidy on the Use of Personalized Medicine in Breast Cancer. Value Health Reg Issues. 2022 May;29:108-115. doi: 10.1016/j.vhri.2021.10.002

Click here to view her full list of publications.

• Commentary: Delaying retirement pays off, The Straits Times, 28 October 2021

• Experts: New rider insurance rules will benefit consumers and may lower medical costs and premiums, LianHe ZaoBao, 26 November 2025
• How private health insurance is driving up healthcare costs, and what should be done about it, CNA, 8 November 2025
• The Straits Times, 11 August 2025, Healthy lifestyle changes could save Singapore $650 million in healthcare costs by 2050: Study
• The Straits Times, 26 June 2025, S’pore’s first private assisted living pilot ready by 2026; operator taps China’s eldercare expertise
• US News, 30 Dec 2024, Singapore is ready for a rapidly aging society, study says. What about the U.S.?
• MSN News, 27 Dec 2024, Global study highlights Singapore’s top ranking in aging society preparedness
• 8World, 27 Dec 2024, Singapore ranks among the top ten in the world in coping with the challenges of an aging population and ranks first in Asia 
• Zaobao, 28 Dec 2024, Singapore. Ranks tenth in the world and first in Asia in coping with the challenge of rapid aging. 
• The Straits Times, 01 Jul 2024, Integrated Shield Plan lifetime premiums vary widely across insurers, MOH comparison shows. 
• The Straits Times, 28 Oct 2021, Commentary: Delaying retirement pays off.
• The Straits Times, 28 Aug 2021, For all, for life? MediShield Life changes for cancer treatments explained.
• London Evening Standard, 4 Aug 2021, Ageing societies afford more advantages to men than women.
• Times of London, 5 Aug 2021, Gender inequality worsens with age for women in rich countries.
• Australia Research Career, 6 Aug 2021, Imbalance echoes in old age.
• Usbek&Rica (France), 12 Aug 2021, Precarious elderly women, largely forgotten by public policies around the world.

Click here to view her full list of media coverage.

• Chen C, JT Lim, Chia NC et al. (2022) The Future Elderly Model: Technical Documentation for South Korea and Singapore.