Mary Chong

Programme Director of Master of Public Health (MPH); Associate Professor

Tel (65) 6516 4969

CHONG Foong-Fong Mary

Dr Chong’s main research is on Maternal and Child Nutrition. Trained as a clinical dietitian, she attained her PhD at the University of Oxford, U.K. and is currently Associate Professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. She is also Principal Investigator at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR.

She is the Nutrition Lead for the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study, a mother-offspring cohort study in Singapore and is involved in two pre-conception studies, SPRESTO and NiPPeR.

Dr Chong has a special interest in diet and lifestyle behaviours and has been researching in this area with web-based technologies in children and adults. Her current work includes investigating behavioural determinants of health in children and an ongoing school-based health promotion intervention study (PEDAL). Her team has developed a web-based, time-use application (MEDAL) to assess diet and lifestyle in school children.

She has been invited to speak at national and international conferences and has published over 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is currently a member of the Advisory Panel on Parenting for the Ministry of Social and Family development.

Affiliation

  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Primary)
  • Principal Investigator at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), A*STAR (Joint)

Research Areas

  • Maternal and Child Nutrition
  • Nutrition and Non-Communicable Diseases
  • Interventions in lifestyle behaviours
  • Eating behaviour in children and adults

Teaching Areas

  • Maternal and Child Nutrition
  • Diet and Non-Communicable Diseases; Nutrition and Health
  • Health Behaviour and Communications

Academic/Professional Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Oxford, U.K.
  • BSc (Hons) Dietetics, Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K.

Awards/Honours

  • The Nutrition Society Silver Medal Award for scientific excellence in the field of nutrition (International award), 2019
  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health Teaching Excellence Award 2018/2019
  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health Faculty Young Researcher Award 2018/2019
  • New Investigator Award by the International Conference on Developmental Origins of Adiposity and Long-term Health, 2016

Career History

  • Principal Investigator, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR, 2015-present
  • Research Scientist, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR, 2012-2015
  • Senior Research Fellow, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR, 2010-2012
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Hugh Sinclair Nutrition Unit, Food Biosciences Department, University of Reading, U.K., 2007-2010
  • Research Dietitian, University of Oxford, U.K., in conjunction with PhD studies, 2003-2007
  • Clinical Dietitian, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore, 2001-2003

Administrative Leadership

  • Deputy Director for the Master of Public Health Programme, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, May 2022 – present

Professional/Consulting Activities

  • Committee member for Physical Education Syllabus Review and Development, Ministry of Education, Singapore, Apr 2019 – April 2021
  • Editorial board member of the International Journal for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity – Dec 2021 – present
  • Singapore Representative for SEAMEO-RECFON (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Regional Centres for Food and Nutrition (RECFON), Sept 2020 – Sept 2023
  • Advisor to Advisory Panel for Parenting, Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore, Apr 2018 – present
  • The Nutrition Society, U.K. (Member)

Selected Publications

  • Lee, Y. Q., Whitton, C., Neelakantan, N., van Dam, R. M., & Chong, M. F. -F. (2022). Dietary patterns and predicted 10-year cardiovascular disease risk in a multiethnic Asian population. NUTRITION METABOLISM AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES, 32(9), 2093-2104. doi:1016/j.numecd.2022.06.014
  • Lim, S. X., Cox, V., Rodrigues, N., Colega, M. T., Barton, S. J., Childs, C. E., . . . Chong, M. F. (2022). Evaluation of Preconception Dietary Patterns in Women Enrolled in a Multisite Study. Current Developments in Nutrition, 6(7). doi:10.1093/cdn/nzac106
  • Chong, M. F. -F. (2022). Dietary trajectories through the life course: opportunities and challenges. BRITISH JOURNAL OF NUTRITION, 128(1), 154-159. doi:1017/S0007114522001295
  • Chia, A., Descarpentrie, A., Cheong, R. N., Toh, J. Y., Natarajan, P., Sugianto, R., . . .Chong, M.FF and Bernard, J. Y. (2022). Family-focused contextual factors associated with lifestyle patterns in young children from two mother-offspring cohorts: GUSTO and EDEN. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, 19(1), 13 pages. doi:10.1186/s12966-022-01266-4
  • Chong, M. F. -F., Lim, H. X., Wong, B. W. X., Chi, Z. H., Inthujaa, J., Mueller-Riemenschneider, F., . . . Chia, K. S. (2022). Transiting Out of Full-Time National Service: A Qualitative Study of Barriers and Motivators of Weight Change in Young Adult Men in Singapore. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MENS HEALTH, 16(2), 14 pages. doi:10.1177/15579883221074788
  • Chan, M. J., Tay, G. W. N., Kembhavi, G., Lim, J., Rebello, S. A., Ng, H., . . . Chong, M. F. -F. (2022). Understanding children’s perspectives of the influences on their dietary behaviours. PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION, 25(8), 2156-2166. doi:10.1017/S1368980022000404
  • Lim, S. X., Loy, S. L., Colega, M. T., Lai, J. S., Godfrey, K. M., Lee, Y. S., . . . Chong, M. F. -F. (2021). Prepregnancy adherence to plant-based diet indices and exploratory dietary patterns in relation to fecundability. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION, 115(2), 559-569. doi:1093/ajcn/nqab344
  • Chia, A., Chew, M. N. J. S., Tan, S. Y. X., Chan, M. J., Colega, M. T., Toh, J. Y., . . . Chong, M. F. -F. (2021). A Web-Based Time-Use Application to Assess Diet and Movement Behavior in Asian Schoolchildren: Development and Usability Study of My E-Diary for Activities and Lifestyle (MEDAL). JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH, 23(6), 13 pages. doi:2196/25794

For list of publications, refer to Mary Foong-Fong Chong Profile | National University of Singapore (nus.edu.sg)

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