HILAL Saima

I always had a strong passion for Neurology when I took premedical career in my high school. When I joined medical school, topics on neuroanatomy and posting in Neurology ward would always excite me. Though I was fascinated by the complexity of the brain functions, I also used to wonder how devastating it is for patients with neurological disorders to lose functions and independence. The major dilemma in an Asian society is that diseases like dementia are underdiagnosed as it is commonly mistaken as part of ‘aging’. Taking advantage of my epidemiological as well as clinical skills, I have decided to further my career in scientific research dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease, other neurodegenerative disorders and neuro-vascular diseases.

In the last 6 years, I have incorporated several methods on neuroimaging, retinal imaging, bioinformatics, causal inference, cardiovascular diseases, blood-based biomarkers and cognition which added nicely to my growing interest in neurological diseases. My own methods have been validated across different studies which has increased the impact of neurodegenerative/vascular research and has opened new pathways for solving the complex neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Primary)
• Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Memory Aging and Cognition Center, National University Health System, Singapore
• Department of Epidemiology and Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

• Ageing population
• Neuroimaging
• Neurodegenerative and neurovascular diseases
• Cardiovascular diseases

• Basic and Advanced Epidemiology
• Non-Communicable Diseases
• Public Health and Ageing

• 2016 – PhD in medicine, NUS
• 2013 – MPH, NUS
• 2006 – MD, Dow Medical College, Pakistan

• 2020-2022: PI of Start-up grant on cardiovascular disease entitled, “Risk assessment and improving life style factors in preventing cardiovascular diseases in a population-based setting”.
• 2018-2020: PI of Bright Focus grant on Alzheimer disease on “The Clinical Relevance of Cortical Cerebral Microinfarcts in Degenerative Brain Pathology such as Alzheimer’s Disease”. https://www.brightfocus.org/grant/A2018165F
• 2019-2020: Co-investigator of World Heart Federation, Emerging leaders programme, “Essential Acute Stroke care in low resource settings: a pilot study (EASY)”.
• 2018: Travel grant, The International Society of Vascular Behavioral and Cognitive Disorders
• 2018: Travel Fellowship, Alzheimer’s Association International Conference
• 2016: Long service award, National University of Singapore

• 2016-2019: Post-doctoral scientific researcher, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
• 2016-2019: Visiting research fellow, Memory Aging and Cognition Center (MACC), National University Health System (NUHS), Singapore.
• 2016: Research Fellow, National University Health System, Memory Aging and Cognition Center (MACC), Singapore
• 2013-2016: Research associate, National University Health System, Memory Aging and Cognition Center (MACC), Singapore
• 2011-2014: Clinical fellow, Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore.

• Supervisor for students at NUS and Erasmus MC

• Hilal S, Tan CS, van Veluw SJ, Xu X, Vrooman H, Tan BY, Venketasubramanian N, Biessels GJ, Chen C. Cortical cerebral microinfarcts predict cognitive decline in memory clinic patients. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2020;40:44-53
• Hilal S, Tan CS, Adams HHH, Habes M, Mok V, Venketasubramanian N, Hofer E, Ikram MK, Abrigo J, Vernooij MW, Chen C, Hosten N, Volzke H, Grabe HJ, Schmidt R, Ikram MA. Enlarged perivascular spaces and cognition: meta-analysis of four cohorts in UNIVRSE consortium. Neurology 2018;91:e832-e842
• Hilal S, Ikram MA, Verbeek MM, Franco OH, Stoops E, Vanderstichele H, Niessen WJ, Vernooij MW. C-Reactive Protein, Plasma Amyloid-β Levels, and Their Interaction With Magnetic Resonance Imaging Markers. Stroke 2018;49:2692-2698.
• Hilal S, Tan CS, Xin S, Amin SM, Wong TY, Chen C, Venketasubramanian N, Ikram MK. Prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia in Malays – Epidemiology of Dementia in Singapore Study. Curr Alzheimer Res 2017;14:620-627

View her full list of publications here.