Last month, faculty from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health joined partners and fellows across Asia for the first Capacity Development for HIV and Mental Health Research in Asia (CHIMERA) Implementation Science Workshop (13–17 October 2025, Bangkok, Thailand) — a regional initiative advancing evidence-based approaches to improve health outcomes in HIV, mental health, and beyond.
Dr Rayner Kay Jin Tan, faculty of our Global Health programme, serves as a regional scientific mentor for CHIMERA; Eleanor Joan Ong, PhD student and our Global Health Fellow at the school, has contributed to mentorship on qualitative research methods, and participatory approaches in implementation science.
Led by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR) and Columbia University (MPIs: Dr Annette Sohn and Dr Milton Wainberg), the week-long workshop brought together researchers and practitioners from across the region to explore:
- Core concepts and frameworks in implementation science
- Strategies for translating evidence into practice
- Study designs, co-creation, and community engagement
- Application of implementation research to mental health and HIV care
The workshop featured practical exercises, mentorship sessions, and field visits hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, reflecting a strong commitment to collaborative learning, regional partnerships, and contextualized research.
Through contributions to regional mentorship and capacity-building efforts like CHIMERA, SSHSPH continues to play a key role in building regional capacity for implementation science — empowering researchers and health systems to close the gap between knowledge and practice across Asia.