Biostats @ SICS

We are part of the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), within the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). We are based in the Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine on the campuses of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and National University Hospital (NUH).

Our primary aim is to adapt and apply cutting-edge methods to complex data (longitudinal, -omics, sociobehavioral, etc.) to study maternal, child, and adolescent health, including:

1. Longitudinal causal inference approaches to investigate developmental mechanisms and estimate potential benefits of early life interventions and
2. Principled consideration of machine learning algorithms for developing and testing prediction models for maternal and child outcomes  

Additionally, we provide consultation, mentorship, and supervision on epidemiologic and biostatistical methods for several clinical and population health projects, primarily within two Singaporean population-based, prospective birth cohorts, but also with numerous local and international researchers.

We are a growing group with no shortage of interesting data and potential projects!

If you are interested in working with us, head down to the "Jobs" section and/or send us an email!

Past hosted workshops and seminars can be found in the "Resources" section!

The principal investigator is Jon Huang, whose expertise is in reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology; formal causal inference; and the integration of molecular biomarkers in causal mediation analyses. His broader interests are in the role of these methods in the production of scientific knowledge and, in turn, informing clinical and public health policy (personal website).

He trained in epidemiology, biostatistics, and public health genetics at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA) and completed a postdoc at McGill University (Montreal, Canada). He has published in leading journal including JAMA Pedatrics and Nature Communications and has been recognized by leading bodies including an American Journal of Epidemiology Papers of the Year (2016). He has given invited lectures widely including in the U.S., E.U., and Singapore and hosted several data science-related workshops. His research is funded by competitive grants from the Singapore NMRC and BMRC.

Jon holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position with the Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS and is an Associate Editor and Education team member at the International Journal of Epidemiology and an Associate Editor at PLOS Global Public Health. (Full CV here)

Catch up with me on Mastodon!

Ka Kei recently completed her MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Prior to completing her Master’s, she was engaged in various research capacities in the US involving clinical trials, basic science, and public health policy at the state and global level. Her interest in scientific research, health policy, and public health led her to pursue Epidemiology in her graduate studies; a means she believes can transform health policy and address critical health challenges through producing quality, actionable epidemiological evidence.

Jian is a research fellow in molecular epidemiology. He completed his PhD in epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong in 2018. As part of his PhD, he worked on epigenetic projects using a population cohort at Columbia University between 2017-2018. After obtaining his PhD, Jian joined the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London as postdoctoral research associate to investigate the causal relationship of lifestyle factors and molecular biomarkers with risk of Alzheimer's disease. He has extensive experience in multi-omics data analysis and causal analysis using Mendelian randomisation approach. Jian joined Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) in late 2020. Here, he is investigating the causal relationship of maternal and early-life exposure with neurodevelopment in children, and its underlying mechanisms.

His research portfolio can be found here.
 

Yah Ru is currently an NUS undergraduate majoring in Biomedical Sciences and minoring in Public Health and Business Management. Through this internship, she hopes to gain valuable insights regarding the current state of public health sectors and learn scientific research literature and techniques to improve the decision-making process of the current health policies in Singapore.

Gerard completed his Ph.D. in social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. He currently holds an adjunct research fellow position with the Social Service Research Centre, NUS working on two longitudinal studies with youth offenders and in-work poverty among young persons. Prior to research, he practiced as a social worker in Singapore working with families and children experiencing family violence, child maltreatment, and parenting. As a social work researcher, he is interested in researching on parenting, fathers, family-centered services in the community, and social service agencies (personal website). He is also interested in intervention research and development.

Pengcheng hold a Bachelor's in Statistics and is presently a Masters in Data Science student at the National University of Singapore. He wants to put into practice what he has learned and gain experience related to applied biostatistics. In his internship he will work on developing and critically evaluating a clinical prediction model for adolescent metabolic risk. In the future, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Biostatistics.

Jacqueline is a public health practitioner and holds an MPH in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Queensland with emphasis on non-communicable disease prevention and raising awareness of healthy diets and behaviours. She is passionate about methods for finding and evaluating evidence in community-based public health interventions and health policy that can prevent disease / improve health of children and adolescents. Jacqueline is also keen to synthesize important evidence from scientific literature that can drive health policy as well as contribute to better informed decisions for healthcare practitioners.

Mrunalini is an accomplished professional with over 12 years of experience in diverse roles across CRO, IT, pharmaceutical & research organizations where she has exhibited expertise in steering global CDM projects conducted across US, EU & APAC to successful completion. Mrunalini is passionate about keeping abreast on the latest trends and technologies which can be seen in her articles and presentations delivered at various international conferences in Singapore, India, and Germany. Mrunalini is keen to drive digital transformation that will enable organizations to draw valuable insights from the data and make better informed decisions.

With comprehensive working experience in academic, medical center, and global research organization settings, Ray gained extensive exposure to epidemiological, biomedical and observational studies across countries and multiple therapeutic areas. His previous research work included environmental and familial causes of birth defects, target population segmentation, randomized studies, late phase clinical trials and drug post-authorization studies.

Izzah is currently a Biomedical Sciences student from the University of Manchester. She intends to pursue her MSci, where she is interested in research in clinical sciences. She hopes to gain more insight into scientific research on the public health sector, and improve on current health policies.