WELL Singapore

With just over 9,000 participants, WELL-Singapore is the second largest cohort in the WELL for Life Study. WELL Singapore, a collaboration with the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) at the National University of Singapore, joined the WELL Global Family in 2017 and has been recruiting rapidly and eff iciently. To date, over 9,000 individuals have been enrolled with total recruitment of 10,000 expected by March 2021. WELL-Singapore surveys and collects biological samples for the WELL for Life initiative through the follow up of one of the SSHSPH's prospective cohort studies, which offers an unprecedented opportunity to explore the factors that contribute to the wellness of its Southeast-Asian Chinese, Indian, and Malay ethnic groups, as well as the factors that differentiate its population from those of Taiwan, China, and the San Francisco Bay Area. We congratulate Dr. Rob Van Dem, Principal Investigator of WELL Singapore, Dr. Hwee Lin Wee, Co-investigator, and Linda Tan, Project Manager, for their success!

Robert van Dam, MSc, PhD,  Principal Investigator of WELL Singapore

Professor van Dam's research is primarily focused on the dietary determinants of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). His ultimate research goal is to identify opportunities for the prevention of type 2 diabetes and CVDs particularly in the Asian context where the prevalence of these conditions is increasing rapidly. His research is mostly based on large-scale cohort studies integrating data on reported diet, dietary biomarkers, biomarkers of intermediate pathways and genetic variation. He also conducts dietary intervention studies, meta-analyses, studies of the cultural & physical environment as determinants of dietary behaviours, and contributes to lifestyle intervention programmes for the prevention of obesity and diabetes. Dr. van Dam received his Masters and doctoral degrees in the Netherlands in 1998 and 2003. He currently serves as the director of the PhD and MSc programmes at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and leads the epidemiology domain of the school.

Hwee Lin Wee, PhD, Co-Investigator of WELL Singapore

Dr Wee Hwee Lin is a joint assistant professor in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Department of Pharmacy, She also is a faculty of Science at the National University of Singapore. She received the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) Young Investigator Award in 2011 and served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of ISOQOL from 2013-2015. She was also an associate editor of Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (2012-2016) and a past president of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Singapore Chapter. Her current work involves understanding patient preferences for high cost treatments, public preferences for preemptive pharmacogenetic testing and factors associated with well-being among Singaporeans.

Linda Tan, MS, MPH, Project Manager of WELL Singapore

Ms. Linda Tan is the project manager for the Singapore Population Health Studies led by the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. She has held this role for eleven years. Prior to this, she served for three years on the secretariat for the Bioethics Advisory Committee in Singapore, and spent another three years in establishing a quality management system in the manufacturing industry. She received her Masters degree in Science in 1997 and Masters degree in Public Health in 2014.

The Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) was established in October 2011 as Singapore’s first and only full-fledged national public health tertiary education institution, building upon more than 60 years of experience in research, training and practice in epidemiology and public health. The School is also a member of the National University Health System (NUHS).

The School is designed around domains which build upon strengths of the School and recognise opportunities in: Epidemiology; Biostatistics & Modelling; and Health Systems & Behavioural Sciences. The School aims to continually foster healthier communities in Singapore and the region, and impact public health programmes and policies through its robust educational programmes and translational cross-disciplinary research work on cohort studies and life course epidemiology, infectious disease research, health technology assessments, health promotion, workplace safety and health, health systems evaluation and health services research. An interdisciplinary approach, augmented by rigorous training, applicable research and regional partnerships, places SSHSPH at the forefront of public health knowledge discovery and practice in Asia.