2022
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Why did you choose to do graduate education at NUS? If you received offers from other universities, why did you pick NUS?
I was lucky enough to be awarded the NUS President’s Graduate Fellowship throughout my PhD candidature. Coming from a humble background, the Scholarship has provided me with a great opportunity to pursue my research interest in a world-class university.
Briefly share about your research or thesis (i.e. dissertation topic for Masters by Coursework students).
I am a nutritional and perinatal epidemiologist by training. My thesis was about the influence of maternal nutrition on birth outcomes, and I expanded my research scope to investigate maternal nutrition and childhood outcomes during my postdoctoral stints in the NUS Department of Paediatrics and University College Dublin School of Public Health, predominantly using data from big cohort studies involving long-term follow-up of mother-child dyads. It is well-established that you are what you eat, but it is becoming apparent that you are also what your mother, father, and ancestors ate. This is an emerging research area termed the Developmental Origins of Health and Diseases (DOHaD).
More recently, I have started running my own lab at National Taiwan University College of Public Health to research on chrono-nutrition- the study of food timing and its influence on health.
What impact do you hope to have with your research?
Interventions at all life stages are important to increase health span of the population, but we who work in the DOHaD field believe that early life interventions can have a more substantial, potentially multigenerational, impact. More broadly, I hope to Improve health outcomes throughout life course via flexible dietary means, including through non-food-specific factors such as food timing.
Academic Activities
I am honored to have received/been shortlisted for the following awards:
-Recipient of International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) Early Career Travel Grants (2022 Upcoming) in conjunction with the International Congress of Nutrition in Tokyo, Japan
-Recipient of DOHaD Society Travel Awards (2019) For outstanding abstract presented at the 11th DOHaD World Congress in Melbourne, Australia
-Finalist (1 of 4), Nutritional Translation Award Competition (2019) American Society of Nutrition flagship conference in Baltimore, US
-Honorable mention, Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Competition (2019) for top 10% (of >1000) abstract at the American Society of Nutrition flagship conference in Baltimore, US
-National University of Singapore: Shortlisted & nominated for best PhD thesis (university level) (2015) A competitive university-wide award with a two-tier selection process
-National University of Singapore: Recipient of President’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2014) Awarded for showing exceptional promise or accomplishment in research
-National University of Singapore: Recipient of Award for Study Abroad (2008) Offered on a competitive basis based on academic merit
-National University of Singapore: Recipient of Dean’s List (2007) Awarded for outstanding academic achievements