Research Office

Director's Message

Established in 1998, the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) is the largest national and regional referral centre for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Singapore. It provides comprehensive cardiac care ranging from preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic to rehabilitative services, and houses the nation’s only Heart and Lung Transplant Programme.

Each year, the NHCS handles over 120,000 outpatient consultations, 9,000 interventional/surgical procedures and 10,000 inpatients, and its clinical outcomes are equivalent to international benchmarks. NHCS is dedicated to providing optimal care through our three core pillars – Patient Care, Education and Training, and Research. NHCS continues to pioneer the rapid adoption of leading edge cardiac innovations in Singapore, ranging from Left Ventricular Assist Devices, Percutaneous aortic valve replacement and Mitral & Tricuspid Valve Repair, and Stereotaxis for Atrial Fibrillation (AF) ablation. In 2018, NHCS and Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) collaborated to set up NHCS Cardiology @ SKH, providing cardiac services and expertise at its outpatient clinic and wards for north-east residents.

NHCS is committed to developing its research capabilities and has made excellent progress in several key areas of translational and clinical research (TCR), including heart genetics, cardiovascular (CV) imaging, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF) and data sciences. The National Heart Research Institute Singapore (NHRIS) was established in 2013 with the aim to nurture a vibrant translational research environment of basic scientists and clinicians to transform cardiovascular outcomes through patient-centred research. It occupies over 4,000m2 of the NHCS building, and was officially opened by the President in 2014.

Over the last few years, NHRIS has successfully restructured research infrastructure to create a seamless "all-the-way" research pipeline that spans across basic science discovery to clinical implementation, creating a translational science environment, typical for an Academic Medicine Research Institute. NHRIS has established strong collaborations with both local (A*STAR - GIS, IMCB, NTU, NUS YLL SOM, NUHCS) and overseas Universities/Hospitals (USA: Stanford, Harvard, Duke Durham; UK: Imperial, Oxford, UCL) and Industry partners (AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp Dome, Boston Scientific, Roche, Bayer, Illumina, Novo Nordisk and multiple local SMEs), and through these collaborations have made translational science and clinical advances that have impacted on care of patients with cardiovascular disorders in Singapore.

Building on this research infrastructure, capabilities and expertise that has been put in place over the years, there has been more recent transformative change in the translational and clinical research capabilities at NHRIS that have mirrored the maturing of a strong relationship with our main university partner, Duke-NUS Medical School.At the root of all of our research endeavours at NHRIS, our overarching goal is to improve the lives of our patients through innovation, education, compassion and medical excellence.

Prof Derek Hausenloy
Director, National Heart Research Institute Singapore
Senior Consultant, NHCS Professor, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School

Research Administration Support

The Research Administration & Development office (RADO) is set-up with the commitment to provide high level support to NHRIS research. RADO plays a pivotal role in ensuring smooth operation of the research activities and delivering effective research services. We aim to promote a vibrant research culture within the institution, through facilitating collaborations between NHRIS and our research partners. RADO works closely with the clinicians, researchers and external collaborators to nurture research excellence in both basic and translational science. 

Our Work

​As a Research Administrative Office, RADO has the shared responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the research activities of the institute.

The office provides the following basic supports:

• Responsible for all pre-award function which includes dissemination of information related to research, e.g. funding opportunities, grant calls, courses, workshops and seminars
• Management of all externally funded awards to ensure proper utilisation in accordance of grant policies
• Co-ordinate internal and external reporting needs, including maintenance of NHRIS research outcomes database
• Support research contracts review and negotiation; and acceptance of all awards and agreements
• Enhance a culture of research integrity and promotes responsible conduct of research
• Enforce hospital and grant agencies policies and procedures, and serving as the hospital’s liaison with grant bodies and regulatory agencies
• Foster and support collaborative and productive projects across cluster institutions
• Identify research funding opportunities and help establish partnerships
• Develop and maintain research laboratory facility and infrastructure; Identify and maximise research space usage
• Support and ensure smooth functions of laboratory operation