Prof Soo talks about the importance of Academic Medical Centres to research endeavours.
As the Deputy Group CEO (Research and Education) of SingHealth and Founding Director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), Professor Soo Khee Chee has spearheaded cutting edge clinical research in SingHealth. Prof Soo talks about the importance of Academic Medical Centres to research endeavours.
How are medical schools and hospitals collaborating in academic medicine?
There are two broad directions. First, hospitals and medical schools collaborate in order to recruit adequate numbers of patients for clinical trials. The second kind of collaboration is between hospitals and basic translational laboratories. We aim to foster an environment in which clinicians deeply embedded in their practice can articulate unresolved clinical questions, and then form a strong team of basic and translational scientists to address those issues. We are trying to reverse the traditional order of collaboration with a ‘bed to the [laboratory] bench’, rather than a ‘bench to the bed’ approach.
How important is clinical research to academic medical centres?
Clinical research is extremely important. It helps to address the unanswered problems that we encounter daily in our practice, and therefore is relevant to clinical application. In addition, participating in clinical research helps keep physicians at the cutting edge. It encourages them to be challenged intellectually and to think of new ideas to solve the problems they encounter. Clinical research is the application of these ideas. It keeps physicians vibrant as a community.
How important has the growth in funding for Singapore’s biomedical sector been for clinical research?
The expansion sends the signal that the government is committed to research as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end. It has provided sorely needed funding in order for research to be undertaken. Modern medical research, especially clinical research and clinical trials, is extremely expensive because of the strict rigour that is required for good research. A well-designed phase III trial costs millions of dollars. This expansion of funding through the biomedical sciences initiative is essential. It signals to the rest of the world Singapore’s strong intention and projects our image as a world leading medical centre.
Source: Reproduced with permission from SCRI. To read more, please visit www.scri.edu.sg.
