"I have always been interested in numbers and patterns.  I got to realise my interest as a Sociology undergraduate in the United States. I studied intergenerational transfers between older Malaysians and their children for my undergraduate thesis.  As a result of this work, I was contacted by the RAND Corporation to continue my studies on ageing as a predoctoral fellow.  At that time, very few people were interested in population ageing and it was tough to be heard in the academic and policy community.  Twenty years later, the landscape has changed so dramatically.  It is immensely gratifying to have support for integrating the social dimension into elderly healthcare.

Historically, healthcare has been disease-focused, however, increasingly there is recognition that without tackling the social issues that confront older adults, we are only halfway to creating successful ageing. That's why I'm really excited about the new Centre for Ageing Research & Education (CARE). CARE will provide a platform to support medical and social researchers to come together to tackle ageing issues holistically."

Assoc Prof Angelique Chan
Programme in Health Services & Systems Research
Duke-NUS

Tags: Assoc Prof