EIGHT doctors who have been doing research on top of treating patients, have been given the inaugural Clinician-Scientist Investigator (CSI) awards.
The three senior and five junior doctors who will get the awards, set up to grow the pool of doctor-researchers here, were announced yesterday.
The awards will pay a portion of their salaries, so they can spend at least 60 per cent of their time on research and allow their employer to hire someone to cover their duties. It will be given out annually for the next five years at least.
These are sponsored by the Biomedical Research Council (BRC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), and the Ministry of Health's National Medical Research Council.
About $5 million is being spent to fund the three senior doctors for up to five years and the five junior ones for three years, as well as give the junior doctors up to $200,000 each to spend on their research.
The eight were chosen from a total of 20 applications, based on each individual's calibre, their research work and the commitment of their institutions.
The BRC's deputy chairman, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, said that besides recognising the doctors' work, the award also ensures they have a 'working environment conducive to high quality research'.
Said one of the recipients, Dr Michael Chee: 'At hospitals, the priority is always the patient, so finding time and resources for research is not easy.'
Having to also 'justify' the time taken off presented yet more issues, he added.
But having that time is vital, he emphasised, because science is competitive, and 'stepping out of the race, even for a while, means others get the edge'.
The 45-year-old neurologist's sentiments were echoed by another senior recipient, Dr Goh Boon Cher, 39, who said that to 'compete on a global level... every day that passes is important'.
The oncologist drew chuckles when he quickly added that 'nothing gives us more joy than to see that we (Singapore) are first'.
Many of the eight recipients also pointed out that these awards are the first formal recognition of doctors who are devoted to making scientific sense of clinical problems.
Dr Lynette Shek, 34, a junior-award recipient, said: 'Some of us are in the public sector because we get our thrills from things other than money, like actually doing research that serves the patient, and recognising that may get other young doctors interested in the area.'
The awards also send a signal to those already keen on research, the doctors added, and could prevent them from abandoning their lab-based dreams or pursuing it elsewhere.
Singapore is suffering from a public sector drain. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan recently drew attention to the fact that an unprecedented 87 specialists left the public sector last year.
And if Singapore is not to lose its researchers too, things have to give, Prof Tan said in response to a journalist's question on whether it was worth devoting resources to doctors who could may well be poached.
'We're creating opportunities to retain people in the public health system... Without this, we're just going to be accelerating the departure of these people because they can't find fulfilment within the system.'
THE DOCS IN LAB COATS
SENIOR CLINICIAN-SCIENTISTS
Associate Professor Michael Chee Wei Liang (above), 45
Speciality: Neurology
Organisation: Singapore Health Services
Researching: Brain imaging to study cognitive capabilities; memory and language processing; and ageing of the brain
Dr Goh Boon Cher (above), 39
Speciality: Oncology
Organisation: National University Hospital
Researching: Chemotherapy in Asians, specifically how different ethnic groups respond to different toxic levels.
Professor Yong Eu Leong, 55 Speciality: Obstetrics and gynaecology
Organisation: National University of Singapore
Researching: The link between molecular genetics and human infertility, prostate cancer and sexual ambiguity
JUNIOR CLINICIAN-SCIENTISTS
Dr Lynette Shek, 34
Speciality: Paediatrics
Organisation: National University of Singapore
Researching: Causes of childhood allergic diseases like asthma, and how to prevent them
Dr Tai E Shyong, 39
Speciality: Endocrinology
Organisation: Singapore Health Services
Researching: Genetic and lifestyle factors, like food and alcohol, that contribute to the incidence of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease
Dr Tan Eng King, 39
Speciality: Neurology
Organisation: Singapore Health Services
Researching: Movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, to identify risk factors you are born with, and how they interact with environmental factors
Dr Allen Yeoh (above), 39
Speciality: Paediatrics
Organisation: National University of Singapore
Researching: How to correctly predict childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a form of childhood cancer
Dr Aung Tin (above), 38
Speciality: Ophthalmology/glaucoma
Organisation: Singapore National Eye Centre
Researching: Angle closure glaucoma, and why some eye disorders are genetic
Youngest and only female recipient
HAVING grown up with a runny nose, paediatrician Lynette Shek remembers a childhood filled with wads of used tissues and perpetual tiredness.
'Only antihistamines could stop my rhinitis, and they made me drowsy. So I vacillated between being very sleepy and having a dripping tap for a nose,' said the former Raffles Girls' School student.
It made her determined to figure out why some children get allergies - such as rhinitis, asthma and eczema - and how to prevent them. So far, she has been involved in more than 15 allergy-related research projects.
She has just been given the chance to start on another as one of the recipients of the inaugural Clinician-Scientist Investigator Award.
The award will pay a portion of her salary for the next three years, so she can be freed of her clinical duties and spend at least 60 per cent of her time on research.
It will also allow the National University of Singapore's Children's Medical Institute, where she works, to hire someone to cover for her.
On top of that, she is getting $200,000 to fund her research.
This time, the consultant paediatrician will study cells from umbilical cord blood and how these react to common items which cause allergies, such as peanuts and dust mites.
The 34-year-old, the youngest and only female recipient among the five given the junior award, hopes to be able to eventually predict if a child will develop an allergy as he grows older, and figure out how to prevent it.
More than 40 per cent of school-going children here suffer from rhinitis, 20 per cent from asthma, and a little over 5 per cent have eczema, said the President's Scholar, citing a 2001 study.
'These are important and common diseases, and their incidence is rising, but no one knows exactly why or how to prevent them.
'So I believe it's an area that desperately needs more work,' explained Dr Shek, who also won the National University Hospital's Young Doctor Award for her asthma research in 1999.
She added: 'And because I deal with patients directly, I get to see a very immediate need. And the drive to try and solve their medical problems, find the causes and figure out how to prevent their conditions, is even greater.'