Find out how the Clinician Investigator Advancement Award (CIVA) helped Clinical Assistant Professor Wong Chui Mae advance her research to help young patients with autism.
When Clinical Assistant Professor Mae Wong moved her paediatric career from the UK to Singapore and joined the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) in 2011, she had already been involved in research and publishing papers on neonatal medicine. At KKH, the Senior Consultant Paediatrician found herself coming across young patients on the autism spectrum at her clinic regularly.
"We saw children on the autism spectrum who were referred relatively late, around three to five years old. Yet we knew that signs of autism could be seen from as early as one year old and there was already evidence at that time that the earlier the signs are detected and treated, the better the outcome."
That sparked Prof Wong's interest in Developmental Behavioural Paediatrics and she started delving into autism research to see how she could help her patients. "I started with retrospective studies – gathering existing data from medical records – before moving onto screening and follow-up studies. Now, I'm working on conducting clinical trials to test interventions that may help my patients."
One of Prof Wong's earliest projects was improving early screening for the younger siblings of autistic patients. "We know that autism has a genetic component. When we see a patient on the autism spectrum, very often the younger sibling has a much higher chance of having autism and yet they were not being screened."
Today, she is looking beyond screening towards more proactive interventions. She is presently collaborating with NTU's Baby-LINC Lab as well as A*STAR's Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) and Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) on two projects.
Using physiological data such as Electroencephalography (EEG), Electrocardiogram (ECG), eye tracking and behavioural responses collected from recruited participants, the studies leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to sieve out the finer characteristics of autistic children or developmental delays.
As the KKH Principal Investigator, Prof Wong hopes that the findings will eventually lead to development of predictive screening tools for parents: "In the future, parents can potentially use an app at home to identify whether their child is showing signs of autism. It puts screening in the hands of parents. Eventually, using these tools, we want to also develop interventions for these children."
As the second cohort of recipients for the Clinician Investigator Advancement Award (CIVA), Prof Wong appreciates the benefits of protected time to pursue her research. She avers, "Because of the increasing complexity of the studies that I'm involved in, involving cross-institution collaborations bridging translational and clinical research, I definitely need the time. It can be challenging conducting studies while running very busy clinics at the same time."
In her view, participation in CIVA goes beyond garnering time for research. She credits the Academic Medical Centre with raising visibility for medical research and fostering collaboration between clinician-researchers and institutional researchers.
"As you progress in your research journey, your projects get bigger and more complex. As a busy clinician, I would not have had the opportunity to establish contact with A*STAR or NTU without the support of the SingHealth Duke-NUS AMC. The CIVA provides us the time, collaborations, support and mentorship to nurture our research abilities and interests in a positive and productive manner."
Learn more about CIVAFind out more about the details of the Clinician Investigator Advancement Award (CIVA), and learn how you can apply for it by visiting https://www.singhealthdukenus.com.sg/civa
