SingHealth Duke-NUS opens MCHRI

The institute aims to serve as a maternal and child health research centre.

SingHealth Duke-NUS launched the Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital on 8 October.

The opening was attended by Singapore Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli.

MCHRI seeks to advance reproductive, metabolic and mental health, cognitive development, and critical disease cure through research with a direct impact on patient care, innovation and digital strategies. It is the culmination of the SingHealth-Duke NUS Academic Clinical Programmes for Paediatrics' and Obstetrics and Gynaecology's 10th year.

"The SingHealth Duke-NUS Maternal and Child Health Research Institute takes on a life-course approach for a more resilient community and to maximise human potential as a nation," according to SingHealth Duke-NUS director Ng Kee Chong. "As we look at women's and children's health starting from the womb, and design the continuum of care from pregnancy to childbirth, infancy to childhood, and adolescence to adulthood, we are laying the foundations for transformation of our nation's health, for today and generations to come."

MHCRI is also partnering with Italy's Menarini Biomarkers to establish an Asia hub to advance research.