At the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management (CDPM), we’re working to prevent chronic diseases from developing in members of the general public and also to manage chronic (or long-term) conditions once they are established.
In Singapore and around the world, sedentary lifestyles and diets rich in processed and energy-dense foods, coupled with longer lifespans, put individuals and populations at high risk of developing chronic diseases. Our national burden of disease is increasingly shifting towards chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular illness. In these circumstances it becomes increasingly important to address unhealthy lifestyles in order to prevent chronic diseases and to develop and maintain collaborative partnerships between engaged healthcare providers and proactive individuals who have already developed chronic diseases.
Unfortunately a long-term condition is generally here to stay, so people need to adjust their behaviours in order to live well with their chronic disease. CDPM promotes person-centred healthcare – where doctors and other healthcare professionals listen to patients’ views and help them make informed decisions about their own healthcare needs at home, in the community and in the clinic. We also seek to understand the barriers to behavioural change and how to manage them, so individuals can make and sustain positive lifestyle adjustments.
The Director of the Centre is Prof Tai E Shyong, a Professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and a Senior Consultant at the National University Hospital. He is an endocrinology specialist with expertise in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity; he looks after and does research on patients with diabetes. His work on metabolic disease has shaped clinical practice guidelines in Singapore, and the risk assessment tool he developed is used to make clinical decisions on cardiovascular disease.
Currently, Prof Tai runs an inter-disciplinary research programme studying diabetes, public health and human physiology, employing the fields of behavioural science and food science to examine factors that affect health behaviours such as diet and physical activity.
Singapore has one of the longest lifespans in the world and one of the highest rates of diabetes. Complications from diabetes include heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and limb amputation, all of which are devastating conditions for individuals, families and the nation.
At CDPM, our passion is to prevent people from developing chronic diseases like diabetes and to help patients with these conditions to lead full lives whilst minimising the risk of complications. We work within the healthcare system and beyond it. Within the system, we seek to transform the process of healthcare nationwide from one in which providers tell patients what to do, to one in which providers work with patients to understand their aspirations, fears, concerns and needs, and make choices together about their health.
Our programmes facilitate genuine, effective and collaborative communication between the patient (who is an expert in their lives) and the healthcare provider (who is an expert in the disease). Beyond the healthcare system, our work targets people at risk of chronic diseases. One such study is developing a digital tool with empathetic multimedia content available through the web or mobile phones. It focuses on people with elevated risk of heart disease and motivates healthy lifestyles through online personalised education. Preventing and managing chronic disease is at the centre of all we do.
Our Deputy Director is Dr Yew Tong Wei, Senior Consultant, NUH Division of Endocrinology and Assistant Professor, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Prof Tai and Dr Yew have served as expert panel members for the Care Team Education Workgroup under the Disease Management Workgroup, War on Diabetes, MOH, since 2019. It is developing the framework and competencies required for training providers across the healthcare system to incorporate patient-centred communication as part of their care.
Dr Yew is also an expert faculty for the Expert Working Group, National Diabetes Mellitus Collaborative, under the National Health Outcomes Council, MOH. This group has identified patient and family centred care as one of the key strategies to reducing the burden of disease associated with diabetes mellitus at the population level.
Ms Loy En Yun is the Centre Manager and can be contacted by email at cdpm@nuhs.edu.sg.
Other staff are listed under specific programmes.
