A dentist has emerged as a recipient of the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award which is awarded by the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) through the NMRC Office, MOH Holdings Pte Ltd, marking the first time in the award’s history that a dentist has won the prestigious award.
Prof Marco Peres, deputy CEO (Research & Education), National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS), won the award for his investigative work on the link between oral and non-communicable diseases, the impact and cost-effectiveness of policies to reduce the burden of oral diseases, and the impact of dental service provision on health outcomes.
Prof Peres is one of the two clinician-scientists and researchers from SingHealth Duke-NUS who secured the NMRC STaR Investigator award under the January 2023 grant call. His work on the Singapore Oral Population Health Initiative (SOPI) brought together a multidisciplinary team of oral epidemiologists, clinicians, public health researchers, statisticians and economists to study how to achieve optimal oral health in Singapore.
“I am greatly honoured to receive this award, and hope that my work on the Singapore Oral Population Health Initiative will level up our capabilities in oral health research and improve lives. I hope to be a model and mentor for aspiring researchers, to let them know that they too can be part of the ecosystem for excellence in oral science. Importantly, I hope it will draw more attention to the importance of oral healthcare and its impact on overall health,” said Prof Peres.
The NMRC STaR Investigator Award was introduced in 2008 and is the pinnacle award given to internationally renowned and outstanding investigators in Translational and Clinical Research (TCR), Health Promotion, Preventive Health, Population Health and Health Services Research (HPHSR), and/or Health Technology.
The SOPI is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health through the NMRC Office, MOH Holdings Pte Ltd under the NMRC Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award.
According to the NDCS, the scope of Prof Peres’ research is particularly important as SOPI seeks to address pressing oral health issues in Singapore and contribute to the sustainability of the healthcare system by integrating oral health with chronic disease prevention and general health promotion. Prof Peres’ work will serve to encourage Singaporeans to take proactive steps to maintain their oral health and prevent the onset of diseases, thereby improving their general health and well-being.
Some of his studies include investigations into the causal link between periodontal diseases and cardiovascular diseases, as well as how oral frailty can contribute to physical frailty and the impact on cognition from tooth loss. The effect of diabetes on the occurrence and severity of destructive oral inflammation was also analysed. Besides oral diseases studies, he also studied the impact of policies on oral health.
These include reducing sugar consumption, with front-of-package food labelling, tobacco control on periodontal diseases and trends in children’s oral health. The impact of the HPV vaccination on the incidence and mortality of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers and associated costs for health services were also studied, as well as the impact of dental service provision on health outcomes.
Prof Peres is also a senior principal investigator in the Academic Clinical Programme (ACP) Office and a professor and director of Oral Health ACP in the Health Services and Systems Research Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.
“The award is a testament to Prof Peres’ unwavering pursuit of scientific excellence and his remarkable ability to apply scientific approaches in various spheres to link research to real world impact. His work serves as inspiration for more dental professionals to be part of bettering oral health through research and will shape the future of oral healthcare,” said Clinical Associate Professor Goh Bee Tin, CEO of NDCS.
The NMRC was established in 1994 to oversee research funding from the Singapore MOH and support the development and advancement of biomedical research in Singapore, particularly in the public healthcare clusters and medical schools. NMRC engages in research strategy and planning, provides funding to support competitive research grants and core research enablers, and is responsible for the development of clinician scientists through awards and fellowships.
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