LKCMedicine officially launches first population health study as suite of new laboratories is unveiled

HELIOS is the most comprehensive population study to focus on ethnic Asians living in Singapore as similar landmark studies in the US, UK and Germany focused primarily on populations of European ancestry living in Western countries. This leaves out some 60 per cent of the world’s population, whose health and disease are determined by a different combination of factors.

LKCMedicine Dean Professor James Best said, “Together with our partners, the National Healthcare Group (NHG), we are investing in improving the health of Singaporeans. HELIOS is our flagship contribution to the national effort in precision medicine.”

In addition to NHG, LKCMedicine will work in close partnership with leading healthcare organisations, the other medical schools and universities in Singapore, as well as international experts to deliver this vision. To deliver precision medicine, HELIOS lead investigator LKCMedicine Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology John Chambers explained that we need to be able to identify those people in the population at high risk of developing diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. “Thirty per cent of people in Singapore will die of heart disease, and this is simply unacceptable. Our vision is to put together a population health study that identifies the factors that drive disease, to better identify people for preventative measures, so they can maintain health for the future.”

To reach out to all segments of the population, the HELIOS team has embarked on an extensive community outreach programme. The team partners employers including DBS and Singtel, and community and religious organisations such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore or MUIS and Singapore Indian Development Association. They have also set up a network of community champions to help drive recruitment.

To date, more than 800 people aged between 30 and 84 have volunteered to take part in the HELIOS study, which started last year. By the end of 2019, the HELIOS team hopes to have recruited 10,000 participants. Participants undergo a detailed health screening, and are followed up over years, even decades, to find out how their health changes.

The comprehensive health assessment conducted at baseline includes routine items such as questionnaires about lifestyle, diet and exercise as well as molecular tests and scans such as 3D ultrasound imaging to capture “more profound things such as their genetic patterns, metabolic and gene expression profiles, and structure and function of organs,” said Prof Chambers, who hopes that long-term follow-up can be completed via direct contact with participants and by tapping into the National Electronic Health Records system.

New labs a healthy shot in the arm

The HELIOS study is among the first studies conducted in the School’s Population and Community Health Laboratories, which were officially opened by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Health and the Environment & Water Resources, on 18 June.

At the event held in the Flexi-Space of the Clinical Sciences Building, LKCMedicine Governing Board Chairman Mr Lim Chuan Poh outlined the vision behind these multidisciplinary laboratories. He said, “We are officially unveiling LKCMedicine Population and Community Health Laboratories, a suite of new research centres and laboratories on the 18th floor of this building. Each lab is led by a world-class principal investigator, and the work of the teams within aims to advance efforts in the prevention and treatment of Singapore’s unique disease burden to enable Singaporeans to lead healthier lives.”