Digestive Diseases
Centre of Excellence

Our Research

At our institution, we actively enhance patient outcomes through pioneering high-quality surgical research. Led by A/Prof Michael Hii, our vibrant research team includes skilled surgeons, higher degree research students, surgical trainees, junior medical staff, and medical students. Dr. Lynn Chong, our proficient research manager, along with research assistants Eunice Lim & Stefanie Navaratnam, provides invaluable support to our research endeavors.

With a PhD in epithelial stem cell biology, Dr. Chong spearheads our research efforts by overseeing project development, coordination, and administration. She fosters a culture of research excellence and mentors surgical residents and medical students to hone their expertise in clinical research. Our team meets weekly to explore new projects and provides students a platform to present their research findings.

To date, our unit has mentored numerous MDRP students and is ready to supervise three PhD candidates. We welcome inquiries from prospective students and potential collaborators. For more information, please contact Dr. Lynn Chong.

Current Research Activities

Our current research activities involve:

    • Health economics

    • Role of probiotics in surgery

    • Prehabilitation in cancer surgery

    • Bariatric surgery

    • Body composition

    • Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)

    • Predicting response to neoadjuvant treatment in oesophageal adenocarcinoma

    • Hiatus hernia and reflux disease.

These projects involve collaborations at both local and international level and have culminated in numerous publications and presentations. In collaboration with OESO, an international society focused on diseases of the oesophagus and Stanford University, we have also been recognised as a centre of excellence in the study of oesophageal diseases (http://www.oeso.org/pilot-centers.html). As part of this role, we offer an annual training day focusing on the management of oesophageal conditions.