Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award

The STaR Investigator Award is a prestigious award offered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC) to recognise and support outstanding investigators in translational and clinical research.

STaR Investigators will be funded to start new research programmes in Singapore in biomedical research. STaR Investigators may, if they wish, spend up to 20% of their time engaging in direct patient care.

Successful candidates will receive 3- to 5-year support which is modelled after the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigatorship Award. Awards include (I) Annual Research Support, (II) Annual Salary Support and (III) Start-up Costs. The awards are renewable for further terms upon external review.  STaR Investigators must commit to a full time appointment in Singapore and their proposed research must be conducted in Singapore.

Profile of a STaR Investigator:

Medically qualified doctors (MDs/MBBS) with advanced clinical specialty training or PhDs active in clinical research such as epidemiology and biostatistics.

Non medically trained PhD applicants conducting laboratory based research are not eligible.

You may be a physician scientist, clinical investigator, population geneticist, epidemiologist, health services researcher or an investigator engaged in other kinds of population-based biomedical research.

Applicants should have a strong track record of scientific achievement and impact in translational and clinical research.

The STaR Selection Panel includes:

• Professor Edward Holmes (Deputy Chairman,BMRC)
• Professor Judith Swain (Executive Director, SICS)
• Professor Ranga Krishnan (Professor and Chairman, Duke University)
• Professor Stephen Smith (Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine)
• Associate Professor Yeoh Khay Guan (Dean, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine)
• Professor Jean Paul Thierry (Deputy Director, IMCB)
• Professor Wong Tien Yin (Director, Singapore Eye Research Institute)
• Professor Michael Chee (Professor, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School)
  
  Where applicable, shortlisted applicants will be invited to Singapore for a 3- to 5-day visit for in-depth interaction with the scientific community to better understand the local research support and environment, and to meet with the STaR Selection Panel.

All applications are to be submitted online through the Research, Innovation and Technology Administration (RITA) system. To apply, please click here.

Applicants are also required to send in 1 original hardcopy to NMRC at the following address:

STaR Application
National Medical Research Council
11 Biopolis Way
#09-10/11, Helios
Singapore 138667

Download a copy of the STaR Award application form - click here

For further clarification, please contact Ms Lim Huey Wen through -
Email:  Lim_Huey_Wen@MOH.GOV.SG or
Telephone: +65 67768954