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Issue No. 11

25 July 2013

Workshops

How do I get my research

message out? Abstract &

Manuscript Writing

9th September 2013

Qualitative Workshop:

What, Why, How?

10th September 2013

For details contact -

amri_info@duke-nus.edu.sg

SGH-led regional phase III clinical trial onlocally advanced liver cancer meets primarysafety endpoints

On 2nd July 2013 it was announced that theSIRveNIB regional phase III investigator-initiatedtrial is on track and has met its primary safetyend points. Dr Pierce Chow, Senior Consultant,Department of General Surgery, SGH andProfessor, Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUSGraduate Medical School is the Protocol Chair(Principal Investigator) of the trial.

The trial, initiated in 2010 under the Asia-PacificHepatocellular Carcinoma Trials Group (AHCC),

involves 28 centres in 11 countries includingKorea, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Malaysia.It is jointly funded by the National MedicalResearch Council,Singapore and Sirtexwith operationalsupport by SingaporeClinical ResearchInstitute (SCRI).

The trial seeks to assess which of two widelyused therapies, Sorafenib and SIRSpheres,

is more effective in the treatment of locally

advanced HCC that has not spread outside

of the liver. To date, about 200 patients have

been recruited for the 360-patient clinical

trial that is expected to complete in 2015.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 5th

most common cancer worldwide with almost

80 per cent of HCC cases found in the Asia-

Pacific region. Surgery offers patients with

HCC the most consistent and significant

survival advantage. However, as majority ofpatients with liver cancer do not develop any

symptoms, diagnosis often happens at an

advanced stage

of the disease;

hence surgery is

a treatment

option in less

than one out of

five patients.

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Queen Mary Hospital,

Hong Kong

National Taiwan University

Hospital, Taiwan

Augustus John Rush, Professor and Vice Dean of Clinical Sciences at Duke-NUS,

will be retiring from his current position. AMRI Times takes this opportunity to

say thank you for the encouragement, guidance and fun he provided throughout

his journey with us. Here is a summary of his achievements.

AMRI Times congratulates Asst/ProfSharon C. Sung for receiving anNMRC Grant Award. Researchproposal is entitled Tools to improvePanic Screening in the EmergencyDepartment (TIPS-ED). Congrats!

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Enabling Research Careers

Yeo CM, Chong VH, Earnest A, Yang WL.Prevalence and risk factors of methotrexatehepatoxicity in Asian patients with psoriasis. World JHepatol. 2013 May 27;5(5):275-80.

Dalan R, Earnest A, Leow MK. Ethnic variation in thecorrelation between fasting glucose concentration

and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Endocr Pract.2013 Jun 11:1-20. [Epub ahead of print]

Koh Y-X, Chok A-Y, Zheng H-L, Tan C-S, Chow PH,Wong W-K, Goh BP.A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Comparing Laparoscopic Versus OpenGastric Resections for Gastrointestinal StromalTumors of the Stomach. Ann Surg Oncol. 2013 June21: 1-12.

Koh Y-X, Chok A-Y, Zheng H-L, Tan C-S, Chow PH,Wong W-K, Goh BP.A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Comparing Laparoscopic Versus OpenGastric Resections for Gastrointestinal StromalTumors of the Stomach. Ann Surg Oncol. 2013 June

21: 1-12.

AMRI@SGH:

The many hats of the clinician-scientist

by Michael Lucas James, 2 August 2013,

12.30pm - 2.00pm at Duke-NUS

Boardroom, Level 11

AMRI@KKH:

Research Rounds @ KKH

Kawasaki Disease in Infants, A Difficult

Diagnosis by Jade Kua Phek Hui, 26 July

2013, 12.30pm - 1.15pm at GMEO Tutorial

Room

The PROQOLID database: searching for

patient related outcome measures

(PROMs) for research by Dianne

Bautista & Sapna Menon, 26 July 2013,

1.15pm - 2.00pm at GMEO Tutorial Room

The many hats of the clinician-scientist

by Michael Lucas James, 1 August 2013at GMEO Tutorial Room

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Prof Pierce Chow is Senior Consultant Surgeon at the National Cancer CenterSingapore and SGH, and holds joint appointments as Professor in Office of ClinicalSciences and Course Director at Duke-NUS. He is a senior Clinician Investigator withthe National Medical Research Council Singapore as well. The AMRI Times caughtup with Prof Chow for an entertaining interview and the summary of the interview isas follows:

Tell us about your childhood.I come from a small town in Malaysia, Sarawak that was of an ideal size. A town ofthe ideal size is one small enough so you know who all the pretty girls are but bigenough so that there is not too much gossip when they are seen in your company[laughs]. This is a very useful definition.

Why liver cancer?The things we choose to do are probably a mixture of interest and opportunities. Atthat time when I finished my training as a surgeon, liver surgery (or HPB surgery) hadjust started as a sub-specialty in the hospital. Prof Soo asked if I wanted to try liver, Ifound it interesting and the two coincided. Actually the liver is a very interesting organand worthwhile spending your life studying. Of all the organs in the body, the liver isthe only organ that regenerates, not the heart or the brain. There were also not a lotof good treatments for liver cancer. Good research could make a worthwhiledifference to patients. The basic principle in life is: if you can do it and have theopportunity to do it, then do things that matter.

What would you like to do when you have a free day?I have a huge collection of books, DVDs, music CDs that I will never finish because Idont have the time. I would just enjoy my books and my music with a nice cup ofcoffee. But a free day does not seem tohappen.

What type of music do you listen to?My favorite easy listening group is Secret Garden. I was really into rock. My favoritegroup was and still is Scorpion. But my favorite composer is Ennio Morricone.

What are some funny incidents that you encountered during your youngerdays?After our exams, we cycled and found a very nice campsite with some trees and

settled for the night. Then in the middle of the night, we found some Dayaks cuttinggrass next to our campsite. That was a bit unusual but more was to follow when thenwe heard toom and the natives start scrambling. Then we realized they arecollecting durians. We were actually camping right underneath the durian trees. Ourflimsy tent would not have protected us [Laughs]. But being the crazy opportunists wewere, we stayed put and at every toom, we scrambled for the durians too. TheDayaks werent very happy with us. Fortunately we kept our heads as well as ourdurians.

How would you define your personal work-life balance in terms of ratio?Work-like balance is for wimps. We should do the things we enjoy. If you do thethings that you enjoy then you wont need to balance.

What is a definition of a workaholic?

A workaholic is a person who relaxes by working. That is a true workaholic. Thosethat do it because they have to do it are not real workaholics. Workaholics are peoplewho enjoy doing it, like John Rush [laughs]. To them, theres no difference betweenlife and work. The real workaholic de-stresses by working and they dont retire.[Laughs] Thats why John Rush cannot retire. [Laughs]

What keeps you going when the going gets tough?Actually when the going gets tough, sometimes I feel like giving up. Sometimes Ithink, why should I continue, I have done enough. But after a good nights sleep, Iwake up in the morning and everything is ok again.

Editorial Team

Dr Silke Vogel, Dr Sumita Anant, Vani Singaram,Megan Pooh

Any advice for students who are choosing between clinical or basic research?In fact, you are drawn to one or the other because of your personality. If you dont want to deal with so many difficult to c ontrol things at thesame time and you just want to have the scientific problem isolated and deal with only the problem, then you wont want to do clinical

research. You will do basic research when (almost) all the parameters can be easily controlled. Translational research is the toughestyou get the worse challenges from both worlds. But it is also the most worthwhile doing because the results are very tangible and areuseful to patients in a short time. Life is short. You should only do things that matter.