Bio
I currently direct the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit under the Department of Endocrinology at Singapore General Hospital. I relocated to Singapore in 2003 from the USA after completing a 2 year Clinical fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Prior to that, I worked for 3 years at Kaiser Permanente Health Systems, Santa Clara California as a Hospitalist for 1 and a half years and in their Outpatient Medical Clinics at Milpitas, California, for 1 year. I completed my Residency in Internal Medicine at Maricopa Medical Centre, Phoenix, Arizona (affiliated with the University of Arizona and Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale) in 1998. My Medical School training was at Medical College, Trivandrum, University of Kerala, India from where I graduated in 1992. Subsequently, I moved to the US to do my higher studies.
When I started work at Singapore General Hospital, the field of Bone Metabolism was in its infancy in Singapore. I set up the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit at SGH in 2007. From a small one person led clinic then, it has grown into a powerful unit within the Department of Endocrinology with a team of 3 Endocrinologists, 2 trained Nurse Clinicians, Physiotherapists and Dietitians. The unit has been able to contribute significantly to the advancement of the field of Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism in Singapore in the past several years. To date, we continue to be the only such unit in Singapore devoted exclusively to the field of Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism. I was involved in setting up the Ministry of Health funded Secondary Fracture Prevention Program (OPTIMAL- Osteoporosis Patient Targeted and Integrated Management for Active Living) in Singapore in 2008. The program specifically at Singapore General Hospital has attracted international attention for its meticulous auditing and capturing of data and is now recognized globally on the Map of Best Practice of the Capture the Fracture Campaign of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (http://capturethefracture.org/map-of-best-practice). Despite being in a full time clinical role and having an extremely busy clinical practice and teaching schedule, I have still managed to invest a significant amount of personal time in Clinical Research in the field of Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism and have published more than 40 significant and clinical practice changing articles in this area in International Peer Reviewed Journals ( I am the first/senior/second author in 25 of these (3 more such manuscripts are awaiting final acceptance) as well as more than 30 published abstracts (in 27 of them, I am the first/last author). I have 1604 citations credited to my publications, my h-index is 16 and i-10 index is 22. With all humility, I consider this achievement as quite significant given that my primary role is clinical and not research. I have mostly till now devoted my time and energy to non-funded research given the wealth of data that was available for retrospective study in the field of Bone Metabolism and that had not been explored in Singapore, however I have still managed to be directly involved either as a PI or Co-Investigator in local funded trials amounting to close to $100,000. This is in addition to the multi-million dollar trials such as the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial, the NAVIGATOR trial etc in which I was one of the investigators. I am on the FRAX ® Position Development Task Force of the International Society of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) and International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and was also involved in developing the FRAX® model for Singapore. I was elected into the very prestigious Council of Scientific Advisors (CSA) of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) in 2012. This is an honour given to only physicians who have contributed significantly to the field of Bone Metabolism and I consider myself doubly privileged since, to date I am the only physician from ASEAN to be elected into this august body. I currently serve on the Fracture Working Group, Diabetes and Bone and Rare Bone Disorders Working Groups of the CSA and am actively involved in developing international consensus guidelines on Fragility Fracture Prevention as well as evaluation and management of Bone Loss in Diabetes. My work on Pharmaco- Compliance amongst patients recruited into the Secondary Fracture Prevention Program-OPTIMAL at Singapore General Hospital won the Young Investigator Award at the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis and International Osteoporosis Foundation Congress in Rome in March 2013. I also served as President of the Endocrine and Metabolic Society of Singapore (EMSS) from 2012-2014. During my term, I was able to organize the largest Clinical Course in Endocrinology in Singapore to date with sequential courses in Osteoporosis and Bone Densitometry, Advanced Endocrinology and Thyroid and Parathyroid Imaging held over a week in March 2014. I also am on the Executive Committees of the Osteoporosis Society of Singapore OSS), Asia Pacific Panel of the International Society of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) and the Association of Women Doctors Singapore (AWDS). In November 2014, I was invited by the Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to review a case for action paper that is being developed about optimising Older Australians’ musculoskeletal health, primary prevention of falls and fractures, and secondary prevention of fractures. The NHMRC is Australia's peak body for supporting health and medical research; for developing health advice for the Australian community, health professionals and governments; and for providing advice on ethical behaviour in health care and in the conduct of health and medical research. I consider this a singular honour since this invitation is solely based on my work in the field of Osteoporosis and Secondary Fracture Prevention and I am not aware of any other physician from Asia who has been invited to perform this. I have now been appointed in an Ex-Officio Capacity by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) to be a Board member of their Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Council (RAC). I was awarded the very prestigious International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of National Societies (IOF-CNS) medal in March 2015 at the World Congress on Osteoporosis-IOF-ESCEO in Milan, Italy (http://www.iofbonehealth.org/news/iof-committee-national-societies-medal-awarded-dr-manju-chandran). There are 172 National Societies in the International Osteoporosis Foundation, and this award was given in recognition of my work in promoting the cause of Osteoporosis globally and in Singapore. I consider this award as the biggest honour in my career so far. In July 2015, the Capture the Fracture Campaign of the International Osteoporosis Foundation awarded the OPTIMAL program at SGH a Gold Star with a 4.5/5 rating (http://www.capture-the-fracture.org/map-of-best-practice). There are only 2 other hospitals in the world (in the UK) which have a similar Gold 4.5/5 rating. We are the only hospital in the whole of Asia-Pacific with this prestigious rating. I am now regularly invited to speak and to conduct webinars on setting up similar Secondary Fracture Prevention Programs globally. Mine and the work of the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit at Singapore General Hospital is now well known to almost all experts in the field of Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in the Asia Pacific region. This has led to invitations for me to speak at more than 30 (almost all non-pharmaceutical company initiated) regional as well as international Endocrine and Osteoporosis professional society meetings in the last few years. I have just been invited to be on the Editorial Board of the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism- the official journal of the Endocrine Society of India and to be on the Reviewer Panel of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (the most prestigious Journal in the Bone Metabolism Field). I have also recently been invited to be one of 2 main authors for a review paper on Epidemiology, Pathophysiology and Treatment of Diabetic Bone Disease in NATURE REVIEWS ENDOCRINOLOGY (IMPACT FACTOR IN 2014: 13.28). As can be seen, the major focus of my career in the last few years have been along an entirely self- guided Clinician Researcher Track. However, I am also deeply and passionately interested in teaching and education and though I have not been particularly assigned any educational leadership roles in the Singhealth Institutions, I have without any hesitation accepted the teaching duties assigned to me as a member of the DUKE-NUS and YLL School of Medicine Faculty. In addition I have voluntarily assumed responsibility and have organized in addition to the very large international EMSS-MAYO Course in Advanced Endocrinology, AACE Thyroid and Parathyroid Imaging Course and the IOF-ISCD Bone Densitometry Course mentioned above, multiple workshops and symposia on Osteoporosis for General Practitioners, Medical Officers, Allied Health Care Professionals and the Public in Singapore. As current Chairperson of the Chapter of Endocrinology, I have personally initiated and am overseeing the setting up of a Staff Registrar Scheme for specialized training of foreign trained Medical Officers in Endocrinology in the various public hospitals of Singapore and I am organizing a first ever Parathyroid, Kidney and Bone Seminar in Singapore in May 2016.
I have also just been invited ( Invitation sent to me in October 2015) to be Co-Chairperson alongside the world renowned Scientist in Bone Metabolism- Prof Serge Ferrari from University of Geneva, Switzerland for the 6th International Osteoporosis Foundation Asia Pacific Congress on Osteoporosis to be held in Singapore in November 2016.
Education
Postgraduate Diploma
University of California, United States
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
University of Kerala, India
NUS Appointment(s)
Senior Clinical Lecturer
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine,
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