PhD track

Biomedical research is vital for improving disease prevention and treatment. At Duke-NUS, we offer some of the top Ph.D. programs in Asia with various research focuses. Our vision is for our Ph.D. graduates to become experts in the biomedical and clinical sciences, driven by the desire and curiosity to seek answers to biological questions, potentially leading to new and better treatments.

Highlights

• World-class research institution with state-of-the-art research facilities.
• Innovative research led by internationally recognized faculty.
• Research programs span from basic science to translational research to take discoveries from bench to bedside.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – Integrated Biology and Medicine

The Duke-NUS Ph.D. in Integrated Biology and Medicine provides training in translational bioscience to develop Ph.D. scientists across multiple disciplines who can translate basic scientific discoveries into useful therapies for patients.

The Ph.D. degree, which is expected to take 4-5 years to complete, is awarded by Duke and NUS. Applicants must have at least a bachelor's degree related to science to apply for a Ph.D. study.

Ph.D. in Integrated Biology and Medicine Curriculum

Students will complete their advanced training in one of Duke-NUS’ five Signature Research Programmes:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – Quantitative Biology and Medicine

The Duke-NUS Ph.D. in Quantitative Biology and Medicine provides training in these two areas with the goal of developing students that will possess quantitative and computational skills that are increasingly necessary to decipher the myriad of clinical and biomedical data. Students admitted to this program will choose to focus either on biostatistics or bioinformatics. The education and training of students are supported by an award-winning research faculty.

The Ph.D. degree, which is expected to take 4-5 years to complete, is awarded by NUS. Applicants must have at least a bachelor's degree related to science to apply.

Biostatistics and bioinformatics are increasingly important areas for the advancement of biomedical research. There is high demand for trained professionals in these areas, locally and internationally.

Biostatistics and health data science is responsible for experimental design, data analysis, and evidence synthesis and interpretation for answering questions in translational, clinical, epidemiological, and health services research. Recent years have seen major changes in the medical landscape, such as the need for rapid responses to infectious diseases, personalized medicine, and the availability and connectivity of big data. They demand innovative approaches to statistical problem-solving. Some examples include adaptive clinical trial designs, dynamic treatment regimes, and high-dimensional data analysis methods.

Computational biology is an integration of data analytics, statistics, machine learning, modeling, software engineering, and computer science to answer questions in basic and translational biomedical research. The explosion of demand for bioinformatics in the last five years has been driven partly by huge decreases in the cost of next-generation DNA sequencing, which is 10,000 times cheaper than it was in 20061. As a result, next-generation sequencing is now a foundational technology for much of biological research. The rapid development of many other high throughput technologies is also driving demand for bioinformatics experts.

Students will complete their training in Duke-NUS’ Centre for Quantitative Medicine (Biostatistics and Health Data Science) and Centre for Computational Biology (Computational Biology).

Opportunities for Ph.D. Students

Exposure to Scientific Conferences

Duke/Duke-NUS Exchange Programme

Career Development Programme (CDeP)