CDA Catalyst Grant and Short-Term Fellowship
Learn more about the CDA Catalyst Grant and Short-Term Fellowship
Last updated 24 October 2025
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CDA Catalyst Grant
The Catalyst Grant, funded by the Ministry of Health, was administered by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) from 2018 to 2024. Since April 2025, with the establishment of Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA), Catalyst Grant has been officially administered by CDA. It aims to promote inter-institutional research collaboration in infectious diseases and public health, focusing on Health and Biomedical Sciences priority areas which include antimicrobial resistance, vector-borne diseases, respiratory infections, and human immunodeficiency virus.
The grant supports young or new principal investigators in building partnerships between clinician scientists and researchers from hospitals and research institutions. Through these collaborations, the CDA Catalyst Grant facilitates strategic and innovative clinical and public health research within Singapore.
The Financial Year (FY) 2025 CDA Catalyst Grant call closed on 28 February 2025.
The following projects have been awarded funding under the FY2025 CDA Catalyst Grant Call:
FY2025 CDA Catalyst Grant - Awarded Projects | ||
Project Title | Principal Investigator | Host Institution |
Evaluating the use of the PenFast protocol for penicillin allergy de-labelling in a doctor-led and pharmacist-led model | Dr Teo Min-Li Claire | Tan Tock Seng Hospital |
Reprogramming of host Cholesterol metabolism to protect Mycobacterium tuberculosis induced inflammation | Dr Sakshi Agarwal | A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs |
Co-evolutionary training of bacteriophages to combat antimicrobial-resistance Escherichia coli | Asst. Prof Chen Lin | Nanyang Technological University |
A multicentre study on clinical characteristics, antifungal resistance and genomic epidemiology of Trichosporon fungemia in Singapore | Dr Ren Dongdong | Tan Tock Seng Hospital |
Define the mechanism of resistance and collateral sensitivity in Mycobacterium abscessus | Dr Manitosh Pandey | A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs |
Strengthening regional collaboration in Tuberculosis (TB) genomics: Qualitative insights on Targeted Next Generation Sequencing (tNGS) adoption in clinical decision support and program implementation across Singapore, India, and Indonesia | Dr Suci Wulandari | Duke-NUS Medical School |
A joint organoid model to study alphavirus infections for investigating viral-induced joint inflammation, persistence, and potential therapeutics | Sam Jian Hung | A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs |
Inflammatory phenotypes in respiratory viral infection in association with viral genotypes and adverse clinical outcomes | Dr Matthew Chung Yi Koh | National University Hospital |
CDA Short-Term Fellowship
The Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) Short-Term Fellowship is funded by the Ministry of Health. It was formerly known as the Short-Term Fellowship and administered by NCID from 2018 to 2024. The grant enables active infectious disease researchers to either host international collaborators and experts in Singapore or undertake research training attachments at leading overseas institutions. Through these exchanges, the programme fosters international collaboration and develops research capabilities.
The FY2025 CDA Short-Term Fellowship closed on 27 June 2025.
FY2025 Short-Term Fellowship Awardees (Outgoing) | |||
Awardee | Home Institution | Visiting Institution | Overseas Mentor |
Dr Cherie Gan | Singapore General Hospital | Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, Australia | Professor Monica Slavin |
Dr Dolyce Low | Duke-NUS Medical School | The University of Tokyo, Japan | Professor Kei Sato |
Dr Wang Bo | Duke-NUS Medical School | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium | Professor Johan Neyts |
Dr Wu Xuesheng | Duke-NUS Medical School | Griffith University, Australia | Professor Mark von Itzstein |
Dr Jin Shihui | National University of Singapore | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom | Dr Nicholas G. Davis |
Dr Singh Shweta Rajkumar | National University of Singapore | Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP), Switzerland | Dr Jennifer Cohn |
Dr Khoo Bo Yan | Tan Tock Seng Hospital | St Thomas’ Hospital, United Kingdom | Professor Jonathan Edgeworth |
Dr Li Hankun | Tan Tock Seng Hospital | St Thomas’ Hospital, United Kingdom | Professor Jonathan Edgeworth |
FY2025 Short-Term Fellowship Awardees (Incoming) | |||
Awardee | Home Institution | Visitor Institution | Overseas Expert |
Associate Professor Luo Dahai | Nanyang Technological University | University of Tartu, Estonia | Professor Andres Merits |
Dr Amit Singhal | A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs | University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa | Professor Bavesh Kana |
Professor Hsu Li Yang | National University of Singapore | One Health Trust, India | Professor Ramana Laxinarayan |