Healing More than Skin - Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Tham

For Associate Professor Elizabeth Tham, medicine has always been deeply personal. As a paediatric allergist, she’s seen firsthand how chronic conditions like eczema can upend childhoods, interrupting sleep, interfering with school, and straining families. But as a clinician-scientist, she also sees opportunity: each flare-up is a clue, each family visit a chance to ask, “What more can we understand and how can we do better?”

Partnering for Translational Impact

Her pursuit of those answers has led to a long-standing and impactful collaboration with the Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS); a partnership that has reshaped both her research trajectory and the future of childhood allergy care. A/Prof Tham holds several leadership roles, including Head of the Dvivison of Paediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children’s Medical Institute (KTP-NUCMI) and Associate Chairman, Medical Board (Research) at the National University Hospital. She is also the Assistant Dean (Research) at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

Her clinical and research focus centers on allergic disorders in children especially atopic dermatitis and food allergies and how early-life environmental exposures shape immune development and disease. Despite her clinical insights, A/Prof Tham recognized a key gap in translating bedside observations into mechanistic science. SRIS filled that void, offering her access to expertise in microbiome science, bioinformatics, and advanced multi-omics platforms.

 

Breakthroughs Rooted in Real Life

Working closely with SRIS researchers, A/Prof Tham led a landmark study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, (“Shared signatures and divergence in skin microbiomes of children with atopic 

dermatitis and their caregivers,” Chia M et al., 2022) showing that children with eczema often share pathogenic skin bacteria with caregivers. The study highlighted that truly effective eczema management must encompass the entire family, pointing towards new intervention models. This was just the beginning. With SRIS’s support, she secured multiple national grants, including the National Medical Research Council Transition and Clinician Scientist awards and the Clinician-Scientist Individual Research Grant. These allowed her to build a robust research programme exploring how the skin and gut microbiomes influence allergic disease development and severity.

Along the way, A/Prof Tham also completed a PhD co-supervised by A*STAR collaborators—Prof John Common and A/Prof Niranjan Nagarajan—which she describes as transformative in shaping her identity as a clinician-scientist.

 

Expanding the Vision

“My collaboration with SRIS has deepened my passion and commitment to skin research, particularly in paediatric atopic dermatitis. It has elevated my profile as a clinician-scientist both nationally and regionally and has opened doors for impactful, large-scale studies.” Today, A/Prof Tham co-leads a major NMRC collaborative grant investigating unique Asian phenotypes of eczema across the lifespan. She’s also launching a new study on skin biomarkers linked to recurrent infections—an unmet need in paediatric care. These projects are ambitious and represent the next phase of her research journey, but she credits the foundation built with SRIS for enabling them. “SRIS wasn’t just a collaborator. They were co-creators of my research journey. I remain deeply appreciative of the mentorship, resources, and partnership that have supported me throughout this journey.” she says.

 

A Message to the Next Generation

Reflecting on her experience, A/Prof Tham emphasizes that SRIS provides more than just platforms and tools—it fosters the kind of integrated, patient-relevant science that drives real-world change. “For any clinician looking to make research matter or any scientist looking to impact patient care; SRIS is a game-changer. As an essential partner in every step of the research journey, SRIS brings together the expertise and resources needed to turn clinical questions into tangible outcomes.” Her message to early-career clinician-scientists is clear: start with a clinical question that matters to you and surround yourself with collaborators who can push the boundaries of what’s possible. At the heart of her work lies a simple belief: that better science leads to better lives. And through SRIS, that belief is becoming reality.