Qualifications:
Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Singapore
Member, Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom)
Master of Medicine (Internal Medicine), Singapore
Doctor of Philosophy, Diploma of Imperial College London
Fellow Academy of Medicine,spaning Singapore
Dr Ong joined the Division of Infectious Diseases at NUH in 2007 where she developed a passion for Tuberculosis (TB) during advanced specialist training. She was awarded the competitive NRF-MOH Healthcare Research Scholarship funded by the Singapore National Medical Research Council (NMRC) and pursued full-time research on TB host immunopathology, investigating neutrophils and the regulation of matrix metalloproteinases with Professor Jon Friedland at Imperial College London. This led to the conferment of her PhD in 2013. During her UK research, she was awarded the Presidential Award prize at the American Society for Leukocyte Biology, the Keystone Symposia Global Health Travel Award by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the International Investigator Award by the Infectious Diseases Society of America among 8 other awards. Since returning from the UK, she was awarded the Exxon-Mobil NUS Research Fellowship in 2014, the NMRC Transition Award in 2015, and the NMRC Clinician Scientist Award in 2018. In clinical medicine, Dr Ong has a special interest in TB, HIV-TB co-infections and runs a weekly HIV-TB multi-disciplinary clinic from the national TB Control Unit, Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She is Honorary Secretary, Chapter of Infectious Disease Physicians (Academy of Medicine, Singapore), Vice-President of Society of Infectious Disease (Singapore) and serves the Singapore Ministry of Healthy in committees.
Contact Information: Email Catherine.ong@nus.edu.sg;
Clinical interests: Tuberculosis, HIV-Tuberculosis co-infection, Infections in the Immunocompromised host
Sample publications:
1. S Brilha, A Khawaja, D Chong, CWM Ong, NJ Guppy, JC Porter, JS Friedland.
Integrin α2β1 expression regulates matrix metalloproteinase-1-dependent bronchial epithelial repair in pulmonary tuberculosis. Front. Immunol., 22 June 2018 https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01348 (IF 6.4)
2. S Brilha, CWM Ong, B Weksler, N Romero, P Couraud, and J Friedland.
Matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity and a downregulated Hedgehog pathway impairs blood-brain barrier function in an in vitro culture-based CNS TB model
Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 16031 (2017) doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16250-3 (IF 4.3)
3. CWM Ong, PJ Pabisiak, S Brilha, P Singh, F Roncaroli, PT Elkington, JS Friedland.
Complex regulation of neutrophil-derived MMP-9 secretion in central nervous system tuberculosis.
J Neuroinflammation 2017,14:31. DOI 10.1186/s12974-017-0801-1 (IF 5.1)
4. CWM Ong, P Elkington, S Brilha, C Ugarte-Gil, M Tome-Esteban, LB Tezera, PJ Pabisiak, RC Moores, T Sathyamoorthy, V Patel, RH Gilman, JC Porter, JS Friedland.
Neutrophil-derived MMP-8 drives AMPK-dependent matrix destruction in human pulmonary tuberculosis
PLOS Pathogens 2015 May 21;11(5):e1004917. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004917. eCollection 2015 May. (IF 6.6)
5. CWM Ong, Khek Yu Ho, Li Yang Hsu, Aymeric YT Lim, Dale A Fisher, Paul A Tambyah
Reacting to the emergence of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1)
Lancet Infect Dis 2009 July; 9 (7): 397-8 (IF 19.9)
6. Ong C, Chua AC, Tambyah PA, Fei YS.
Seizures associated with ertapenem.
Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2008 Mar;31(3):290 (IF 4.3)
7. CWM Ong, JS Friedland.
Rapid Response: The hidden costs of ethical research.
BMJ 2011;342:d185 doi (IF 20.8)
8. C Ong, Low SY, Thirugnanam A, Loh A, P Eng.
Metastatic trophoblastic disease masquerading as pulmonary embolism.
Thorax. 2008 Nov;63(11):1030. (IF 8.3)
9. CWM Ong, Hsu LY, PA Tambyah.
Correspondance letter: Corticosteroids in Bacterial Meningitis in Adults in Sub-Saharan Africa"
N Engl J Med 2008 Mar 27;358(13):1399-400 (IF 72.4)
10. CWM Ong, P Elkington, JS Friedland
Tuberculosis, pulmonary cavitation and matrix metalloproteinases. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2014, Vol.190: 9-18, 10.1164/rccm.201311-2106PP (IF 13.2)