Care at NUH

Doctor Details

2024/01/25
Find a Doctor
Doctor Detail

Dr Elizabeth Tham

Photo of Dr Elizabeth Tham

Designations:

  • Head & Senior Consultant, Division of Paediatric Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology, Department of Paediatrics, Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Qualifications:

MBBS (S'pore), MMed (Paeds) (S'pore), MRCPCH (UK), FAMS (S'pore), MCI (S'pore)

Specialties/Sub-specialties:

Paediatric Medicine

Clinical Disciplines/Programmes:

Paediatric Allergy & Immunology (Allergy & Immune System Disorders)

Contact Us:

Find Out More:

Biosketch

Dr Elizabeth Tham graduated with MBBS from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2007 and was awarded the Jane Prize in Paediatrics. She received her specialist training in Paediatrics and Neonatology at NUH and KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH). She is currently Consultant & Head of Division, Division of Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology, KTP-NUCMI and Assistant Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.

In her clinical practice, she sees all General Paediatric conditions with a special focus on children with allergic disorders such as atopic dermatitis, food and drug allergies, allergic rhinitis and asthma. She is particularly passionate about improving the care and quality of life for children suffering from atopic dermatitis (eczema).

She is also a Clinician-Scientist actively involved in research in the fields of Food Allergy, Skin Microbiome in Atopic Dermatitis and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHAD). She has been awarded several national grants, such as the NMRC-Clinician Scientist –Individual Research grant – New Investigator Grant, the NMRC Research Training Fellowship, the NMRC Transition Award (TA) and NMRC Clinician-Scientist Award (CSA). Her work has also been published in many regional and international journals and her goals are to develop interventions that can be translated into clinical practice for allergic disease prevention and to improve clinical care. Dr Tham also enjoys teaching students and junior clinicians and has mentored many undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows over the years.

As a mother of four children, she understands and empathises with the myriad challenges facing parents today and hopes to work with her patients and families to achieve holistic care to improve not only disease outcomes but also their quality of life.
 
Major Grants:
As Principal Investigator

  • 2023 – 2026: A bioengineered probiotic approach for immunoregulation and restoration of skin barrier function in Atopic Dermatitis
    • Funding Agency: NMRC Clinician Scientist Award
  • 2019 – 2023: Skin Microbiome in Early Childhood Atopic Dermatitis
    • Funding Agency: NMRC Transition Award
  • 2016 – 2018: Skin microbiome in children with Eczema and their household contacts
    • Funding Agency: NUHS – NCSP & NUS iHealthtech Microbiome in Health, Disease and Ageing
  • 2012 – 2015: A probiotic-based therapeutic approach to fight Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
    • Funding Agency: NMRC – Clinician Scientist Individual Research Grant – New Investigator Grant
  • 2012 – 2013: Pre-clinical evaluation of Lactobacillus reuteri-based probiotics in protecting against Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
    • Funding Agency: EXXONMOBIL-NUS

Awards

  • Nestle Nutrition Young Researcher Award 2017

Journals & Publications

  1. Chia M, Naim ANM, Tay ASL, Lim K, Chew KL, Yow SJ, Chen J, Common JEA, Nagarajan N, Tham EH. Shared signatures and divergence in skin microbiomes of children with atopic dermatitis and their caregivers. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 Oct;150(4):894-908.
  2. Suaini NHA, Loo EX, Peters RL, Yap GC, Allen KJ, Van Bever H, Martino DJ, Goh AEN, Dharmage SC, Colega MT, Chong MFF, Ponsonby AL, Tan KH, Tang MLK, Godfrey KM, Lee BW, Shek LP, Koplin JJ, Tham EH. Children of Asian ethnicity in Australia have higher risk of food allergy and early-onset eczema than those in Singapore. Allergy. 2021 Oct;76(10):3171-3182.
  3. Zhong Y, Samuel M, van Bever H, Tham EH. Emollients in infancy to prevent atopic dermatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Allergy. 2021 Sep 30.
  4. Tham EH, Shek LP, Van Bever HP, Vichyanond P, Ebisawa M, Wong GW, Lee BW; Asia Pacific Association of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology & Immunology (APAPARI) (2018). Early introduction of allergenic foods for the prevention of food allergy from an Asian perspective-An Asia Pacific Association of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology & Immunology (APAPARI) consensus statement. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology: Official Publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 29(1):18-27. doi: 10.1111/pai.12820
  5. Tham EH, Lee BW, Chan YH, Loo EXL, Toh JY, Goh A, … Shek LP (2017). Low Food Allergy Prevalence Despite Delayed Introduction of Allergenic Foods-Data from the GUSTO Cohort. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In Practice. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2017.06.001
  6. Tham EH, Dyjack N, Kim BE, Rios C, Seibold MA, Leung DYM, Goleva E. Expression and function of the ectopic olfactory receptor OR10G7 in patients with atopic dermatitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019 May;143(5):1838-1848.e4. doi:

Professional Memberships

  • Allergy and Clinical Immunology Society (Singapore)
  • Academy of Medicine Singapore
  • American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI)
  • European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)
  • Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)
  • Asia Pacific Association of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology and Immunology (APAPARI)

2024/05/02
Last updated on
Best viewed with Chrome 79.0, Edge 112.0, Firefox 61.0, Safari 11
National University Health System
  • National University Hospital
  • Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
  • Alexandra Hospital
  • Jurong Community Hospital
  • National University Polyclinics
  • Jurong Medical Centre
  • National University Cancer Institute, Singapore
  • National University Heart Centre, Singapore
  • National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore
  • NUHS Diagnostics
  • NUHS Pharmacy
  • Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
  • Faculty of Dentistry
  • Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
Back to Top