The Clinical Trials & Epidemiology Research Unit (CTERU) was established in November 1996 with National Medical Research Council (NMRC) funding to provide essential infrastructure to support not-for-profit public-sector research through the conduct of (multicentre) clinical trials, epidemiological and evidence-based medicine studies to established international standards. In particular, CTERU seeks to support flagship clinical studies which are of high scientific value, and which have the potential to influence clinical practice. Since mid-2003, CTERU has been jointly managed by SingHealth and the National Healthcare Group, while continuing to be funded by the NMRC. To achieve the above, CTERU provides expertise in areas such as literature and systematic reviews, study design, project management, data management, statistical analysis and reporting. In addition, the Unit also undertakes a variety of other responsibilities including teaching and training, conducting statistical clinics, helping to develop clinical practice guidelines, as well as contributing to various research and professional committees.

Our collaborators comprise mainly clinical researchers from the Ministry of Health and restructured hospitals/institutions. We are open to working on private sector projects, however our primary goal is to support academic clinical research.

CTERU provides a readily accessible, centralized resource of expertise for supporting clinical research in Singapore . Here the researcher can receive help in study design, logistics, database management and data analysis in a supportive environment, without incurring the high costs typically associated with such services.

However, more than just being a provider of support services to clinical investigators, CTERU seeks to function as full collaborators in research projects. Thus, rather than only helping investigators with specific aspects of their projects, CTERU staff will also work with investigators as co-authors in writing the final academic manuscript. CTERU staff may also initiate their own research in areas such as applied biostatistics and epidemiology.