Rahul Malhotra

Physician-researcher; Primary area of research: Ageing, at the individual and the population level; Geographical focus: Singapore, with some work in other Asian countries.

I am a physician-researcher, working as Assistant Professor, Health Services and Systems Research (HSSR), and Deputy Director and Head of Research, Centre for Ageing Research and Education (CARE) at the Duke-NUS Medical School. My past, current and planned research in ageing focuses on the development of evidence that enables understanding, measurement and alleviation of vulnerability (i.e., the increased risk of adverse outcomes) resulting from physical, psychological, social and health-service factors among older adults and their caregivers. Specific research foci are (1) correlates and outcomes of physical and psychosocial health; (2) caregiving; (3) health communication and health literacy; (4) development and/or validation of scales for measuring physical, psychological or social constructs; and (5) health expectancy. The geographical focus of my research is Singapore, with some work in other Asian countries.

Key research projects that I have led or am leading include (1) nationally representative longitudinal surveys of older Singaporeans (PHASE and THE SIGNS Study), studying the predictors and outcomes of change in physical, psychological and social health of older adults, (2) longitudinal quantitative and qualitative studies (TRACE and The Quali-T Study) of older Singaporean-family caregiver dyads, assessing the patterns, correlates and consequences of changes in caregiving-related outcomes over time, and (3) a health services research project (PROMISE), providing the evidence base for older person-centred prescription medication labels.

I have published over 195 peer-reviewed papers in the medical, public health and social science literature. I am a member of the World Health Organization’s Consortium on Metrics and Evidence for Healthy Ageing and served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for Healthy Ageing and Longevity for the 2020-2021 term. I received my basic (MBBS) and advanced (MD in Community Medicine) medical training at the University of Delhi, India, and public health (MPH) training at Harvard University, USA.