JOIN US IN CELEBRATING RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AT
THE NMRC AWARDS CEREMONY AND RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM 2025!

The NMRC Office, Division of Research and Innovation under MOH Holdings Pte Ltd, organises the NMRC Awards Ceremony and Research Symposium annually. The event aims to recognise outstanding clinician scientists, and to provide a networking platform for the clinical and research communities as well as industries to interact, facilitate knowledge exchange and foster collaborations. 

The 2025 event will be held on 28 and 29 May 2025 (1.5 days) at the PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, Singapore.

Day 1 features the NMRC Talent Awards presentation ceremony, with the Ministry of Health's Permanent Secretary (Policy and Development) attending as Guest-of-Honour. The programme continues with engaging plenary and concurrent sessions, where distinguished speakers will share insights from their biomedical and healthcare research endeavours. Don’t miss our booth showcase by Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Centre for Biomedical Ethics and many more!

We are excited to announce that REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Registration is on first come first serve basis and will close on Monday, 19 May 2025.

Plenary Speakers

DAY 1 – PLENARY SESSIONS
	Professor Steven Hoffman Chief of Staff and Executive Director, Strategy, Wellcome Trust Founder, Global Strategy Lab Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science, York University Professor Steven J. Hoffman is Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Strategy at Wellcome Trust, where he is focused on day-to-day management of the organization, charting the organization’s future, and driving integration across the £1.6 billion that Wellcome invests annually in science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. He is also the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and a Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science at York University, founder of the Global Strategy Lab, and Co-Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. Professor Hoffman is an international lawyer who regularly advises governments and international agencies on legal, policy and political matters. He previously served as Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population & Public Health, as Assistant Deputy Minister for Data, Surveillance & Foresight at the Public Health Agency of Canada, and as lead of the United Nations Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery. He is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.
	Professor Guang-Zhong Yang Founder, Chief Scientist, and Distinguished Professor Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University   Professor Guang-Zhong Yang (CBE, FREng, FIEEE, FIET, FAIMBE, FIAMBE, FMICCAI, FCGI) is the founder and chief scientist of the Institute of Medical Robotics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was the founder and director of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College London, UK. Professor Yang’s main research interests are in medical imaging, sensing and robotics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, fellow of IEEE, IET, AIMBE, IAMBE, MICCAI, CGI and a recipient of the Royal Society Research Merit Award and listed in The Times Eureka ‘Top 100’ in British Science. Professor Yang is the founding editor of Science Robotics – a journal of the Science family dedicated to the latest advances in robotics and how it enables or underpins new scientific discoveries. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2017 New Year Honour for his contribution to biomedical engineering.
	Professor Michael Merson William Joklik Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Global Health, Duke University Professor of Global and Environmental Health, New York University School of Global Public Health   Michael Merson is the William Joklik Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Global Health at Duke University, where he served as the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute, Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Affairs and Vice Chancellor for Duke-National University of Singapore Affairs. He was the inaugural Director of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute. Prior to this he was the Anna Lauder Professor of Public Health at Yale University and its first Dean of Public Health. Before entering academia, between 1980 and 1995, Dr Merson served as director of the World Health Organization (WHO) programs on Diarrheal Diseases and Acute Respiratory Infections, and subsequently the WHO Global Program on AIDS. He is currently Professor of Global and Environmental Health at New York University School of Global Public Health.   Dr Merson has authored over 170 articles, is the senior editor of the leading global health textbook “Global Health: Disease, Programs, Systems, and Policies” and lead author of The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response which describes the history of the global response to the AIDS pandemic. His current research interests are identifying ways to increase access to new vaccines and treatments in low and middle countries, designing new approaches to global health governance and financing, and restoring trust in global public health worldwide.   Dr Merson has served in advisory capacities for UNAIDS, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and various private sector entities. He has two honorary degrees and is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.

DAY 1 – CONCURRENT SESSION 1 ENABLING RESEARCH TRANSLATION FOR BETTER HEALTH
	Session Chair Associate Professor Mythily Subramaniam Assistant Chairman Medical Board Research, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore Associate Professor Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore Associate Professor Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University   Dr Mythily Subramaniam is a leading mental health researcher with extensive expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, psychosis, and addictions. She is the Director of the Research Division at Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and the Lead Investigator of the Mental Health Policy Studies Program. She holds academic appointments at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.   Her research focuses on understanding the prevalence, risk factors, and impacts of mental disorders, contributing to evidence-based policy and intervention development. Dr Subramaniam has played a key role in large-scale national studies, including the Singapore Mental Health Study and the Well-being of the Singapore Elderly study, which have led to a nuanced perspective of the Singapore mental health landscape.
	Professor Steven Hoffman Chief of Staff and Executive Director, Strategy, Wellcome Trust Founder, Global Strategy Lab Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science, York University   Professor Steven J. Hoffman is Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Strategy at Wellcome Trust, where he is focused on day-to-day management of the organization, charting the organization’s future, and driving integration across the £1.6 billion that Wellcome invests annually in science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. He is also the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and a Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science at York University, founder of the Global Strategy Lab, and Co-Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. Professor Hoffman is an international lawyer who regularly advises governments and international agencies on legal, policy and political matters. He previously served as Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population & Public Health, as Assistant Deputy Minister for Data, Surveillance & Foresight at the Public Health Agency of Canada, and as lead of the United Nations Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery. He is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada.
	Professor John Lavis Director, McMaster Health Forum Advisor, Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative, Wellcome Trust Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Support Systems Professor, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University   John supports efforts to address health and broader societal challenges using the best-available research evidence and experiences and insights from citizens, professionals, organizational leaders, and government policymakers. He is an advisor to the Wellcome Trust on its Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative. He is the Director of the McMaster Health Forum, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy, and co-lead of Rapid-Improvement Support and Exchange (RISE). He is a Professor in the Department of Health Evidence and Impact at McMaster University and the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Support Systems. He led the development of the ‘SHOW ME the evidence’ features of an approach to reliably deliver research evidence to those who need it, he was co-lead of and lead report writer for the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges, and he was co-lead of the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END). He holds an MD from Queen's University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD (in Health Policy) from Harvard University.
	Dr Cheryl Seah Director, Centre for Evidence and Implementation Adjunct Assistant Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore   Cheryl Seah, PhD, is a developmental psychologist and a researcher with expertise in the area of mental health, child development, disabilities, early intervention, intervention development and implementation science. She has over 20 years’ experience gained in clinical practice and research that aims to improve the quality of lives for vulnerable children and families. Cheryl has worked with teachers, practitioners and teams from government, social service agencies, foundations, hospital and university settings in skills building and to enhance interventions for families and children. She is trained in the diagnosis of children with special needs and conducted research on attachment and responsive parenting in the early years for her PhD dissertation. Cheryl was commissioned by MSF and led the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) team in the outcome evaluation of the KidSTART programme. She is involved in projects relating to child protection, preschool inclusion, grandparents’ and domestic helpers’ responsive caregiving and youth mental health. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), working closely with the Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions (BISI) team and supports the evaluation and implementation work at the Centre for Holistic Initiatives for Learning and Development (CHILD). She teaches early childhood educators on inclusion at Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS).
	Clinical Professor Yeo Khung Keong Chief Executive Officer, National Heart Centre Singapore   Clinical Professor Yeo Khung Keong is the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Consultant with the Department of Cardiology at the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS). He is also the Academic Chair for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cardiovascular Sciences Academic Clinical Programme and the Deputy Co-Chair and Lead (Emerging Technologies and Data) at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medicine Innovation Institute. His expertise lies in mitral and tricuspid valve transcatheter interventions and in the treatment of calcific coronary artery disease.   Prof Yeo is the Principal Investigator of the SingCLOUD registry, Singapore’s national registry of patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure, as well as the SingHEART study, a prospective observational cohort study focusing on normal individuals with in-depth phenotyping and whole genome sequencing. He has also worked on various service transformation programmes such as the Future Outpatient Journey project.   Prof Yeo is the Past-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology (APSC), is a past Chair of the Chapter of Cardiologists, Academy of Medicine Singapore, is a board member for the College of Physicians, Academy of Medicine Singapore, and council member of the Singapore Cardiac Society. He is founding and current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the APSC.   Prof Yeo graduated in 1997 from the National University of Singapore where he obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. He subsequently trained in the United States of America and obtained his American Board of Internal Medicine Certifications in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine and Interventional Cardiology. Prof Yeo also obtained his Executive Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in 2018.

DAY 1 – CONCURRENT SESSION 2 JOURNEY OF CLINICIAN SCIENTISTS, INVESTIGATORS AND INNOVATORS
	Session Chair Professor Wong Tien Yin Vice Provost, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Chair Professor and Senior Vice‐Chancellor, Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University Senior Advisor, SingHealth & Singapore National Eye Center, Singapore   Prof Wong is an academic leader, innovator and physician-scientist who completed medical school at the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University, USA. In 2022, he assumed a new position as Chair Professor and Founding Head of Tsinghua Medicine at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Over the past two decades, Prof Wong has served in multiple leadership positions in Singapore and Australia. His last position was Arthur Lim Professor and Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Center, one of the largest eye-care hospital globally. Prof Wong has served as Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Research and Education), SingHealth, Vice-Dean of Duke-NUS Medical School, and Chair of Departments of Ophthalmology at NUS and the University of Melbourne, Australia.   Prof Wong is a practicing retinal specialist, with a research portfolio on retinal diseases, ocular imaging, AI and digital technology. He has published >1,500 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 214, highly cited researcher 2018, 2020 to 2024), given >500 invited named, plenary and symposium lectures, and received >US$100 million in grant funding. Prof Wong has been recognized with multiple international awards, including Arnall Patz Medal (Macula Society), the Jose Rizal Medal (Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology) and the Friedenwald Award (ARVO). He has received Singapore’s President’s Science and Technology Award. He is an elected international (foreign) member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
	Professor Sir John Savill Executive Director, Melbourne Academic Centre for Health   John Savill graduated in Physiological Sciences from Oxford in 1978 and in Medicine from Sheffield in 1981, receiving a PhD (London) in 1989. After junior hospital appointments in Sheffield, Nottingham and London, he spent seven years in the Department of Medicine at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, with spells as a MRC Clinical Training Fellow and Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow.   In 1993, he moved to the Chair in Medicine at Nottingham; subsequently moving in 1998 to the University of Edinburgh as Professor of Medicine where he set up and became the first Director of the University of Edinburgh/MRC Centre for Inflammation Research. Between 2002 and 2017 he served as the University’s first Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, being knighted in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List for services to clinical science. From 1st June 2008 to 30th September 2010, he was Chief Scientist for the Scottish Government Health Directorates (part-time). On 1st October 2010 he was appointed as Chief Executive of MRC, combining this with Head of College duties in Edinburgh; he demitted from the MRC at the end of March 2018. In June 2017 he was appointed to Edinburgh’s Regius Chair of Medical Science by HM The Queen, retiring from that post in April 2023. He has been Executive Director of the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH) since July 2019.
	Professor Pierce Chow Kah-Hoe Senior Consultant Surgeon, Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery, Division of Surgery & Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore and Singapore General Hospital Professor and Program Director, Duke-NUS Medical School   Pierce Chow graduated MBBS and PhD from the National University of Singapore. He trained in General Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital and won the Chapter of Surgeons Gold Medal at the conjoint M.Med(Surgery)/FRCS(Edinburgh) examination. Following advanced surgical training in Singapore, he completed a clinical Fellowship in Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation with Professor Russell Strong in Australia and was subsequently appointed Consultant Surgeon at the Singapore General Hospital.   Pierce is currently tenured professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School and director of the Comprehensive Liver Cancer Clinic at the National Cancer Center Singapore. He is a nationally funded senior Clinician Scientist and Principal Investigator (PI) of the NMRC Translational and Clinical Research Flagship Programme in Liver Cancer, the PLANet study which has been successfully renewed under the NMRC Open Fund – Large Collaborative Grant. He is also funded by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) to conduct, in collaboration with industry, the prospective cohort study of patients at high risk of developing liver cancer (ELEGANCE). He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has published in the Lancet, Cell, JCO, Nature Cancer, Journal of Hepatology, Gut and other top journals.   Besides clinical work and research, Pierce is also very active in medical education. He is the inaugural and current director of the PhD Program in Clinical and Translational Science at the Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore. He was the inaugural director of the pre-clinical Normal Body course in the same medical school and the founding president of the College of Clinician Scientists at the Academy of Medicine Singapore.   Pierce is Protocol Chair of the Asia-Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma (AHCC) Trials Group and has conducted 12 prospective multi-center clinical studies that has enrolled more than 5000 patients from 62 sites across 17 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific. In recognition of his outstanding work in clinical and translational liver cancer research, Pierce was conferred the Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award under the National Medical Excellence Awards in 2012 and the NMRC Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award in 2025. In 2023, he was inducted into Duke-NUS Medical School’s Hall of Master Academic Clinicians.
	Professor Koh Woon Puay Professor, Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme Assistant Dean, Faculty Development Director, Clinician-Scientist Development Unit Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore Senior Principal Investigator, A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential, Singapore   Dr Koh is Professor in Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). She graduated with MBBS (Honours) as the valedictorian of her cohort from NUS, and completed PhD training in immunology at the University of Sydney, and postdoctoral training in epidemiology at the University of Southern California. Being a population health scientist, Prof Koh’s research is in studying the epidemiology of common chronic diseases in Singapore and worldwide. She is the Principal Investigator of the 63,000-strong Singapore Chinese Health Study, and has co-authored about 500 scientific papers on diet, lifestyle and genes in relation to risk of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, end-stage kidney disease, gout, Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. More recently, she has also published on factors that could influence important ageing outcomes such as physical frailty, cognitive impairment and aging-related depression. She is listed among the world’s top 2% most cited scientists by Stanford University and has received over $34 million dollars in funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) in USA and the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) in Singapore. She is also a recipient of the NMRC Clinician-Scientist Senior Investigator Award. In her role as Assistant Dean and Director for the Clinician-Scientist Development Unit in NUS School of Medicine, she mentors budding clinician-scientists and was awarded the Nature Awards for Mentoring in 2023 in recognition of her achievement as a mentor to many in their academic careers in Singapore.
Fireside Chat I: Translational and Clinical Research Moderator: Professor Pierce Chow, National Cancer Centre Singapore and Singapore General Hospital
	Professor Gemmy Cheung Arthur Lim Professor in Ophthalmology, Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore Head and Senior Consultant, Medical Retina Department, Singapore National Eye Center Head, Retina Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute   Professor Gemmy Cheung is currently the Arthur Lim Professor in Ophthalmology at Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore (NUS). She is the Head of the Medical Retina Department, Singapore National Eye Center and Director of Translation Clinic Research at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Her research interests focus on Asian retinal diseases, specifically age-related macular degeneration (AMD), polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and myopic macular degeneration.   Prof Cheung has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles mostly in age-related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy. She has contributed to major clinical trials in therapies for AMD and PCV. She serves on the executive committee of the Asia-Pacific Vitreoretina society, the International Retinal imaging Society and the Macula Society.   In 2018, her team was awarded the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Open Fund Large Collaborative Grant, establishing the ongoing Translational Asian AMD Program (TAAP). Prof Cheung coordinates a multidisciplinary team of 10 theme Principal Investigators and numerous local and international co-investigators, aiming to improve health outcomes and reduce AMD-related blindness. The research findings have led to immediately translatable local and international clinical guidelines for AMD diagnosis and management. Cost-effectiveness analyses using clinical trial and real-world datasets inform policymakers on healthcare resource allocation. The program is internationally recognised as one of the most comprehensive translational Asian AMD programs, attracting over 40 academic collaborations, yielding more than 70 publications, securing over SGD $3 million in additional funding, and filing 4 patents.   In 2024, her team her team secured another $25 million TAAP-2 grant to advance AMD research. This program builds on the success of TAAP-1 ($24 million grant) to improve early detection, develop personalised treatments, and prevent vision loss from AMD, especially among the Asian population. Concurrently in 2024, she was awarded a $6 million NMRC Singapore Translational Research (STaR) Investigator Award, a prestigious grant supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health.   Prof Cheung has received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions. These include the Neil Della Memorial Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology Secretariat Award, Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award, Nakajima Award, and Outstanding Service in Prevention of Blindness Award. She was named in The Ophthalmologist Power List in both 2021 and 2022. Notably, she was also recognised as one of the Top 10 Influential Researchers in the 100 Most Influential Ophthalmologists list for 2022, further cementing her status as a leading figure in the field of ophthalmology.
	Associate Professor Lim Su Chi Clinician Scientist and Senior Consultant, Admiralty Diabetes Centre, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital   Associate Professor Lim is also the Clinical Director of the Clinical Research Unit at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital; Clinical Director of the Clinician Scientist Development Office, National Healthcare Group (NHG) Research; Research Associate Professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore; and Associate Professor (Clinical Practice) at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technology University.
	Associate Professor Shefaly Shorey Associate Professor (with tenure), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore Programme Director, Academic – Undergraduate Honours, National University of Singapore Vice Dean (Administration), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore   Dr. Shefaly Shorey is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean (Administration) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). A distinguished nurse scientist, her research focuses on enhancing family and women’s health through innovative psychosocial and educational interventions. She has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals and has been consistently ranked among the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists by Stanford University since 2021.   A/Prof Shorey’s outstanding contributions to nursing research and education have earned her numerous prestigious accolades. She is the first nurse leader in Asia to be awarded the US-ASEAN Fulbright Scholarship and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) in 2024. Her dedication to advancing healthcare extends beyond research—she is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusivity, integrating these values into her leadership. She serves as the President of Women in Science and Healthcare (WISH) within the National University Health System (NUHS) and Chairs the Southeast and East Asia Nursing Education and Research Network (SEANERN), championing collaborative efforts to elevate nursing science and education in the region.   Recognized globally, A/Prof Shorey represents Singapore on the Global Working Group (GWG) on Salutogenesis, and her work has been widely featured in national newspapers, television, and radio. An award-winning educator, she is deeply committed to lifelong learning and employs a student-centered, evidence-based approach to teaching. As a dedicated mentor, she has guided more than 70 research students and emerging scholars, shaping the next generation of healthcare leaders.   Dr. Shorey’s trailblazing achievements have also been recognized through numerous national awards, including the President’s Nurse Award (2021), Singapore’s highest honor for nursing excellence, and the Senior Clinician Scientist Award (2023), acknowledging her leadership in health service research bridging clinical practice and academia.
	Associate Professor Tham Huiwen Elizabeth Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore Senior Consultant and Head, Division of Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology, Department of Paediatrics, Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital   Dr Elizabeth Tham is a Clinician-Scientist with a research focus on childhood allergic disorders, in particular atopic dermatitis and food allergy; early life immunomodulation and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DoHAD). She has been awarded several NMRC talent awards and competitive grants for her research, which focuses on the epidemiology, risk factors and endophenotypes of childhood allergic disorders, and to elucidate the role of the host skin and gut microbiomes in modulating atopic dermatitis and food allergy risk and disease severity with the eventual aim of developing translational interventions for disease prevention and to improve clinical care.
Fireside Chat II: Innovations in Healthcare and Population Health Moderator: Professor Professor Koh Woon Puay, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
	Clinical Associate Professor (Dr) Tan Ngiap Chuan Senior Consultant, Family Physician, Director (Research), SingHealth Polyclinics  Chairperson, Primary Care Research Institute Vice-Chair (Research), SingHealth–Duke NUS Family Medicine Academic Clinical Programme   Dr Tan Ngiap Chuan is a practicing family physician, senior consultant, director in Research Department in SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP), chairperson of the Primary Care Research Institute in Singapore and clinical associate professor in Duke NUS Medical School, Singapore.   Associate Professor (A/P) Tan has a strong passion in primary care research focusing on preventive health, innovation, and new care model evaluation. He is the principal investigator and recipient of the SHP Centre Grant awarded by the Singapore National Medical Research Council. He also receives the Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award from the National Academy of Medicine, USA to develop and validate a virtual reality tool to screen for cognitive health. He leads key projects such as AI-enabled consultation module to optimize care of people with type-2 diabetes mellitus. He also coaches medical students, Family Medicine Fellowship trainees and multidisciplinary healthcare professionals in primary care research.   A/P Tan is recognized as one of the world’s top 2% of most cited scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier in 2023. He receives the Master Academic Clinician Award 2022 from Duke NUS Medical School; Distinguished Senior Clinician Award 2023 from the Ministry of Health, Singapore; the Rajakumar Award (2023) for the best oral presentation at the 9th Asia Pacific Primary Care Research Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
	Dr Sharon Sung Assistant Professor, Programme in Health Services & Systems Research, Pre-Hospital & Emergency Research Centre, & SingHealth-Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, Duke-NUS Medical School Visiting Research Scientist, Centre for Population Health Research and Implementation, Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd Senior Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Institute of Mental Health Supervising Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychological Medicine, KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital   Dr Sung is an Assistant Professor of Health Services & Systems Research at Duke-NUS Medical School. She holds joint appointments in the Pre-Hospital & Emergency Research Centre, SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, and SingHealth Centre for Population Health Research and Implementation, in addition to serving as a Supervising Clinical Psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Prior to moving to Singapore, she held faculty positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Dr Sung is an expert in cognitive behavioural and mindfulness based therapies and an experienced clinician scientist who has dedicated her career to improving outcomes for children, adolescents, and adults suffering from anxiety, mood, and stress-related conditions. Her current research is focused on addressing gaps in current treatment approaches and models of mental healthcare. Since joining the faculty of Duke-NUS, Dr Sung has established a successful international research program focused on innovative strategies to improve patient care and ensure more rapid, effective, measurable, and scalable translation of research findings into patient communities. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, editorials, and book chapters, as well as a practitioner guide entitled 10-Minute CBT: Integrating Cognitive Behavioral Strategies Into Your Practice. The high calibre of her work has been formally recognized in the form of multiple scientific and career development awards, including the highly competitive Donald J. Cohen Fellowship for International Scholars in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, NMRC Health Services Research Grant New Investigator Grant, NMRC Transition Award, and NMRC HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award.
	Dr Stephanie Ko Consultant, Advanced Internal Medicine, National University Hospital Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Behavioral and Implementation Science Interventions, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore Lead, NUHS@Home   Dr. Stephanie Ko, MBBS, MMed, MPH, is a Consultant in Advanced Internal Medicine at the National University Hospital and Lead of NUHS@Home, Singapore’s pioneering hospital-at-home program, which her team founded in 2020. She also runs a hospital-at-home research unit, driving innovation and evidence-based scaling of virtual care models and was recently awarded the HSHPR Clinician Scientist Award from NMRC for this work.
	Mr Abel Ang Chairperson, Advanced MedTech Investments   Mr. Abel Ang was the founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Advanced MedTech Holdings, a US$335 million global leader in urology devices, headquartered in Singapore. Over his nearly 30-year career, he has brought 100 new medical devices to market. His experience includes roles as Senior Advisor at Greatbatch Inc. and President, Asia-Pacific and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Hill-Rom Inc.   He is an adjunct professor at Nanyang Business School and Waseda University and chairs the Board of Governors for Republic Polytechnic. Ang holds a Master’s degree in Computational Biology from Rutgers University and has completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He has received the Public Service Medal twice for his contributions to the medical field and pandemic response.

DAY 2 – CONCURRENT SESSION 3 ADVANCING POPULATION HEALTH RESEARCH
	Session Chair Professor Johan Gunnar Eriksson Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore Executive Director, A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential Programme Director, Human Potential Translational Research Programme, National University of Singapore   Professor Johan G. Eriksson is full professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (SOM), programme lead for the Human Potential Programme at the SOM, Executive Director in A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential (IHDP). He is in charge of the daily scientific oversight and planning of the GUSTO and S-PRESTO cohort studies in Singapore.   Before moving to Singapore, Professor Eriksson was full Professor at the faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, and chief physician at Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland. He holds clinical interests in diabetes, obesity and related metabolic diseases. He received his medical degree and specialist qualifications (internal medicine and general practice) from the University of Helsinki.   His research focuses on the early programming of health and disease, as well as on the prevention of gestational diabetes (GDM), type 2 diabetes and related metabolic outcomes by lifestyle interventions. In Finland he is in charge of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, a unique birth cohort study with a follow-up of over 20,000 individuals from birth until the age of over 80 years. Furthermore, he has been involved in the gestational diabetes prevention study RADIEL, in which a lifestyle intervention was shown to successfully reduce GDM and the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) – the first randomised study to show that lifestyle intervention is effective in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.   He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics by ranking in the top 1% by citations for a field.   In 2021 he was awarded the J.W. Runeberg Prize the most prestigious prize awarded by the Finnish Medical Association for scientific research for his pioneering research on the importance of early life risk factors for health and disease.   He is ranked number 1 in Singapore in the field of medicine by Research.com and his H-index is 175.   He has co-authored several books and published over 1000 original research articles.
	Assistant Professor Bryan Tan Yijia Consultant, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Woodlands Health Clinician-Scientist, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Assistant Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University   Assistant Professor Bryan Tan is currently a Consultant in Orthopaedic Surgery, Woodlands Health, NHG. He has experience practicing both locally and overseas having done several fellowships internationally. He has served as the Singapore Orthopaedic Trainee Committee (SOTC) President and has represented the Singapore Orthopaedic Association (SOA) as its Junior Ambassador.   He is very active in the research scene and has completed his PhD post specialist training with a focus on health service research, implementation science and health economics in the area of knee osteoarthritis. He has more than 40 publications and has presented at multiple international conference. He currently holds several grants with total quantum exceeding S$9 million. He has been recognized for his research achievements through awards such as the Singapore Young Investigator Award, Health Services Research (Gold) in 2019, INEX-OSCAR by the College of Clinician-Scientist in 2022, Public Sector Transformation Exemplary Innovator Award in 2023 and the NHG Young Achiever Award in 2024. He is currently an Assistant Professor at LKCMedicine and Deputy Director at the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore (RRIS) spearheading the Musculoskeletal Pillar.   In addition to his training as an Orthopaedic surgeon and researcher, he has a strong interest in administration, policy making and public health and applies a public health, system lens to musculoskeletal problems. He currently sits on several hospital and national workgroups to deliver new models of care for musculoskeletal health.   He is passionate about combining his interests in research, public health and administration as a surgeon-scientist to develop the niche area in health services research and implementation science using a grounded, evidence based, data-driven approach to guide policy making and transform the care of musculoskeletal patients.
	Adjunct Professor Derrick Heng Deputy Director-General of Health (Public Health), Ministry of Health   Dr Derrick Heng is Deputy Director-General of Health (Public Health) at the Ministry of Health in Singapore. His area of work includes population health, including analytics and the provision of public health intelligence to support policy and planning, and international co-operation. Derrick has been involved in policy initiatives in the areas of HIV, tuberculosis (TB), tobacco control, nutrition, obesity, chronic disease screening and mental health in Singapore.   Coming from a background in clinical internal medicine, Derrick began working in the field of epidemiology in 1997, after obtaining a Masters at Cambridge University. Before taking on a policy role, he was involved in epidemiological research in the areas of clinical epidemiology, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, in addition to interests in research design and methodology, and the ethical review of clinical trials.
	Dr Chan Ee Yuee Deputy Director of Nursing, Tan Tock Seng Hospital Adjunct Assistant Professor, Alice Lee Center of Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore   Ee Yuee is the Deputy Director of Nursing and Head of the Nursing Implementation, Translation and Research Office (NITRO) at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). She also serves as faculty at the Alice Lee Centre of Nursing Studies at NUS. Throughout her career, Ee Yuee work has been instrumental in developing research, evidence-based care and innovation initiatives and capabilities within the TTSH community and beyond.   A trailblazing pioneer in nursing research, Ee Yuee was the first nurse in Singapore to be sponsored for research-specific training, studying at the prestigious McMaster University in 2007. She was the first nurse awardee respectively of the Singapore Small Innovative Grant, the National Healthcare Group Research Support Scheme, and the MOH National Innovation Challenge Grant. She has a comprehensive track record of impactful scholarly work, including 42 peer-reviewed publications; 16 competitive awards in research and innovation; and more than $10 million in competitive grants received for research and innovation. Her research has resulted in several system-level changes in clinical care.   Ee Yuee research in caregiving led to the caregiving support initiative Project Carer Matters, which was Singapore’s first hospital-to-home framework of care to support patient-caregiver dyads at home. Launched in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carer Matters provided valuable support to family caregivers struggling to manage their loved ones at home, with the provision of training, telesupport and coaching from a team of caregiver support nurses. This is now being implemented in the inpatient wards at TTSH and to date has benefitted over 700 caregivers and their loved ones.   She is now leading a team to strengthen the caregiving ecosystem through Project Carer Matters 2, supported by the Ministry of Health’s National Innovation Challenge. Over the past 2 years, her team has developed a caregiver-centric mobile application, to be launched in 2025.   Throughout her initiatives, Ee Yuee drives the advancement of nursing research and the generation of new knowledge for patient care excellence. She conceptualised and pioneered the hybrid Nurse Clinician-Scientist career track in TTSH Nursing.   Her research interests include successful aging, caregiver research, health activation, digital health.
	Clinical Associate Professor Helen Chen Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Psychological Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital Duke-NUS Medical School   Associate Professor Helen Chen is Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, past Head, Department of Psychological Medicine, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Duke-NUS Medical School. She completed her training in perinatal psychiatry at Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, UK, and has many years of clinical experience and academic expertise in maternal mental health.   She led the Postnatal Depression Intervention Programme, a MOH-funded project that was mainstreamed, for screening and early intervention of postpartum mental disorders. In recent years she has actively consulted for screening of postpartum depression at primary care level, and has served as advisor for various MOH committees, in particular the Interagency Taskforce for Maternal and Child Health, and enabled the development of the Psychological Resilience for Antenatal Management (PRAM) programme catering to screening and early intervention for antepartum depression.   Her ongoing research collaborative experience on the GUSTO birth cohort study since 2009, and the S-PRESTO preconception study has provided rich evidence to champion a push for maternal mental healthcare to optimize child wellbeing and neurodevelopment. She also led the development of the Singapore Perinatal Mental Health Guidelines for Depression and Anxiety launched in Feb 2023. In recent years, she has focused on perinatal infant mental health, building capacity and fostering shared learning experiences in dyadic interventions. She is collaborating on the LOVING project, funded under the NMRC A*star Human Potential Grant to study interventions for improving caregiver empathy and sensitivity for better outcomes in terms of child metabolic health and behavioural problems. She is also co-Investigator on PIIPS, a NMRC funded research examining maternal mental health and sensitive caregiving in relation to preterm child health and neurodevelopment. She is actively involved in sustaining and developing local psychiatric capability to meet the needs of the population, and serves on the Psychiatry Residents Advisory Council and Exam Committee.   Her clinical practice remains a key focus of her work, and seeing mothers nurturing their children well gives her meaning and purpose. She also strongly believes in supporting the early childhood intervention programmes Anchor and KIDS0-3/Kidstart for at risk and low-income families, serving as maternal mental health consultant.

DAY 2 – CONCURRENT SESSION 4 INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND MEDICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
	Session Chair Adjunct Assistant Professor Gao Yujia Consultant, Division of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, National University Hospital Assistant Group Chief Technology Officer, National University Health System Principal Investigator, iHealthTech, National University of Singapore Director, Undergraduate Medical Education, Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore   Dr Gao Yujia is a Consultant Surgeon in Liver, Pancreas, and Liver Transplant Surgery at the National University Hospital in Singapore. As the Assistant Group Chief Technology Officer for the National University Health System, Dr Gao is involved in the research and development of immersive technology and its application in clinical care and education, and digital-twin projects. He works extensively with Mixed Reality (MR) technology, utilising MR devices to deliver cutting edge capabilities to clinicians including 3D holographic imaging, real-time computer-vision based imaged analysis, and multisource data integration. He is also responsible for the integration and implementation of 5G wireless technology for hospital infrastructure development and building of secured high-speed integrated data networks.
	Professor Guang-Zhong Yang Founder, Chief Scientist, and Distinguished Professor Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University   Professor Guang-Zhong Yang (CBE, FREng, FIEEE, FIET, FAIMBE, FIAMBE, FMICCAI, FCGI) is the founder and chief scientist of the Institute of Medical Robotics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was the founder and director of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College London, UK. Professor Yang’s main research interests are in medical imaging, sensing and robotics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, fellow of IEEE, IET, AIMBE, IAMBE, MICCAI, CGI and a recipient of the Royal Society Research Merit Award and listed in The Times Eureka ‘Top 100’ in British Science. Professor Yang is the founding editor of Science Robotics – a journal of the Science family dedicated to the latest advances in robotics and how it enables or underpins new scientific discoveries. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2017 New Year Honour for his contribution to biomedical engineering.
	Professor Paulo Bartolo Executive Director, Singapore Centre for 3D Printing Programme Director, NAMIC Hub at NTU Professor, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore   Paulo Bartolo holds a PhD from the University of Reading (2001), an MSC in Mechanical Engineering (1996) and a first degree (Licenciatura – five-year programme) in Mechanical Engineering (1993) both from the University of Lisbon (Portugal). Since August 2021, he is Professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Executive Director of Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP), Programme Director of National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) Hub at NTU, member of the NAMIC Joint Cluster-Agency Management and NAMIC Cluster Project Evaluation Panel. He is Fellow of CIRP (International Academy for Production Engineering), Honorary/Visiting Professor at several Universities in China, Europe and North America and Advisor of several Funding Agencies and Research Institutes across the world.   Between 2014 and 2022, Paulo Bartolo was Chair Professor on Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Manchester, where he was the Head of the Manufacturing Group, the Industry 4.0 Academic Lead, the theme leader for the Industry 5.0 societal challenge area within the Digital Futures, the coordinator of the “scale-up and manufacture” cross-cutting capability of the Advanced Medical Materials@Manchester platform, member of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) Executive Committee, the Advanced Manufacturing Strategic Oversight Group, the Management Board of the EPSRC & MRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine and a representative of the University of Manchester at the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute.   Paulo Bartolo published more than 650 publications (journal papers, book chapters and conference papers) and 22 books, and has been engaged in a large number of projects funded by Singapore National Research Foundation, A*STAR, EPSRC (UK), Innovate UK, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Royal Society, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the Portuguese Agency for Innovation, the European Commission, and Industry.
	Professor Salvatore Albani Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore Director, Translational Immunology Institute, SingHealth President, Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine Scientific Founder, Ananda Immunotherapies Pte Ltd   Professor Salvatore Albani is an internationally renowned rheumatologist and immunologist. He is a Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and Director of the Translational Immunology Institute (TII) at SingHealth- Duke-NUS Medical Centre.     His fundamental research interest is in understanding human immunity and contributing the knowledge to therapeutic and diagnostic advancements. He has developed several innovative approaches in the area of induction and maintenance of immune tolerance in humans, being responsible for the whole translational process from idea to the Clinical Trial. He is developing 4 IND/CTA stemming from his own inventions.   He has authored publications in top-tier journals, an H-index of 57, and over 12,978 citations. His contributions place him in the top 1% of his field worldwide (SCOPUS). Beyond research, he is a serial entrepreneur and the scientific founder of Ananda Immunotherapies Pte Ltd, a start-up spun out from TII’s technology. He is also the Founder and President of the Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine, a global initiative dedicated to advancing translational medicine through research, education, and policy.   Professor Albani is a globally recognized key opinion leader in immunotherapy, serving on advisory and review boards for pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and funding bodies. His excellence has been acknowledged through numerous prestigious awards, including the Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (2013, 2020), the SingHealth Excellence Distinguished Researcher Award (2019). Most recently, he received the 2024 AMEI Golden Apple Generativity Award for his contributions to medical education.
	Dr Kevin Koh Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Vivo Surgical (Singapore) Chairman of the Governing Board, TÜV Rheinland (Singapore & Malaysia) Chairman and Board Director, PathoVax (USA) Board Director, VerImmune (USA)   Dr Kevin Koh is a biomedical engineer, entrepreneur, and start-up mentor with deep expertise in translating medical technology innovations from research to commercial success.   As Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vivo Surgical, Dr Koh leads the development of cutting-edge surgical technologies, including a novel endoscopic surgical robot for advanced endoluminal procedures. Under his leadership, the company has achieved ISO 13485 certification, secured key regulatory approvals such as the FDA and CE mark, and forged strategic global clinical partnerships. Vivo Surgical has also earned major accolades, including the US National Institutes of Health's R01 grant, recognition as a Top 4 Grand Finalist at MedTech Innovator APAC 2023, and winner of the prestigious WIPO Global Award 2024 for its contributions to global healthcare.   Beyond Vivo Surgical, Dr Koh serves as Chairman of the Governing Board at TÜV Rheinland (Singapore & Malaysia), Chairman of the Board at PathoVax (USA), Board Director at VerImmune (USA), and Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra (Singapore).   Dr Koh holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London (The Hamlyn Centre, Institute of Global Health Innovation) and a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Cell Biology from University College London.