1st Singapore Clinical Research Professionals Inaugural Meeting

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

As CEO of SGInnovate, Dr Lim Jui leads the organization to support the building and scaling of Deep Tech startups for entrepreneurial scientists. The team works closely with a wide range of partners and co-investors to back this unique group of founders, who are looking to solve global challenges with their research-based solutions. Jui serves multiple senior leadership roles in the business of science and innovation. He was Director of Investments, Bio*One Capital; CEO of Merlin MD; Executive Director of the Medical Engineering Research and Commercialisation Initiative (MERCI); and Programme Director of the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Programme (SSB). Before joining SGInnovate, Jui was CEO of NTUitive.. He currently serves on the advisory boards of IPOS International, and several start-ups. Jui received his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine (MD) at Columbia University. He then obtained his Master of Medicine (Anaesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care) from NUS.

Speaker's Profile:

A/Prof Danny Soon is Chief Executive Officer at the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS) and concurrent Executive Director at the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI). Danny is also the Interim Executive Director for Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS). As the inaugural CEO of CRIS, Danny has the responsibility of bringing together 5 research programmes and platforms under CRIS, promulgating synergies and strategies, building corporate functions to service the entity. A/Prof Danny has had a long experience in drug development, having worked at Eli Lilly and Company for 15 years, where he led the Lilly-NUS Centre for Clinical Pharmacology (LNUS). As the Managing Director and Principal Investigator, Danny had responsibility and oversight for clinical phase 1 studies conducted and operations. A/Prof Danny Soon was previously the Executive Director at BMRC, A*STAR and founding CEO of the Experimental Biotherapeutics Centre.

Speaker's Profile:

Wan Yee is the Senior Vice President and Head for Healthcare in the Singapore Economic Development Board. She oversees the Health & Wellness industry development strategies and engagement of international companies to facilitate investments in Singapore. Prior to this, Wan Yee led EDB's Human Capital team and was responsible for working closely companies, industry associations, unions and Singapore's manpower agencies to attract and develop talent for our wide range of industries. She also spent some time in EDB Human Resources and has a depth of knowledge across various HR functions. Wan Yee started her EDB career in the then nascent Biomedical Sciences cluster and was part of the team that spearheaded the growth of this industry. This included a stint in Bio*One Capital, a venture capital arm of EDB that invests in biotechnology and medical technology start-ups. She is trained as a Chemical Engineer and worked as a Process Engineer in ExxonMobil before joining EDB.

Speaker's Profile:

Professor Dean Ho is currently Provost’s Chair Professor, Director of The Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; Director of The N.1 Institute for Health (N.1), and Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. Prof. Ho is an elected Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prof. Ho is also a Subgroup Lead in the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group for the regulation of AI for Health. Prof. Ho is an author (w/Yoann Sapanel and Dr. Agata Blasiak) of the best-selling book, Medicine Without Meds, which released internationally.

Speaker's Profile:

Nate is a global leader and pioneer of digital health and digital transformation. He has more than 15 years’ experience in enterprise software and healthcare industries across Asia, North America and Europe, covering both developed and developing markets. Prior to Taimei, Nate was the founder of Alibaba Cloud digital health ecosystem and was leading the digital health solutions and Global-ISV solutions of Alibaba Cloud. He is also the founder of the Medtronic Digital Health team and founder of Medtronic XR Lab. During this period, Nate and his team invented remote self-service follow-up machine for pacemaker patients in China, followed by a successful commercialization at the Shanghai International Import Expo. Nate and his team also developed China’s first AR-based surgical training and guidance system of percutaneous coronary intervention for bifurcation lesions “AR Bifur,” which benefits numerous physicians across China. Nate was also one of the pioneers of Veeva Systems in China.

Speaker's Profile:

Eugene has been a part of the operations team at the Singapore Clinical Research Institute since September 2021 working to coordinate and enhance clinical trials in the Singapore ecosystem. He previously spent 10 years in the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in various roles with his most recent position as the Deputy CEO of the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC). He also worked in the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. as a Research Scientist. Eugene graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degrees in Biochemistry. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Duke University in 2007.

Moderator's Profile:

Dr Jing Ping Yeo has more than 25 years of clinical research experience in the institution, pharmaceutical and CRO industries. She is currently the Head of Transformation in George Clinical. Until recently, she was the Vice President in Cytel and General Manager for Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Cytel, she was the Director for Research Integrity, Compliance and Ethics in SingHealth. She was previously the Corporate Vice President for PAREXEL International CRO, and has also worked in Quintiles and Novo Nordisk. Jing Ping brings with her wealth of experience in all aspects of clinical development, including strategic planning, commercial, budget management, clinical operations, project management, biometrics, medical writing, medical affairs, quality management, audits, biobankingcompliance, research integrity and IRB. She is currently the Chair of Steering Committee Member for the Singapore Chapter of Drug Information Association (DIA), Program Committee for DIA-Asia.

Moderator's Profile:

Serene Ong, a mother of six and co-founder of a thriving preschool, has 20+ years of experience in healthcare, logistics, and clinical trials. She excelled in spanning start-ups, pharma, venture capital, hospitals, and global clinical trial organizations. At Marken, Serene was the Vice President of Global Sales Operations and Vice President of Commercial Operations, Asia Pacific. An advocate for Women Empowerment and Leadership, she founded Phonenixus in 2023, a network dedicated to empower women, nurture the next generation of leaders, and support underprivileged women and children. She earns her EMBA with INSEAD, holds a Master of Science (Pharmacy) from the National University of Singapore, a Minor in Technopreneurship from Stanford University, and participated in the Global CxO Program with Wharton University of Pennsylvania. Serene received the "Outstanding Leadership Award" at Health 2.0 and "Top 50 Global Inspirational Women" recognition for creating opportunities for others.

Speaker's Profile:

Dr. Horak brings more than 20 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, predominantly focused on oncology drug development, and is a board-certified medical oncologist. Prior to funding Tikva Allocell, Dr. Horak was Head of Global R&D and Chief Scientific at Tessa Therapeutics, a mid-stage cell therapy company in Singapore. For eight years, he was Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer at Symphogen, a clinical-stage antibody company, and President of R&D at Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Horak has also held a number of senior research leadership positions in various pharmaceutical companies as well as at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health in US. During his career, Dr. Horak has advanced multiple oncology treatments into the clinic, and has successfully led a number of FDA new drug applications.