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Joanne Yoong is an applied economist working at the intersection of behavioural economics, health and financial decision making, and socioeconomic development. Dr. Yoong’s primary appointment is as Senior Economist at the University of Southern California, where she directs the offices of the Center for Economic and Social Research in Singapore and Washington DC, and is a principal member of the USC Behavioral Economics Studio. Dr Yoong is also a visiting associate professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, an honorary senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an adjunct economist at the RAND Corporation. She has previously held positions as Associate Professor of Health Systems and Behavioral Sciences at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the Director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research at the National University Health System. Dr Yoong serves on various national and international policy advisory committees, including the OECD/International Network for Financial Education Research Committee. She has also served as Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Capacity-Building for Health Technology Assessment (ARCH) Initiative, an APEC-funded multi-country collaboration to promote health technology assessment among member economies, Director of the RAND Behavioural Finance Forum 2012, founding co-president of the Singapore Health Economics Association as well as the founding organizing committee for the first Asian Workshop for Health Economics and Econometrics. Dr. Yoong’s academic research has been published in leading economics, medical and public health journals has been funded by the WHO, OECD, NIH, DFID, World Bank and USAID. In addition to her research work, Dr Yoong is the founder of Research for Impact, a Singapore-based social enterprise dedicated to making rigorous and objective research and evaluation accessible, inclusive and transformative for populations in Asia. Dr Yoong received her Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford University as an FSI Starr Foundation Fellow and her AB summa cum laude in Economics and Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University.
Assistant Professor Sim Xueling is a molecular epidemiologist with interest in integration of omics biomarkers to improve health.
Rick is a bioinformatician who combines computer science, statistics, population genetics and genomics to develop and apply novel algorithms and software in the research and analysis for molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis, tracking and control of outbreaks in infectious diseases, including monitoring of antimicrobial resistance for public health surveillance. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore.
Helena Legido-Quigley is an associate professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and has a joint position with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
She has conducted research on health policy and health systems in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and currently with a focus on Southeast Asia. Specific areas of expertise include quality of health care, chronic conditions, and migrant and refugee populations. Her latest research focuses on the impact of the financial crisis and austerity measures on health and the future of the global health architecture.
Her work has been published in peer reviewed journals such as the Lancet, British Medical Journaland PLOS Medicine. It has also been widely covered in International media including The Times, The Economist, the Financial Timesand the Huffington Post.
Senior Director Strategy & Business Development, Health Prudential Corporation Asia
Barry Chan joined PCA in 2018 in the capacity of Senior Director, Strategy & Business Development, Health. Previously he was Business Development Director, Asia at Bupa, responsible for identifying and executing development initiatives across the healthcare value chain from health insurance to healthcare services including the recent acquisition and partnership transactions in Hong Kong. Mr. Chan has over 15 years of senior management and consulting experience in the fields of financial services and healthcare, including leadership roles in strategy, marketing, and development at ING, New York Life, and MetLife, covering international markets and Greater China in particular. Mr. Chan was previously a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, and he holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and an MS and BS from Arizona State University. Mr. Chan is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
Senior Specialist Physician The Occupational and Diving Medicine Centre
Dr Gregory Chan is a Senior Specialist Physician at The Occupational and Diving Medicine Centre. He is an advisor to organisations in Occupational Health matters. He is also visiting consultant to Sengkang General Hospital, Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Sport Institute.
Professor and Founding Dean Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health National University of Singapore
Professor Chia Kee Seng is the Professor and Founding Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. He received his medical degree in 1981, Masters of Science in Occupational Medicine in 1985 and Doctor of Medicine in 1995. He is a medical epidemiologist with special interest in diabetes, cancer and health and safety of the working population. He also serves as a Council Member of the Workplace Safety and Health Council and Board Member of the Health Promotion Board.
Senior Deputy Director Research & Development Health Promotion Board
Karen leads a team in Health Promotion Board to set up technology-enabled research platforms, health behavioural research, trialling innovative solutions and translating these solutions at scale. She has vast experience in health promotion research, programme design and implementation. She has led in the development of several seminal studies including surveillance in students’ health and research on tobacco control. As a public health practitioner, Karen has also piloted and scaled several community and workplace interventions and strategies. For instance, targeted interventions for mature workers, workplace health ecosystem with augmented behavioural nudges, programmes and targeted interventions, with supportive workplace health environment. These interventions/ programmes have led to the paradigm shift in health promotion efforts for employees. In addition to being a public health practitioner, she is also a lecturer on Workplace Health Promotion and Evidence-based Health Promotion for post-graduate courses.
Director of Community Care Services The National Kidney Foundation
Chua Wei Bin is currently the Director of Community Care in NKF. He is passionate about how medical and social care can be further integrated for patients in the community.
At the same time NKF has been developing numerous rehabilitation programmes to help support patients on dialysis to live more meaningful lives. One example is the patient employment rehabilitation programme, which is funded by Guan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple.
Mr Chua is also currently doing his PHD studies in Social Work. His research is about families coping with End Stage Renal Disease and how families can be supported to cope better.
Dr Derrick Heng is Group Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health in Singapore, with responsibility for oversight of Communicable Diseases, Non-Communicable Diseases and International Cooperation / Global Health issues. His areas of work include public health policy and surveillance for communicable and non-communicable diseases; public health aspects of pandemic preparedness and response; population health analytics; and international co-operation. Derrick has been involved in policy initiatives in the areas of HIV, TB, tobacco control, obesity, chronic disease screening and mental health in Singapore. Derrick is an adjunct Professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and works with the School to facilitate the policy-relevance and translation of the work done at the School. Derrick was recently appointed as an external expert Temporary Advisor to the World Health Organisation on the topic of regulating e-cigarettes and new tobacco products. He also represents Singapore on the Global Tobacco Regulators’ Forum, convened by the World Health Organisation. 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, critical appraisal, and the ethical review of clinical trials.
Dian is a Psychologist/ Manager at Apex Harmony Lodge (www.apexharmony.org.sg), the first-purpose built home for people with dementia in Singapore. In her role, she empowers individuals across the spectrum of the condition to live well, and advocates for the active involvement of various members of the community to create a dementia-friendly, respectful, and inclusive society. Currently, she drives the Therapy Through Work Program for People with Young Onset and Early Stage Dementia (TTW YES), creating opportunities for people with dementia to lead purposeful and meaningful lives through therapeutic employment and social interaction.