Senior Management
Professor Tina Wong, MBBS, Ph.D
Executive Director
Professor Tina Wong is Head and Senior Consultant in the Glaucoma Service at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Director of Clinical Translational Research and Head of the Ocular Therapeutics and Drug Delivery Research Group at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). She is Professor at DukeNUS Graduate Medical School and adjunct Professor at Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.
Prior to taking up her positions in Singapore, Professor Wong was a Wellcome Trust Vision Research Fellow and completed a PhD in Professor Sir Peng Khaw’s laboratory at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London. Her research culminated to the award of the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress Fould’s Trophy and the prestigious Moorfields Research Gold Medal.
Her research interests are in glaucoma surgery, ocular inflammation and fibrosis and the application of sustained drug delivery platforms for ophthalmology. Professor Wong is a leading expert and thought leader in glaucoma surgery wound healing. She has authored extensively in peer-reviewed publications in her research fields, authored books and book chapters.
Professor Wong has an entrepreneurial streak in her research. She holds several patents to her name and licensed one of the patents on sustained drug delivery for glaucoma, to a spin-off company, Peregrine Ophthalmic, of which she is co-founder. In 2014, Prof Wong together with her collaborators at NTU, were awarded the prestigious President’s Science and Technology Award for this work. She is currently preparing 2 further start-up companies from her research.
Professor Wong is involved in both local and international education programmes, courses and regularly presents at international meetings. She is an active member of the Associate Advisory Board of the World Glaucoma Association and founding President for the Glaucoma Association Singapore. Professor Wong is a recipient of the National Clinician Scientist Award for her work on novel drug delivery platforms for glaucoma, and the Distinguished Service Award at the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology for her extensive contributions to ophthalmology and research in glaucoma.
Michael Ho, Ph.D
Acting Director
Prior to joining NHIC, Michael was a Scientist with A*STAR’s IME for five years. As a scientist in the Biomedical Integrated Circuit group, his primary focus was on Medtech innovation, working closely with clinical partners in areas of miniaturised medical device innovation and development. Michael has led and developed close to ten implantable and wearable medical devices, in areas of diagnostic and interventional solutions. He was involved extensively throughout the Medtech development cycle, from identifying the clinical needs through to clinical trials. He was awarded two research grants, and has authored/co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed papers, one book chapter, and filed two patents.
Michael holds a Ph.D from the University of Newcastle, Australia and completed the postgraduate course from Singapore Stanford Biodesign Innovation Class in 2014.
Prior to his current appointment, Jian Liang was with an infectious disease programme in National University of Singapore, Department of Medicine, where he managed and utilised various project grants to ensure overall laboratory operation and effective research project collaborations. He assisted the clinical trial team in various aspect like sites initiation and coordination. Jian Liang is a certified MOH biosafety coordinator and a trainer in the BSL3 core facility. Before joining the Department of Medicine, Jian Liang had established a fully equipped and functional molecular biology laboratory. His research work there focuses on drug discovery for Tuberculosis (TB) and Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) infections, where he screened compound libraries, repositioned and profiled top molecule hits.
Before joining NHIC, Siang Lin was a Project Manager with Singapore General Hospital where he was responsible for forming partnerships with start-ups, SME and healthcare institution for the development of robotic-assisted ultrasound system. Prior to this, Siang Lin spent close to 5 years at National University of Singapore with the Medical Engineering Research & Commercialisation Initiative (M.E.R.C.I) team, overseeing multi-institutional collaborations on medical device development in the area of colonoscopy, endovascular, nephrology, organ transplant, underactive bladder, and musculoskeletal maintenance. He is also co-inventor of two medical devices that eventually led to 2 spin-off companies.
Prior to joining NHIC, Shu Ann was a Research Fellow in Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore where she worked on the development of experimental therapeutics against zika and dengue. There, she utilized structure-based approach to develop inhibitors against the various enzymatic activities displayed by the viruses. Her involvement in research dates back to her undergraduate days, and has since, worked on various types of projects related to aptamer and small-molecule drug discovery, biocatalyst development and off-the-shelf dye array development for water analysis.
Before joining NHIC, Hanzhong was a Biodesign Fellow with Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Program established between the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Economic Development Board (EDB), and Stanford University, where he received intensive trainings on the entire value chain of medtech innovation. During his fellowship, Hanzhong immersed himself into the clinical practices in hospitals in Asia and United States, worked closely with healthcare professionals to identify clinical needs, develop novel solutions and analyse business strategies beyond technologies. Prior to his SSB fellowship, Hanzhong has worked in Singapore healthcare and medtech industries, taking charge to evaluate and apply novel technologies in clinical settings, as well as to develop technical solutions and lead projects for medical device enhancement and maintenance.
Before joining NHIC, Anna was with the Clinical Trials Resource Centre at Singapore General Hospital. She was responsible for Clinical Trials Feasibility Management, Investigator-Initiated Trials grants management, Centre Operation and Audit Management. Anna managed the Centre expansion project and implemented new work processes for the overall efficiency of the Centre.
Prior to joining NHIC, Jacelyn was with the National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Ministry of Health. She was responsible for providing administrative support to several grant managers, mainly in the processing of grant applications for the Open Fund – Individual Research Grant (OF-IRG) and Clinician Scientist – Individual Research Grant (CS-IRG). She has made valuable contribution to ease teething issues with the new Integrated Grant Management System (IGMS) launched in late 2018.
