Senior Management
Professor Tina Wong, MBBS, Ph.D
Executive Director
Prof Tina Wong is Head and Senior Consultant in the Glaucoma Service at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and Head of the Ocular Therapeutics and Drug Delivery Research Group at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). She is co-Director of the Ocular Therapeutic Engineering Centre at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
Prior to taking up her position in Singapore, she was a Glaucoma Fellow and Research Fellow at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, UK, where she had completed her general ophthalmic training. She was awarded the Wellcome Trust Vision Research Fellowship for which 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 include the application of sustained drug delivery platforms for ophthalmology, ocular inflammation and fibrosis, and the development of new anti-scarring therapeutics. She has received over $8Million of competitive funding and is the recipient of the NMRC Clinician Scientist Award (Investigator and Senior Investigator)
Prof Wong has authored extensively in peer-reviewed publications in her research field, contributed to book chapters and authored a book – a patient handbook on glaucoma. She currently holds 9 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 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. Associate Professor Wong is a recipient of the National Clinician Scientist Award in 2010 and 2015 for her work on novel drug delivery platforms for glaucoma, and the Distinguished Service Award at the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in Sydney in 2011 for her extensive contributions to ophthalmology and research in glaucoma.
Teo Cher Hwa
Director
Prior to joining NHIC, Cher Hwa was at A*STAR’s ETPL for seven years, where as Vice President of the Communications & Healthcare Cluster, he oversaw technology transfer activities including IP management, licensing, industry collaboration and translational funding projects in the medtech sector. His technical strengths include medical devices, health IT and medical software.
Before ETPL, Cher Hwa was the Deputy Director (Comms Systems) of ST Electronics where he was responsible for leading the sales & marketing, technical solutioning, and business development for Collaborative and Unified Communication Systems using VoIP Technology. Cher Hwa has more than ten years of industry experience working with Alcatel-Lucent, Radio Frequency Systems and ST Electronics in different capacities where he was responsible for product management, sales & marketing, systems engineering and business development for mission critical systems and communication products.
Cher Hwa holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Electronic Engineering from the University of Sheffield and an MBA from the University of Manchester.
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.
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, 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.
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, 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.
