Speakers

Adjunct Professor (Dr) Raymond Chua

Chief Executive Officer, Health Sciences Authority, Singapore; Deputy Director-General of Health, Health Regulation, Ministry of Health (MOH), Singapore

Profile

Adjunct Professor (Dr) Raymond Chua is the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Sciences Authority responsible for safeguarding and advancing public health through securing the national blood supply, administering national justice through its forensic medicine and scientific testing capabilities and regulating the health products. He is also the Deputy Director-General of Health (Health Regulation) at the Ministry of Health overseeing the regulations of healthcare services and information. With these 2 concurrent positions, he will better synergize regulatory policies, operations and enforcement across healthcare services, information and products in Singapore. He has extensive regulatory, management and operational experience in both the public healthcare and private pharmaceutical sectors in the past 25 years, contributing to the advancing developments of the healthcare landscape.

Adjunct Professor (Dr) Raymond Chua holds adjunct professorships at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and the Centre of Regulatory Excellence in Duke-NUS. He also holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nottingham.

More info

Keynote title

Is Ethics an Important Component of Regulations in Tomorrow’s Healthcare?

Abstract

As healthcare undergoes unprecedented transformation through artificial intelligence, longevity science, and traditional medicine integration, this keynote examines the critical role of ethics in shaping regulatory frameworks for tomorrow's medical landscape. Drawing from Singapore's established ethical infrastructure—including the Bioethics Advisory Committee, Institutional Review Boards, and Clinical Ethics Committees—the presentation demonstrates how ethics already serves as an enabler rather than impediment to healthcare progress. The speech explores three transformative forces reshaping medical practice: AI's diagnostic capabilities that challenge traditional informed consent models, life-extending interventions that raise questions of equity and resource allocation, and the integration of traditional healing systems with evidence-based medicine.

The keynote proposes a framework for embedding ethics into future healthcare governance through early integration of ethical considerations in technology design, adaptive frameworks that evolve with medical advancement whilst preserving core values, and practical implementation through structured training programmes such as Singapore's new Mandatory Medical Ethics continuing medical education requirements. Addressing healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, and regulators, the presentation positions ethics not as a constraint on innovation but as the compass guiding responsible advancement, emphasising that whilst regulations define what we can do, only ethics helps determine what we should do in creating a healthcare system that advances responsibly, inclusively, and humanely.

Professor Glenn Cohen

James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Deputy Dean, Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, Harvard Law School, United States

Profile

Professor Cohen is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics and the law. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He has spoken to NATO on biotechnology and human enhancement, addressed the OECD and members of the US and the Korean Congress on medical AI policy, and advised then- U.S. Vice President Harris on reproductive rights. He has provided bioethical advising and consulting to some of the largest healthcare companies. He is an author of more than 250 articles and author or editor of more than 22 books.

More Info

Keynote Title

Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Issues in Healthcare AI

Abstract

Develop strategies to ensure that Healthcare AI navigates legal, regulatory, and ethical challenges.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key regulatory requirements for healthcare AI and data privacy considerations.

• Understand the liability risks when implementing AI in healthcare.

• Develop approaches to AI that can respect ethical norms like informed consent, equity, and access.

_{Photo by Niles Singer/Harvard University}

Professor Julian Savulescu

Chen Su Lan Centennial Professor in Medical Ethics and Head, Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE), NUS, Singapore

Profile

Professor Julian Savulescu is an award-winning ethicist, medical doctor and moral philosopher. He trained in neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy. He is currently and has been Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford since 2002. He currently also holds Chen Su Lan Centennial Professor in Medical Ethics, and Head of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (from August 2022).

In 2003, he founded the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and was responsible for attracting a GBP100 million donation from the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education to evolve the Centre into the Uehiro Oxford Institute (the largest single donation Oxford has received). He is also responsible for enabling a gift of GBP 10 million to St Cross College from the Uehiro Foundation for scholarships in practical ethics.

More Info

Keynote Title 

How to Form Ethical Policy: Collective Reflective Equilibrium – Three Examples

Abstract

Collective reflective equilibrium is a procedure for forming public policy in a pluralistic society. It involves bringing ethical theories, principles and concepts into maximum coherent alignment with public values. I will illustrate how this approach can be applied to programming of driverless cars, allocation of life-saving resources in a pandemic and the polygenic selection of embryos in assisted reproduction. Collective Reflective Equilibrium in Practice offers a principled, pragmatic, practical and publicly representative method for forming public policy – the 4Ps of public policy.

Dr Hilary Bowman-Smart

Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Precision Health, University of South Australia, Australia

Profile

Dr Bowman-Smart is an empirical bioethicist with a background in both genetics and philosophy. Her areas of focus are genomics, reproduction, and the philosophy of medicine. Her research approach involves ethical and philosophical analysis that is informed by various types of empirical research, such as surveys, statistical analysis, and qualitative interview studies.

More Info

Talk Title

Ethical Considerations in Precision Medicine Implementation in Healthcare Settings

Abstract 

Precision medicine is often promoted as a transformative approach to healthcare, promising more targeted prevention and treatment through the use of genomics, machine learning, and digital health tools. These technologies can help us tailor therapies for cancer patients, predict drug responses, and identify individuals at increased risk of disease. However, realising the potential of these tools depends on how they are integrated into health systems already under pressure from workforce shortages, resource constraints, and uneven patterns of access. 

 Successful and equitable implementation of precision medicine requires robust social infrastructures, access to sequencing and data technologies, a well-trained workforce, and the resources to meaningfully act on results. Without these conditions, precision medicine risks concentrating benefits among well-resourced groups while leaving others behind. Directing substantial resources towards individualised care may also displace population-level measures that deliver greater benefit. Other ethical issues include concerns around data governance, accuracy and utility for populations under-represented in datasets, and potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment.  This talk will outline these challenges and consider their implications for the future role of precision medicine within health systems. 

A/Prof Chan Mei Yoke

Senior Consultant, Haematology/Oncology Service, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Chan Mei Yoke MBBS, MMed (Paeds), MRCP, FRCPCH, MBE graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. She trained in Paediatrics in Singapore and subspecialised in Paediatric Haematology/Oncology in Royal Marsden Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, United Kingdom. She has an interest in Paediatric Palliative Care and helped set up a comprehensive paediatric palliative care service in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) in Singapore in 2004. She also has a keen interest in medical ethics due to the nature of her work and obtained a Masters in Bioethics from Harvard University, USA in 2022.

She is currently a Senior Consultant in Paediatric Haematology/Oncology and is the Chair of the Hospital Clinical Ethics Committee in KKH.

More Info

Talk Title

Clash of the titans: Ethical conflicts when families reject potentially life-saving modern medicine in favour of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Abstract

Many countries have integrated complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) into their healthcare systems as part of holistic care. Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows about 50% of the population in industrialised countries regularly use some form of CAM, although it is mainly limited to outpatient care and plays a complementary role to modern medicine.

Some patients however reject modern medicine completely, to the point where they may put their lives at risk. While patients have the liberty to choose their own treatments, even when others think it is not in their best interests, ethical challenges arise when patients who have not, or are unable to express treatment preferences, require modern medicine treatments to save their lives or prevent a serious deterioration in their health, and their families reject modern medicine for CAM.

In this talk, three cases will illustrate the ethical challenges faced by healthcare professionals and clinical ethics committees when family preferences for CAM place patients’ health at risk, making it difficult to balance benefits and harms, and to advocate for the patient while respecting the family.

A/Prof Li Du

Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Macau, China

Profile

Associate Professor Li Du is an associate professor and PhD Program Coordinator at the University of Macau Faculty of Law, Macau SAR. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees in both clinical medicine and law (Wuhan University, China) and a Ph.D. in law (University of Alberta, Canada). His teaching and research interests include international law, food law, biotechnology law and policy, and data protection law. Dr. Du has led many research projects on legal and ethical implications of novel and emerging technologies, e.g., synthetic biology, AI-enabled biomedical research, bio-agricultural products. He presents his research at international conferences frequently and publishes articles regularly in leading academic journals. 

More Info

Talk Title

Ethical Challenges in Developing AI for Biological Research: Risks, Governance, and Responsible Innovation

Abstract

The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, is transforming biological research. Its incorporation has significantly enhanced the efficiency and efficacy of research, from genomic analysis to the design of novel biological systems. In response, many jurisdictions, including China have developed ethical principles and guidelines to govern AI. However, it remains unclear what specific ethical and biosafety challenges emerge from the use of generative AI in biological research and, crucially, how developers and researchers navigate these challenges on the ground. This study investigates this gap through interviews with AI developers and biologists in China to identify specific risks—such as algorithmic bias, misuse, and dual-use dilemmas—and to examine on-the-ground challenges in risk management. The findings aim to translate high-level principles into actionable recommendations for robust, interdisciplinary governance and responsible innovation at the intersection of AI and biology.

A/Prof Michael Dunn

Associate Professor and Co-Director of Education, CBmE, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Michael Dunn is an Associate Professor and the Co-Director of Education at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE) in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Reflecting his varied academic background and interests, his scholarship spans healthcare ethics, medical law, socio-legal studies and health/social care services research.

Michael’s current research projects focus predominantly on the ethical aspects of community-based and long-term care practice, policy and law. For the past 20 years, he has also been critically examining the ethical and legal dimensions of decision-making within adult caregiving relationships. Michael has written more than 100 peer reviewed papers, authored or edited 5 books, and obtained over S$6m in competitive research grants.

Michael leads CBmE’s undergraduate programme in health ethics, law and professionalism, now responsible for educating 2,700 medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing students at any one time. He also teaches postgraduate courses in bioethics to PhD students and refresher workshops in ethical skills to health professionals. Michael is an associate faculty member at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and has held visiting academic positions in Japan, Hong Kong, the USA, the Netherlands and Norway. He obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

More Info

Talk Title

Integrating Traditional Medical Practice and Biomedicine: Policy Priorities and Ethical Uncertainties

A/Prof Brian D. Earp

Associate Professor and Director of the Oxford-NUS Centre for Neuroethics and Society (OCNS) and the Experimental Bioethics, Artificial Intelligence, and Relational Moral Psychology (EARP) Lab, CBmE, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Brian D. Earp, PhD, is director of the Oxford-NUS Centre for Neuroethics and Society (OCNS) and the EARP Lab (Experimental Bioethics, Artificial Intelligence, and Relational Moral Psychology Lab) within the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). Brian is also an Associate Professor of Philosophy and of Psychology at NUS by courtesy. Brian holds degrees from Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge Universities and is a Research Associate of the Uehiro Oxford Institute at the University of Oxford. Brian is also Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and is an elected member of the UK Young Academy under the auspices of the British Academy and the Royal Society.

More Info

Talk Title (1)

Digital "Psychological Twins" In Medicine - Building AI Simulations of Patients' Minds?

Abstract

In high-stakes clinical contexts, patients are often unable to express their values or treatment preferences due to incapacity or emergency circumstances. Standard approaches to surrogate decision-making frequently fall short, with substituted judgments proving inaccurate and ethically fraught. This talk explores a provocative alternative: the development of personalised patient preference predictors (P4s)—AI models trained on a person’s past data to simulate how they would likely decide in a given medical scenario.

I ask whether such models could serve as digital psychological twins—individualised simulations of a patient’s mind that might speak on their behalf when they no longer can. Drawing on recent work in moral psychology, AI ethics, and bioethics, I examine the epistemic and ethical foundations of this proposal. Can P4s offer more accurate, authentic, or autonomy-respecting decisions than traditional surrogates? What risks do they raise around privacy, identity, or algorithmic error?

Rather than offering a single answer, the talk aims to open a new interdisciplinary conversation at the intersection of medicine, machine learning, and moral philosophy—inviting careful reflection on what it would mean to entrust one’s future care to a digital stand-in.

Talk title (2)

If My AI Twin Writes an Essay, Can I Be the Author? 

Abstract

As large language models become capable of mimicking an individual’s writing style and reasoning patterns, new questions arise about authorship and accountability. If an AI system fine-tuned on my past publications can produce a convincing new essay in my voice, am I—legally, morally, or intellectually—its author? This talk examines the concept of authorship in the age of personalized AI, exploring where creative agency lies when human and machine contributions blur. 

Prof Aye Aye Khin

Director-General, Department of Medical Research, Ministry of Health, Myanmar

Profile

Professor Aye Aye Khin is currently the Director General of Department of Medical Research, Ministry of Health, Myanmar. She is a medical doctor and senior consultant pathologist (M.B,B.S 1988; M.MED.Sc(Pathology 1995) and medical educationist (Dip.Med.Ed 2005) and Ph.D (Pathology 2010). She is an Executive Committee Member of South East Asia Regional Association of Medical Education (SEARAME), Management Board & Advisory Council Member of ASEAN Association of Schools of Medical Technology (AASMT), Professional Member of Australian Institute of Medical & Clinical Scientists (AIMS). She is a member of the Implementation Research grant selection committee, Ministry of Health and reviewer of Myanmar Health Sciences Research Journal. Her previous positions were Rector of University of Medicine, Yangon, Myanmar (2021-2024), University of Pharmacy, Yangon (2021-2024), Rector of University of Medical Technology, Yangon from (2019-2021). She was the Head of Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, University of Medical Technology, Yangon (2006 -2019), Deputy Director (Training) from (2004 -2006), and Assistant Director (Training) from (2000-2004) at the Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Health. She was Lecturer/Head, Pathology Department, University of Nursing (Mandalay) (1998-2000), and Assistant Lecturer & Demonstrator of Pathology Department, University of Medicine from (1991 -1998). She has been the Assistant Surgeon, Department of Health, Ministry of Health since 1991.

Talk Title

Ethical frameworks in genomic research, a perspective from Myanmar

Abstract

Advances in technology and ample funding opportunities, both national and international increase in commercial interest, more public awareness on personalised medicine, genetic research as well as whole genome research. These developments have raised many ethical issues associated with genomic research. While genomic research holds great promise, it also raises concerns regarding the potential risks and unintended consequences of genomic discovery. The collection and analysis of genomic data raises concerns regarding the potential for genetic privacy breaches and the misuse of sensitive information. The benefits of genomic research may not be equally distributed, with certain populations facing barriers to access due to socioeconomic or geographical factors. Principles of Respect for Persons and Beneficence are fundamental to the ethical conduct of genomic research; Informed Consent; Beneficence; Justice and Fairness; Balancing Individual and Collective Interests; Genomic Data and its Ethical Implications; Data Sharing and Collaboration; Protecting Participant Privacy and Autonomy; Ensuring Transparency and Accountability are essential for Ethical frameworks in genomic research. Genomic research and its applications must be responsive to societal and cultural concerns including issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The development of robust ethical frameworks and responsible innovation practices is critical to ensuring that genomic research is conducted in a manner that respects the rights and interests of all individuals and communities.

A/Prof Hannah Yee- Fen Lim

Associate Professor, College of Business (Nanyang Business School), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Hannah Yee-Fen Lim is uniquely qualified with double degrees in Computer Science and Law with Honours from the University of Sydney. She is an internationally recognised legal expert on all areas of technology law, including AI, Blockchain, Fintech, Cryptoassets, health technology, AI ethics, data protection, cybersecurity, and intellectual property law.

She was an appointed External Expert Reviewer for the WHO Guidance on Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health. She has also been appointed as a legal expert advising international legal bodies such as the United Nations (UNCITRAL), UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law), HCCH (Hague Conference on Private International Law) and the Law Commission of England and Wales on areas such as AI and crypto-assets.

She has authored hundreds of academic papers and 6 scholarly books on law and technology published by internationally established publishers such as Oxford University Press. She wrote pioneering books on Cyberspace Law; data protection law including the GDPR; and on AI law and Autonomous Vehicles in 2018. Her research has been cited by the High Court of Australia and the Singapore Court of Appeal.

Hannah is a sought-after speaker and has presented at 145 international meetings and has been interviewed by the media 80 times.

More Info

Talk title

Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Abstract

The regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is a continued legal endeavour, as regulators and lawyers struggle with the various different types of AI technologies and implementations. This paper will analyse the different areas of existing laws that apply to the implementation and deployment of AI in healthcare settings.

Dr Retna Siwi Padmawati

Director, Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

Profile

Dr Retna Siwi Padmawati is an anthropologist and health policy scholar at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia, where she heads the Centre for Bioethics and Medical Humanities. Her research focuses on health behaviour, social medicine, and bioethics, particularly the ethical dimensions of medical pluralism and cultural diversity in healthcare. She teaches in the Public Health and Bioethics postgraduate programmes at UGM and is committed to fostering ethical reflection in both mainstream and culturally rooted health practices, including those that intersect with traditional and complementary medicine.

Talk Title

Shaping Policy around Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine

Prof Prasit Palittapongarnpim

Executive Vice President for Research and International Relations, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand; Professor, Center for Microbial Genomics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Thailand

Profile

Professor Prasit Palittapongarnpim received his M.D. (1st class honor) from Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, the Certificate of Proficiency in Pediatrics from Chiangmai University. He also earned BSc in both Medical Sciences and Mathematics. His main scientific interest is on molecular biology and genomic epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as AMR. He founded and leads the Pornchai Matangkasombut Center for Microbial Genomics at Mahidol University. He also worked on antituberculous drug discovery. He serves as editorial board members and reviewers of several journals and funding agencies both in Thailand and abroad. He has published about 120 papers with over 3000 citations and h-index of 26. He was awarded as a top 1% researcher of Mahidol University in 2022 and 2023.

Talk Title

Ethical Challenges in Microbial Genomics: A Thai Perspective

Abstract

Microbial genome data have been produced in a very rapid rate and generally shared. They have become essential resources for microbiological research and services as well as product development. Although, it is generally agreed that sharing microbial genomic data is beneficial to the scientific community, there still have been some ethical challenges for equitable data sharing. Moreover, there has been an increase in the use of metagenomic sequencing in studying microbes in human samples. Although human genome data are generally not of interest in the studies, risks of unintentionally exposing the human genome data exist.

Asst Prof Leander Penaso Marquez

Assistant Professor, University of the Philippines Diliman, The Philippines

Profile

Assistant Professor Leander Penaso Marquez is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman where he earned his master’s degrees in philosophy and in education. He also obtained his Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) degree from Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. Apart from serving as Co-chair of the Working Group on Bioethics of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Global Health Program, Leander is also the Founding President of the Philosophical Inquiry in Schools Initiative Philippines, Inc. (ISIP Pinas), and a member of the Southeast Asia Bioethics Network (SEABioN). He has extensive experience as a researcher, author, and editor. Currently, he is one of the co-editors in a book project that will be published by Springer in its “Collaborative Bioethics” series.

More Info

Talk Title

Ethics in Mainstream and Alternative Medical Practices: The Role of Values Education in Shaping Ethical Practitioners

Abstract

The talk aims to explore the relevance of bioethics education in the form of values education to shaping ethical mainstream and alternative medical practitioners. This relies on the theory that ethical issues in both mainstream and alternative medical practices are partly due to conflicts in values and partly because of a lack of emphasis on values education. While debates surrounding topics such as abortion, euthanasia, or traditional healing methods are typically addressed through immediate ethical frameworks, these approaches may overlook the foundational role that moral values play in shaping ethical judgment. For example, there can be a conflict between the values of respect for life and respect for autonomy in the case of abortion. Who will be able to navigate this conflict better, someone who has been exposed to bioethics as values education from a young age or someone who has just started confronting these questions in the university or as a professional? There is an argument to be said in favor of the former. By integrating bioethics as a form of values education in elementary and secondary education, societies can cultivate future healthcare practitioners who are guided by deeply internalized bioethical values. This approach can potentially mitigate unethical healthcare practices through generations of bioethically grounded healthcare professionals. Thus, rather than examining ethics in mainstream and alternative medical practices through a narrow, issue-centered perspective, this talk advocates for a broader, developmental view; one that situates bioethics within lifelong values formation.

Prof Johannes Jacobus (Hans) Meij

Co-Founder, NUS Academy for Healthy Longevity, National University of Singapore; Vice- President International Affairs, Amsterdam University Medical Center, The Netherlands

Profile

Prof Hans Meij is a medical anthropologist by training (VU Amsterdam, 1992), who also holds an MBA in hospital management (1996) and a MD/PhD in Medicine (2008) focused on the genetic background of healthy longevity and ageing in rural Africa. His thesis, “Testing life history theory in a contemporary African population”, was conducted in Garu/Ghana and Leiden/Netherlands.

With over 45 years of leadership experience in healthcare, Hans has held senior roles across hospitals, academic networks, and health systems. He was the co-founder of the Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing (2008–2010), a member of the Executive Board of the Amphia Hospital in Breda (2010–2016), and the inaugural Director of the Academic Network at the University of Melbourne, Australia (2016–2019).

Currently, Hans serves as a visiting Professor of Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where he co-founded and leads the Academy for Healthy Longevity. Since 2019, he has also been appointed at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, initially as Head of the Department of Human Genetics and Division Chair for Outpatients and Ambulatory Care. In 2024 he assumed the role of Vice-Dean of International Affairs in 2024.

Hans lives between Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands, and Singapore with his wife and their dog, Fritz.

Talk Title

“Is this ethical?” - Considerations on Healthy Longevity

Abstract

Increasing life span, even if it is in healthy condition, raises profound ethical questions about fairness, care, and purpose. Every person, regardless of age, holds equal dignity and moral worth, but money and resources are limited, worldwide. Care decisions should rest on individual need and justice, not chronological age, but what is reality. Must longer lives not justify unequal treatment or exclusion from support? Pioneers in the field of Healthy Longevity are confronted with medical professionals and others who believe that investing in Healthy Longevity will predominantly favor the older people and not those with the future ahead. What are or should be the limitations in our aim to live long?

A/Prof Sonny Rosenthal

Associate Professor, Sustainability Communication, Singapore Management University, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Sonny Rosenthal is Associate Professor of Sustainability Communication in the College of Integrative Studies at Singapore Management University. He earned his PhD in advertising at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was part of an NSF-funded interdisciplinary research team studying indoor environmental risks. He took a postdoctoral position and later a tenure-track position in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he conducted research on climate change communication. In his current position, he works with urban sustainability experts from diverse disciplines. He also conducts research on health risk perception and protective behaviors in the contexts of the COVID-19 vaccine, dengue prevention, and longevity interventions. His work appears in over 50 journal articles and book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals, Science Communication, Environmental Communication, and the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

More Info

Talk tile

Would You Take the Pill? Public Attitudes Towards Longevity Interventions

Abstract

Scientific interest in pharmacological longevity interventions, such as metformin, is growing, but public acceptance remains understudied. This talk presents results from a preregistered, nationally representative survey of 2,003 adults in Singapore. Most respondents preferred a lifespan of 60–90 years in optimal health, and about one-third were willing to take longevity medications. Willingness was positively predicted by perceived efficacy and worry about chronic disease and negatively predicted by concerns over health risks and ethical issues. Beyond these findings, the talk situates attitudes toward longevity interventions within the broader psychometric paradigm of risk perception, highlighting how dimensions such as dread, controllability, and visibility shape public responses to emerging technologies. The talk concludes by reflecting on the opportunities and the challenges of public engagement about interventions designed to extend human healthspan.

A/Prof Michael Stanley-Baker

Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Michael Stanley-Baker is Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine from Nanyang Technological University. He is an award-winning historian of Chinese Medicine and Religion, with a focus first in the early Imperial period, and in the modern Sinophone diaspora. He received his PhD from the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London, an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Indiana University, Bloomington, and also has a clinical degree in Chinese medicine.

His research concerns the diverse intersections of Chinese medicine with different knowledge cultures, whether religion, botany, trade or modern pharmacy and policy. He uses close reading, participant interview, and digital humanities. He has held research positions at leading institutions around the world, including the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin; Academia Sinica, Taipei; the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge; the Forschungs Kolleg for Multiple Secularities at Leipzig University and the Asian Studies Centre at the University of Pittsburgh.

More Info

Talk Title

Situating Practice: How to Build Congenial Epistemic Spaces for Productive Transdisciplinary Knowledge Exchange on Traditional Medicine

Abstract

Traditional Asian medicine is a complex field. Many interconnected and disconnected disciplines make up its intellectual ecologies, including policy and governance, safety and efficacy, trial design, clinical practice, drug design, manufacture and marketing, indigenous knowledge communities and heritage industry, botany and conservation. This diversity beggars calls for standardisation, norms of practice, and repeatability in a field where many different knowledge styles, stakeholders and traditions are at play. In the world of modern health care which self styles as progressive, scientific. modern, and rules-based, it at first appears counterintuitive to turn to history, archival practices and qualitative participant interview as resources for navigating these multiple methods.  However, the virtue of the humanities is its nimble agility to navigate across multiple domains, calling attention to the contours, limits, affordances, hierarchies and power within these varied forms of knowledge production.

I will draw on approaches from STS, such as Ludwik Fleck’s modelling of the early stages of knowledge styles as ‘conversation’, Lave and Wenger’s social model of knowledge acquisition, Donna Haraway’s notion of objective knowledge as situated, multivocal and multiperspectival, and Anamarie Mol’s praxeology, which focuses on practices as knowledge fixed in fluid form, a site for situating a moment of conflux between competing epistemic discourses. These will serve as backdrop for the epistemic virtues which I suggest are important for transdisciplinary conversations around Asian Medicine, and which I attempt to apply in research development at NTU.

Asst Prof Faizah Zakaria

Assistant Professor, Department of Southeast Asian Studies and Department of Malay Studies, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Dr Faizah Zakaria is an assistant professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies and Malay Studies. She holds a PhD in history from Yale University, an M.A in Southeast Asian Studies and a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Mathematics from NUS.  Her research centers on religion and ecology and environmental justice. Her first monograph The Camphor Tree and the Elephant: Religion and Ecological Change in Maritime Southeast Asia (2023) was published by the University of Washington Press which won the Harry J. Benda Prize for best first book in Southeast Asian Studies in 2025. She co-coordinates a digital humanities project comparing Malay and Chinese heritage medicine (https://www.polyglotasianmedicine.com) with Michael Stanley-Baker and Christopher Khoo.

More Info

Talk Title

Traditional Malay Medicine as Modern: Heritage and Science in Pursuit of Health in Singapore

Abstract

The paper surveys Singapore’s traditional Malay medicine (TMM) sector, which comprises a range of practitioners - from shops offering herbal remedies to individuals specialising in Malay massage to spiritual healers at the periphery of commercial space. It analyses how these practitioners negotiate present-day demands for transparent standards for health and safety and leverage on science to validate past historical practice. Traditional medicine, as noted by Yang and Stanley-Baker (2020), is a term that is retroactively applied as a static category to contrast with the innovations of modern biomedicine, obscuring dynamism within tradition itself. The transition in TMM’s position from the centre of the Malay community’s healing system to the periphery of the formal healthcare system parallels the process of authoritarian modernisation in Singapore and compels practitioners to make their practices legible to sceptics steeped in science. Highlighting the interplay between consensus and coercion in driving such social change, I show that far from being a set of static practices, TMM operates in historically adaptable market. This can be seen in both the supply and demand side. Practitioners who promote their products along quasi- biomedical lines, and consumers, who conceptualize the ‘healthy body’ by utilising tradition and biology, demonstrate this adaptability.

Prof Angus Dawson

Professor of Bioethics, CBmE, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Professor Angus Dawson is Professor of Bioethics at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE). He has held previous professorial appointments at the University of Sydney in Australia (2015-2022) and the University of Birmingham in the UK (2011-2015). His main research interests are in public health ethics, research ethics, and methodology in bioethics. He was the joint founder of the journal Public Health Ethics and has been its joint Editor-in-Chief since it began in 2008. He has been editor or co-editor of six collections of original papers mainly on topics in public health ethics, including Ethics, Prevention, and Public Health (2007), Public Health Ethics: Key Concepts and Issues in Policy and Practice (2011), and Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe (2016). The latter collection contains background material and cases from public health policy and practice with contributions from twenty-three different countries. The whole book is available for free and has been downloaded in full or in part over 1.8 million times.

Angus has been heavily involved in ethics and policy work over the last twenty years with many different committees and organisations, including the World Health Organization, the UK’s Department of Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Australian Federal Government, and Médecins Sans Frontières. He is a past President of the International Association of Bioethics and has taught and given research talks all over the world. He is the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Bioethics based at CBmE.

More Info

Prof Kazuto Kato

Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Public Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Japan

Profile

Professor Kato has a Ph.D. degree in developmental biology from Kyoto University. After finishing postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, he started to work on ethical and social issues related to life sciences. He has served as a member of various international projects and committees to include the International Panel of Experts of the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) of Singapore government. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Group on Genomics (TAG-G) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

More info

Prof Ilhak Lee

Professor in Medical Ethics, Department of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences, Yonsei University, South Korea

Profile

Professor Ilhak Lee is Professor of Medical Law and Ethics at Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea. He holds degrees in Medicine and in Medical Ethics from Yonsei University. His research bridges clinical practice and bioethical theory, focusing on ethical decision-making in end-of-life care, emergency medicine, and intensive care settings. He has served as Chair of the Department of Medical Law and Ethics at Yonsei, Chair of the Education Committee of the Korean Society for Medical Ethics, and Vice President of the Korean Bioethics Association. A former visiting professor at the University of Bristol, UK (2016–2018), Professor Lee has led national projects on advance care planning and hospital ethics support systems. His recent publications examine the phenomenology of life-sustaining treatment decisions and international comparisons of end-of-life legislation. He also advises the government on health law and bioethics policy.

Prof Kenneth Mak

Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health, Singapore

Profile

Professor Kenneth Mak is Director-General of Health at the Ministry of Health Singapore.

In this role, Professor Mak is the principal medical adviser to the Singapore Government and provides professional input and guidance to other Ministries and public agencies on health and healthcare related issues.

Professor Mak oversees the provision of all health services in Singapore. Within the Ministry of Health, he ensures that clinical services are delivered seamlessly across multiple settings by the public healthcare system. He leads in developing and implementing national healthcare policies in areas such as population health, healthcare regulation, communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, healthcare professional standards as well as the development and enhancement of the performance of the nation’s healthcare system and services. Professor Mak works closely with Singapore’s Regional Health Systems and healthcare institutions on care integration as well as on Singapore’s long-term healthcare transformation strategy.

Dr Roli Mathur

Head, Indian Council of Medical Research Bioethics Unit, India 

Profile

Dr Roli Mathur is a passionate bioethicist/scientist heading the ICMR Bioethics Unit and  serving as the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Strengthening Ethics in Biomedical and Health Research. She is a Scientific Advisor to the National Ethics Committee Registry at Department of Health Research, MoHFW, Govt of India and also the Member Secretary of the ICMR-Central Ethics Committee on Human Research which serves as the National Ethics Committee at ICMR. She is also Professor at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) in the faculty of Medical Research.  

Her work revolves around building ethics capacity, networking, advising, development of  National Guidelines, Policies, Tools. She was acknowledged amongst the top ICMR Women Scientists and exceptionally meritorious.   

More info

Dr Kathryn Muyskens

Research Fellow, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore

Profile

Dr Kathryn Muyskens is a Research Fellow with CBmE, with a focus on Asian Bioethics, Elder Care, and AI. Originally from Colorado in the U.S., she came to Singapore in 2015 to pursue her PhD in Philosophy from Nanyang Technology University, graduating in 2019. She is a political philosopher and applied ethicist by training, and has research interests in human rights, and healthcare justice, and cross-cultural bioethics, with particular interest in trust, information, and inequality in access to healthcare.

More Info

Prof Jing-Bao Nie

Professor, Bioethics Centre, Faculty of Medicine
University of Otago, New Zealand

Profile

Professor Jing-Bao Nie is a Professor at the Bioethics Centre, University of Otago Faculty of Medicine, New Zealand, and a 2025 fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. Trained in Chinese medicine in China, sociology in Canada, and medical humanities in the US, he is a leading scholar in transcultural and global bioethics. His over 150 peer-reviewed publications include such books as Medical Ethics in China, Behind the Silence: Chinese Voices on Abortion, Japan’s Wartime Medical Atrocities, and (forthcoming) Confucian Ethics vs. Biomilitarism. His hobbies include, in recent years, running weekly half-marathons in the awe-inspiring landscapes of NZ and elsewhere. 

More Info

Prof Wu Jing

Vice Director of Clinical Research Management Center, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School

Profile

Professor Wu Jing currently serves as Vice Director of Clinical Research Management Center in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Vice President of the Ethics Review Committee at the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) and Committee Member of the Bioethics Division, Chinese Society for Dialectics of Nature. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Gastrointestinal Immunogenetics Center, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB), where she earned the certification of Council for Certification of IRB Professionals(CCIP). As a Chevening Scholar, she obtained her MLitt. in Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow.

With expertise in clinical and basic medical research, focusing on bioethics and clinical research governance at same time, she has led National Key Research and Development Program and multiple research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the EU CHETCH Program. She translated the Protecting study volunteers in research : a manual for investigative sites and published commentaries on the 2013 and 2024 versions of the Declaration of Helsinki. Her work spans human genetic ethics, medical ethics policy, and clinical trial standards, traditional Chinese medicine, establishing her as a prominent figure in Chinese academic discourse in these area.

Prof Zhai XiaoMei

Senior Professor at Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

Profile

Professor Zhai is a Senior Professor at Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and the fellow of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. She currently serves as a Member of the National Science and Technology Ethics Committee, Vice Chair of the Medical Ethics Expert Committee of the National Health Commission, and Member of the Science and Technology Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Education of China. Additionally, she holds the positions of Chair of the Bioethics Committee of the Chinese Society of Dialectics of Nature under the Association for Science and Technology of China , and Chair of the Public Health Ethics Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association. She is also a Member of the Ethics Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and a Fellow of the Hastings Center in the United States. Previously, she served as an Expert on the WHO Global Expert Advisory Committee on Ethical Issues in Human Genome Editing. Currently, she is Associate Editor of Health Care Science, Editorial Board Member of Asian Bioethics Review and Studies in Dialectics of Nature, as well as a reviewer for several international and domestic academic journals. She has authored and translated scholarly works, edited academic publications, and published numerous research papers in both Chinese and English, exerting considerable academic influence.

Prof Phaik Yeong Cheah

Head, Bioethics and Engagement, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand

Profile

Professor Phaik Yeong Cheah is the head of the Bioethics and Engagement team at the Bangkok based Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). She is a Professor of Global Health and bioethicist at the University of Oxford. She conducts research on ethical issues around research involving vulnerable populations and coordinates a network of public and community advisory groups in the MORU network.

More info

Prof Chin Jing Jih

Deputy Group CEO (Clinical and Academic Development), National Healthcare Group, Singapore; Senior Consultant Geriatrician, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore

Profile

Adjunct Professor Chin Jing Jih is the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (Clinical and Academic Development) of the NHG Health, where he is responsible for strategic efforts to develop and advance clinical care, research, and education.  He also oversees professional development for the clinical groups including medical, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy and plays a key role in building the Group’s research and education infrastructure and shaping its academic culture to support innovation in AI for long-term sustainability.  As a clinician, he continues to serve as Senior Consultant in the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

An educator and thought leader in medicine and clinical ethics, he holds faculty appointments at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the NUS Centre for Biomedical Ethics.  He currently chairs the MOH Healthcare Ethics Capability Committee and has been a member of the Singapore Bioethics Advisory Committee since 2011.  In the area of research ethics, Professor Chin chaired the NHG Health Research Ethics Committee From 2009 to 2023 and currently chairs the Institutional Review Board of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

More Info

A/Prof Devanand Anantham

NMEC Chair, Singapore; Head, SingHealth Duke-NUS Lung Centre, Singapore; Senior Consultant, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore

Profile

A/Prof Anantham was trained in interventional bronchoscopy and clinical ethics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Harvard Medical School and Thoraxklinik, University of Heidelberg. He has clinical interests in advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy, sarcoidosis and medical thoracoscopy. His research interests include lung nodule evaluation, pleural diseases and medical decision-making.

More Info

Emeritus Prof Lee Eng Hin

Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) Chair, Singapore; Emeritus Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University of Singapore; and Emeritus Consultant, Division of Paediatric Orthopaedics, National University Hospital

Profile

Emeritus Professor Lee is an Emeritus Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at the National University of Singapore and Emeritus Consultant in Orthopaedic Surgery at the National University Hospital. He was former Dean of the NUS Medical School and former Director of the Division of Graduate Medical Studies, NUS.

He is the current Chair of the Bioethics Advisory Committee, Singapore. His involvement with the BAC started in 2005 when he was appointed a member of the BAC. He currently chairs the Human Nuclear Genome Editing (HNGE) Review Group.

He has also been actively involved with medical ethics in the Singapore Medical Council since 2000. He was a member of the SMC Ethics Committee which developed the SMC Ethical Code and Ethical Guidelines for doctors in 2016. He was appointed President of the Disciplinary Commission to oversee the disciplinary processes for doctors in Singapore in 2022. On an international level, Prof Lee is a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee since 2020 and has been elected Vice Chair representing the Asia Pacific region for 2022-23. In this role he is involved in developing guidelines and contributing reports on current bioethics issues of global importance.

Emeritus Prof Roy Joseph

National Medical Ethics Committee (NMEC) Emeritus Advisor, Singapore; Emeritus Consultant, Department of Neonatology, Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children’s Medical Institute, National University Hospital, Singapore; and Director of the Paediatric Ethics Program, CBmE, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Emeritus Professor Roy Joseph is Emeritus Consultant in the Department of Neonatology, National University Hospital and chairs the Paediatric Ethics and Advocacy Centre in the Department of Paediatrics. He is the National Medical Ethics Committee Emeritus Advisor and a member of the Bioethics Advisory Committee.

His current research interests are in harnessing technology for improving education in ethics and professionalism and understanding the local empirical basis of Ethical End of life Care and Clinical Innovation. Past research activities aimed at improving medical education, preventing mental and developmental retardation through providing a safe transition into the extrauterine environment and in universal newborn screening for selected congenital conditions.

Roy was the Acting Director of CBmE from 2017-2018 and the Director of its Undergraduate education programme from 2017 to 2022. He served as Chairman of the Clinical Bioethics Committee at the National University Hospital from 2006 to 2019 and as Chief, Department of Neonatology from 1997-2005. In 2003, he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

More Info

Prof Kon Oi Lian

Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) Deputy Chair

Profile

Professor Kon Oi Lian was on faculty in both medical schools of the National University of Singapore and a Principal Investigator at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. Her career encompassed biomedical research, medical education, mentoring, clinical care, and administration. Her postgraduate training in North America included a residency in internal medicine in Canada and a Medical Research Council of Canada research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, USA. She remains engaged in collaborative research after retiring in 2019.

A/Prof Lai Poh San

Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, Singapore

Profile

Associate Professor Poh-San LAI heads the Human Molecular Genetics Lab of the Dept of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). She is Deputy Chair of the NUS Institutional Biosafety Committee and Chair of the MD1 Tahir Foundation Building Research Safety Committee. She is an adjunct Faculty of the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and sits on the Institutional Review Board of Nanyang Technological University (NTU). She is a member of Singapore’s Bioethics Advisory Committee (Ministry of Health) and is Chair of the Genetic and Genomic Testing and Research (GGTR) Review Group. She also serves as President of the Biomedical Research & Experimental Therapeutics Society of Singapore, Executive Board member of the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies (IFHGS) and President Emeritus of the Asia-Pacific Society of Human Genetics. She has previously served as Director of HUGO (Human Genome Organization International) and Co-chair of the Policy & Ethics Review Board of the HUGO – Pan Asian SNP Initiative (HUGO-PASNPI) as well as co-Chair of the Ethics of Gene Modifying Technologies Working Group under the Science, Health and Policy-relevant Ethics in Singapore (SHAPES) initiative of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, NUS.

More Info

Dr Sumytra Menon

Director, Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE), National University of Singapore (NUS), SIngapore

Profile

Dr Sumytra Menon is Director of CBmE, a legal scholar and bioethics educator whose work bridges academic leadership, research, and national capacity building in healthcare ethics. She is also Co-Director of the Clinical Ethics Network + Research Ethics Support (CENTRES) initiative, where she leads educational efforts in clinical and research ethics to strengthen ethics committee capabilities in Singapore and the Programme Director of Science, Health and Policy-relevant Ethics in Singapore (SHAPES). 

A lawyer by training, Dr Menon's research has focused on healthcare decision-making, mental capacity law, and end-of-life issues. She is currently conducting research on the ethics of genetic discrimination and longevity, including a recent national survey exploring public perspectives on genetic testing and discrimination.

Dr Menon’s work is policy-oriented, with a focus on translating academic and research insights into practical frameworks that enhance outcomes for patients, families, and healthcare professionals. Her approach is grounded in clinical realities and lived experiences, ensuring that contributions are responsive to the ethical challenges encountered in healthcare practice and research.

Dr Menon serves on a range of national committees and ethics panels, including Clinical Ethics Committees, Institutional Review Boards, and national committees on advance care planning, MediFund and transplant ethics. 

More info

Asst Prof G. Owen Schaefer

Assistant Professor, Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

Profile

Assistant Professor G. Owen Schaefer was appointed Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics in 2020. He is currently Director of the Phase II Health ethics, Law and Professionalism (HeLP) curriculum. Owen’s research interests cover ethical issues raised by the development of novel biotechnologies.

Before beginning his graduate work, Owen spent two years at the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health in the US as a pre-doctoral fellow.  There, he received training in research ethics, was involved in the department’s ethics consultation service, and published several academic articles.  He then went on to read for BPhil and DPhil degrees in philosophy at Oxford, writing a dissertation on moral enhancement.  Immediately prior to joining the CBmE, he spent a year as a post-doc at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics researching the implications of various novel biotechnologies.

More Info

Prof Patrick Tan

Dean (Designate), Senior Vice Dean (Research) and Provost’s Chair, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore

Profile

Professor Patrick Tan is Dean (Designate), Senior Vice Dean (Research) and Provost’s Chair in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. He is also Executive Director of PRECISE (Precision Health Research Singapore) coordinating Singapore’s National Precision Medicine program, and Professor (adjunct) at Duke University, USA. He received his B.A. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University and MD PhD degree from Stanford University, where he received the Charles Yanofsky prize. Other awards include the President’s Scholarship, Loke Cheng Kim scholarship, Young Scientist Award (A-STAR), Singapore Youth Award, Chen New Investigator Award (Human Genome Organization), President’s Science Award, Japanese Cancer Association International Award, Public Administration Medal (Silver), Exemplary Public Service Award, and NUS University Research Recognition Award. He has received the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Team Science Award as Team Leader, and Genome Valley Excellence Award by the Government of Telangana (India). He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of American Physicians (AAP), the Singapore Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC), a Board Member of the International Gastric Cancer Association, Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), Board of Editors for Science and Cancer Discovery, and an advisory member for Qatar Precision Health Institute.

More Info

Mr Gregory Vijayendran SC

Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) Deputy Chair; Senior Counsel and Partner, Rajah and Tann Singapore LLP

Profile

Gregory Vijayendran is a Senior Counsel practising law in dispute resolution (litigation, arbitration and mediation) in Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP. A former President of the Law Society of Singapore, Gregory was appointed to the Ethics and Professional Committee set up in 2023 in response to Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon’s Opening Legal Year Speech 2023.

Gregory has a keen interest and deep passion for ethical issues in broader capacities.  In the bioethics sphere, he has been serving on the Bioethics Advisory Committee since December 2010, now serving as Deputy Chair. He also serves as a member of the Ethics Review Committee of the National Council of Social Services since 2022. 

In community service, Gregory has had a unique, longstanding and direct involvement in various charities and SSAs in Singapore.  Among others, he now serves on the Board of the National Council of Social Services as Honorary General Secretary and is a Charity Council member.

In the health sector, his more recent highlights of service are on the Board of Agency for Integrated Care and now chairing the Rare Disease Fund. He was a founding director of the Singapore Cord Blood Bank.

More Info

Dr Voo Teck Chuan

Head, Office of Ethics in Healthcare, Innovation and Research Advisor, SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical Humanities Institute, Singapore

Profile

Dr Voo Teck Chuan heads the Office of Ethics in Healthcare (OEH) at SingHealth and chairs the SingHealth Ethics Network Council, which works with OEH to advance ethical best practices across the cluster. As a bioethicist with the SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical Humanities Institute, he contributes to the Institute’s Bioethics and Health Professions Education programs.

He has published over 60 articles and book chapters across various areas of bioethics and has co-edited three books. He has also played a key role in the development of undergraduate medical ethics education and in the training of clinical, research, and transplant ethics committees in Singapore.

Dr Voo serves on various institutional and national ethics committees in Singapore, including the Singapore Bioethics Advisory Committee and the National Medical Ethics Committee. Internationally, he is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Bioethics, where he serves as Communication Officer. He is Co-Principal Investigator/Steering Committee member of the Southeast Asia Bioethics Network and sits on ethics advisory boards for several international biomedical research projects. Additionally, he has contributed to the World Health Organization’s work on integrating ethics into clinical guidelines and on developing ethics guidance for epidemics, public health emergencies, and climate change and health systems.

Dr Alice Yong

Senior Consultant Endocrinologist, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital, Brunei Darussalam

Profile

Dr Alice Yong is a Senior Consultant Endocrinologist at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital in Brunei Darussalam, where she provides specialist care in diabetes and endocrine disorders. Her clinical interest is in obesity and weight management, an area she is passionate about due to its growing public health importance and impact on long-term outcomes.

From 2010 to 2023, she led the Ministry’s Medical and Health Research Ethics Committee, playing a key role in shaping national review processes for research ethics. In line with her broader efforts to strengthen ethical research capacity, she was also involved in the development of the Biomedical Research and Ethics Unit (BREU), which supports research governance and policy guidance across Brunei. She currently serves as Chair of Bioethics at the Ministry of Health.

Her work in bioethics centers on developing governance frameworks, ethical review processes, and policy guidelines that uphold transparency, accountability, and respect for human dignity; while balancing scientific integrity with the values of local communities. She continues to be actively involved in initiatives that bridge clinical practice, research ethics, and policymaking.

Across all areas of her professional life, she brings a steady and values-driven approach to advancing healthcare systems that are not only effective, but also principled and inclusive.