Speakers

Dr. Ya-Wen He received his BSc in Biology from Central China Normal University in 1992. He obtained his Ph.D. from National University of Singapore in 2006, where he studied the DSF-dependent quorum sensing of phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). He then worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), where he extended his studies to low oxygen sensing in Xcc. In 2010, he joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a Professor to set his own lab for Microbial Quorum Sensing and Synthetic Biology. He is also a principal investigator of The State Key Laboratory for Microbial Metabolism, and the director of SJTU-Shanghai Nongle Joint R&D Center on Biopesticides and Biofertilizers. Since 2010, Dr. He's group has published over 50 research scientific papers and 5 book chapters, and filed 4 patents. His group’s interests include: (1) Molecular mechanism of quorum sensing in phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris; (2) Systems biology Plant-Xanthomonas interactions; (3) R&D of biopesticides and biofertilizers based on microbial metabolites.

Dr. Sunny Wong is an Associate Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He received his MBChB at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his Ph.D. in University of Oxford on human genetics and infectious diseases. He completed his clinical training in gastroenterology in the Prince of Wales Hospital Hong Kong. His main research interest is on the gut microbiome, investigating the host-microbe interaction in digestive and metabolic diseases, and exploring this for discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutics. He has won several awards, including the Asia Pacific Digestive Week Emerging Leaders Lectureship (2021), the Hong Kong College of Physicians Sir David Todd Lectureship (2020) and the Croucher Foundation Award (2014). He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, including papers in Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Gastroenterology and Gut, and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Sivakumar Thurairajasingam currently holds the position of Head of School, Clinical School Johor Bahru, Monash University Malaysia. Qualified as a psychiatrist, Sivakumar is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Monash University Malaysia and a visiting Consultant Psychiatrist to Columbia Asia Hospital Nusajaya Johor.

Sivakumar has been practicing in the field of Clinical Psychiatry for more than 20 years. He teaches, trains, and talks on various topics pertaining to Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine. He is trained and specializes on the use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in the clinical field. He has a special interest in the treatment and research into Mood Disorders.

Sivakumar has been working in the field of Addiction Medicine for more than 19 years. He has a vast experience of managing agonist treatment clinics, as a national trainer for the National Drug Substitution Therapy (NDST) Program and running of workshops on Addiction Counselling and Treatment.

He is also the current President of Intan Life Zone, an NGO working in the field of HIV and Harm Reduction servicing the ‘most at risk population’, comprising of Intravenous Drug Users, Commercial Sex Workers, the Transgender and the Homosexual population.

Dr. Devi Mohan is a public health physician and currently an Associate Professor in Global Public Health at Jeffery Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia. She is a geriatric neuroepidemiologist, and her research targets dementia risk reduction, identification, prevention, and care in low- and middle-income countries. She has led various community based epidemiological studies on dementia and cognitive decline in Malaysia and India. In collaboration with international partners, Dr. Devi has successfully secured research grants from international funding agencies like the National Institute of Health Research, UK; Medical Research Council UK; and Australian Research Council for her work on dementia. She has published her research in high impact public health and dementia journals, like The Lancet Global Health, Value in Health and Journal of Alzheimer's disease. She is a core member of various international research partnerships on dementia, like the NIHR Global Health Group on Dementia Prevention and Enhanced Care (DePEC) and the Global Dementia Prevention Programme (GloDePP). She mentors Ph.D. students in public health, ageing and dementia.

Madam Chua Hui Ming is a pharmacist in practice registered with the Malaysia Pharmacy Board. She obtained her Bachelor of Pharmacy degree at University of Malaya, Malaysia and served for the Ministry Of Health ever since graduated in June 2005. She served as a regulatory pharmacist handling pharmaceutical product registration at the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), which acts as the secretariat for Drug Control Authority, DCA.

In year 2013, she further pursued her master's degree in Pharmaceutical Technology at King's College London, United Kingdom and graduated in year 2014. Upon returning to the country, she resumed her service with the MOH Malaysia and was positioned at Biologics Section, Centre of Product & Cosmetic Evaluation in NPRA.

Currently she handles mainly the review and approval of Biotechnology and Biosimilar products, Vaccines, Plasma-Derived and Cell-Gene Therapy products. With her vast experience in the field of regulatory oversight for medicines, she has been frequently invited as the distinguished speaker to share her technical expertise in the conferences/workshops/forum/ CME session etc. at both local and international level.

Qing Li received her MBBS and Master of Medicine from Xi’an Jiao Tong University in 2015 and 2017. After which, she finished her Ph.D. training in the Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care and State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2020.

Her research interest is the potential protective effect of probiotics in colorectal cancer. Her research results have been presented as an oral presentation in Digestive Disease Week 2020 and accepted as a cover story for publication in Gastroenterology in March 2021. She was also awarded with Dragon Culture Ph.D. Scholarships for Medical Studies 2019/20 and she is also an RGC postdoctoral fellowship scheme awardee in 2021.

Dr. Li is currently a postdoc fellow in the Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Yeo Li-Fang is a fresh Ph.D. graduate from Monash University Malaysia, working on the oral and gut microbiomes of the indigenous people (Orang Asli) in Peninsular Malaysia. Her experience has brought her into the Malaysian rainforest, where she conducted fieldwork and engaged with the Orang Asli. She is well-versed in bioinformatics. Her latest work involves looking at hypoxia responses among free-diving Orang Asli.