As deputy secretary (technology) at the Ministry of Health (MOH), Cheong Wei Yang deploys technology against covid-19 and is developing the health innovation ecosystem to achieve MOH’s 3 Beyonds: beyond healthcare to health; beyond hospital to community; and beyond quality to value and Healthier SG.

Prior to MOH, he was deputy chief executive of the National Research Foundation of Singapore, where he implemented the S$19bn Research Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 plan and led an inter-agency effort to develop the S$25bn RIE 2025 plan.

Mr Cheong was divisional director (planning) at the Ministry of Education. Beyond educational policies, he shaped educational research at the National Institute of Education and led international benchmarking and partnership efforts. As deputy director (manufacturing and services) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry overseeing the Economic Development Board, he led the secretariat for the economic strategies committee. As head of fiscal strategy at the Ministry of Finance, he shaped Singapore’s long-term fiscal sustainability.

As a Rhodes Scholar and PSC Scholar, he obtained his DPhil/MPhil in economics from Oxford and his SB in chemical engineering and SB in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Setiaji is an expert adviser of health technology to the minister of health in Indonesia. He is a digital leader and a civil servant with more than ten years of experience in digital transformation, smart-city development and digital transformation in the line ministries and government agencies in Indonesia.

Mr Setiaji’s experience leading the West Java Digital Services, Jakarta Smart City, grows his expertise in information technology, as he was a graduate of information technology engineering. He has won various national and international awards in digital transformation, including Top CIO on Digital Implementation, IT Works 2021, the World CIO 200 Awards–SEA Edition and Global CIO Forum 2021.

Manus Potaporn is an otolaryngologist with over 30 years of extensive experience in clinical, academic and managerial areas in both rural and urban settings. In 2019, he was appointed deputy director-general of the department of medical services of Rajavithi Hospital, one of the largest super tertiary healthcare facilities in Bangkok. He had served as director of the hospital since 2015, and from 2009 to 2015, he was assistant director.

Kai-Fu Lee is the chairman and chief executive of Sinovation Ventures and president of Sinovation Ventures Artificial Intelligence Institute. Sinovation Ventures, managing US$3bn dual-currency investment funds, is a leading venture capital firm focusing on developing next-generation deep-tech companies in China. Prior to founding Sinovation in 2009, Mr Lee was the president of Google China and a senior executive at Microsoft, SGI and Apple.

He has been working in the areas of artificial intelligence research, development and investment for more than 30 years. In the field of artificial intelligence, Mr Lee built one of the first game-playing programs to defeat a world champion (1988, Othello), as well as the world’s first large-vocabulary, speaker-independent continuous speech recognition system. He founded Microsoft Research China, later renamed Microsoft Research Asia. While with Apple, he led AI projects in speech and natural language. Mr Lee has authored ten US patents and more than 100 journal and conference papers.

Mr Lee is co-chair of the Artificial Intelligence Council and the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and he is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Columbia University and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as honorary doctorate degrees from both Carnegie Mellon and the City University of Hong Kong.

Based in Hong Kong, Jiadi Yu leads IFC’s investments in health care and education across Asia. She has supported the sustainable development and widespread delivery of health care and education within the region since 2009. She previously engaged in equity investments and debt financing in manufacturing and consumer services for Latin America, eastern Europe and Africa from IFC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Prior to IFC, Ms Yu worked in the capital markets department at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and at the Shanghai Asset and Equity Exchange. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor of arts degree from Renmin University of China. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the world’s largest multilateral investor in private health care and education.

IFC works to increase access to high-quality health and education by making direct investments, sharing industry knowledge and expertise, funding smaller companies, raising medical and education standards, and helping clients expand services to lower-income groups.

As the head of the social sectors team in private sector operations at the Asian Development Bank, Aniruddha Patil is responsible for ADB’s direct lending to and investments in private healthcare and education companies in Asia and the Pacific. Prior to joining ADB, Mr Patil worked for Macquarie Capital in Singapore, Boston Consulting Group in Munich and the World Bank in New Delhi. He has a master’s degree in public administration and international development from the Harvard Kennedy School, a master’s in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.

Sania Nishtar is a member of the Senate (upper house of parliament) of Pakistan. From 2019 to May 2022, she served as special assistant to the prime minister of Pakistan and federal minister and held the cabinet portfolio of poverty alleviation. Senator Nishtar founded Ehsaas, the government’s flagship social protection programme, and led its implementation. She also chaired the Benazir Income Support Programme during that time.

Senator Nishtar is former chair of several multilateral initiatives: the World Health Organisation (WHO) High-Level Commission on Non-communicable diseases, World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Health Care, US National Academy of Sciences global study on the quality of health care in low- and middle-income countries, advisory committee of the UN International Institute for Global Health, UN secretary-general’s Independent Accountability Panel for Women’s and Children’s Health and WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity.

She is founder of the non-governmental organisation Heartfile and has received many international awards for her work. She is also widely published. In 2017, she was Pakistan’s nominee for director-general of the WHO and was in the final shortlist of three.

Senator Nishtar graduated at the top of her class in 1986. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and took a PhD at King’s College London. She was honoured with a doctorate in science, honoris causa, in 2019.

Jeremy Lim is director for global health in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, and leads the initiatives in health systems strengthening and universal health coverage. He brings diverse and unique perspectives, having spent substantial time in public and private health care across Asia as well as in policy advisory with Singapore’s Ministry of Health, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. Outside academia, he serves on the boards of various for-profit and not-for-profit organisations in different aspects of health care, including migrant worker health, end-of-life care and digital health interventions. He trained in surgery and public health, attaining post-graduate qualifications in both the UK and the US.

Mary Wong-Hemrajani is the current chairman of the Global Chinese Breast Cancer Organisations Alliance (GCBC). She is also a breast cancer survivor and has over 30 years’ experience in management and corporate finance roles. She served as chief executive for several multinational companies before devoting herself full time to volunteer work to support breast cancer patients. In 2017 Ms Wong-Hemrajani was named Survivor of the Year and received an award from the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for her outstanding performance and service to promote education, patient support and screening of breast cancer. Recently, she was nominated to be a panellist for the Breast Cancer Initiative Working Group of the World Health Organisation.

After becoming a volunteer, Ms Wong-Hemrajani completed several professional courses in patient support, strengthening the capacity and management of patients’ groups. As chairman of GCBC, she initiated the Pink Angels service, a free service whereby “pink angel” breast cancer survivors accompany patients through treatment, offering peer support and encouragement. During the covid-19 pandemic, she developed a series of online support services for breast cancer patients and promoted the Pink Academy, an online workshop to raise breast cancer awareness and promote breast health and positive survivorship.

Peter J Hotez is an internationally recognised physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He is dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of paediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the co-director of the Texas Children’s Centre for Vaccine Development and endowed chair of tropical paediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital. He is also university professor at Baylor University, fellow in disease and poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, senior fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, faculty fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University and health policy scholar in the Baylor Centre for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

Dr Hotez served previously as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and he is founding editor-in-chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (public health section) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (public policy section). In 2014–16, he served in the Obama administration as US envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2022 Dr Hotez and his colleague Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to develop and distribute a low-cost covid-19 vaccine.

Surakameth Mahasirimongkol is director of the Medical Life Sciences Institute in the Department of Medical Sciences at the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. He has served in the Ministry of Public Health for more than 20 years, including as a medical officer in the Department of Medical Science from 2000 to 2012, and at the Centre of International Co-operation from 2000 to 2003. Dr Mahasirimongkol was medical officer and director of Banluem Hospital (2000–03) and Maharaj Hospital (1999–2000). He has been a committee member of the Thailand TB/HIV Research Foundation since 2013. He has received the National Innovation Award, Thailand; Thai Government Public Health Service Award; and Journal of Human Genetics Young Scientist Award.

Chen Qiufan (Stanley Chan) is an award-winning Chinese speculative fiction author, translator, creative producer and curator. He is vice-president of the Chinese Writers Association science fiction committee, honorary president of the Chinese Science Fiction Writers Association, culture leader of the World Economic Forum (2018–19), Asia 21 Society Young Leader (2022), and has a seat on the Xprize Foundation Science Fiction Advisory Council. His work includes the novel Waste Tide and the book AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future, which he co-authored with Kai-Fu Lee. He is currently a writer-in-residence of Pro Helvetia.

Alice Budisatrijo leads Meta’s misinformation policy work in Asia-Pacific and is based in Singapore. In her capacity, she develops Meta’s policies to address misinformation and provides subject-matter expertise in the enforcement of the policies. Prior to this role, Ms Budisatrijo led Meta’s news partnerships in Indonesia and Malaysia, and she oversaw a number of programmes and initiatives under the Meta Journalism Project. She helped launch Meta’s fact-checking partnerships in South-east Asia and has represented the company in various misinformation, journalism and news literacy forums. Prior to joining Meta in 2017, Ms Budisatrijo was a journalist for BBC News and covered breaking news in South-east Asia. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford.

Budi Wiweko is chairman of the National Health Technology Assessment Committee in the Ministry of Health, Indonesia. He also serves as president-elect of the Indonesian Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology for 2022–25 and as vice director of the Indonesian Medical Education and Research Institute in the faculty of medicine at Universitas Indonesia (IMERI FKUI).

Dr Wiweko has helped develop the in vitro fertilisation field in Indonesia and is one of the founders of the Indonesian Association for In Vitro Fertilisation (IA-IVF). He is also a co-ordinator for training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Hospital Universitas Indonesia. He served as president of the IA-IVF for 2016–21 and was general secretary for the Indonesian Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology for 2018–22. 

Dr Wiweko has undertaken substantial research in the area of assisted reproductive technology and is an expert on AMH (anti-mullerian hormone) in Asia. He developed the AMH nomogram and an AMH-based individualised controlled ovarian stimulation formula for infertility treatment. 

Dr Wiweko graduated as a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology from Universitas Indonesia in 2005 and was a research fellow at Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan. He completed his PhD in the faculty of medicine, Universitas Indonesia, in 2014. He also received a master’s degree in public health from the University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

David Humphreys is the global practice leader, health policy, Economist Impact. He leads a multidisciplinary team that conducts high quality clinical and policy analyses to inform micro level health decision making and produce macro level perspectives. Supporting clients across the health ecosystem for internal and external strategy making, David develops and directs engagements on such issues as evidence-based reviews of new health technologies, future healthcare challenges, value-based healthcare approaches for specific therapeutic areas, and impact of new policy initiatives.

Previously, David held multiple roles at The EIU, first as the Americas Director of Custom Research managing a business that delivered projects on public policy and market strategy, and then as the Head of EIU Healthcare in the US. Prior to joining The EIU, he was the senior director of Latin America at Frost & Sullivan, where he led strategic analyses in industries such as ICT and Healthcare, and spearheaded the firm’s expansion into the region. He also served as a senior adviser at Management Partners, a consulting firm for municipal governments in the US.

David holds an MBA degree and an honours certificate in international business diplomacy from Georgetown University, and a BA in economics from Ohio Wesleyan University. He has participated as a speaker at various healthcare conferences, given lectures at academic institutions, led strategic workshops and directed numerous expert panels with senior level executives.

Nuriesya Saleha is the senior manager of the health practice team for Asia-Pacific at Economist Impact. She is a part of the policy and insights team based in Singapore, working with multi-disciplinary teams across the globe on projects spanning a range of disease focus areas. Ms Saleha has been in the healthcare sector for nearly ten years. She previously worked at Woodlands Health, an upcoming public healthcare campus in Singapore, developing new clinical models and processes by engaging with various clinical stakeholders. Prior to that, she was involved in managed-care-related projects in Singapore and Malaysia at Fullerton Health, and did health system operations and research at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She has a master’s degree in health administration from Johns Hopkins University and undergraduate degree in economics and biochemistry.

Based in Singapore, Andrew Staples is the Asia-Pacific head of policy and insights for Economist Impact. He leads a team across Asia, generating evidence-based insights to inform internal strategy and external engagement for governments, international institutions, corporations, foundations, and NGOs around the world.

Andrew was previously global editorial director of The Economist Corporate Network (ECN), the Economist group’s briefing and advisory service designed to help senior business leaders understand and navigate the local and regional business environment. He regularly chairs and moderates major Economist events, delivers custom briefings to senior executives (including Fortune 500 C-suite) and public figures (including heads of state) in his areas of expertise which include international political economy, foreign direct investment, international trade, corporate strategy and comparative management. He also regularly appears in the international business media (BBC, CNN, CNBC, Channel News Asia). Prior to his move to Singapore in 2016, Andrew was the ECN director, North Asia, covering South Korea and Japan, where he was a long-term resident.

Andrew has a PhD in International Political Economy and an MSc in East Asian Business, both from the University of Sheffield, UK. He was a Ministry of Education research scholar at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo (2001-2003) and before joining The Economist Group, Andrew pursued an academic career holding both tenured and adjunct posts at leading universities and business schools in Japan and the UK. He has published widely in his areas of expertise and major publications include Responses to Regionalism in East Asia: Japanese Production Networks in the Automotive Sector published as part of the Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series and chapters in edited volumes including Asian Inward and Outward FDI: New Challenges in the Global Economy and popular textbooks including Asian Business and Management. Andrew was also previously a Senior Editor for the internationally peer reviewed journal Asian Business and Management.

Gerard Dunleavy is a manager in the health policy team at Economist Impact. He manages global engagements with international clients in the health-care sector, from conceptualising to delivering and executing customised research projects. He manages multidisciplinary teams, conducting both quantitative and qualitative analyses, across a broad range of disease areas and health policies.

Prior to joining Economist Impact, Mr Dunleavy worked in academic settings specialising in evidence-based synthesis and epidemiological studies. He holds a PhD in public health and epidemiology and a master’s degree in health education and promotion, both from Maastricht University.

Emily Tiemann is a Health Practice Manager in the Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact in Singapore, where she is involved in projects ranging from Breast Cancer, Fertility and Digital Health. Prior to this, she worked in policy at the HFEA, the UK’s fertility regulator, leading projects related to consent, the Code of Practice and clinic inspections. She also worked closely with the Department of Health to outline the new upcoming legislation related to extending the storage periods of gametes and embryos beyond 10 years. Emily started her career as an embryologist at fertility clinics carrying out diagnostic and micromanipulation procedures. Emily has a degree in Biology from McGill University in Canada and a Master’s degree in Women’s Health from University College London.

Jocelyn is a health policy analyst in the Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact in Hong Kong. She is involved in projects that span the Asia Pacific region as well as globally. Her interests lies in cancer and mental health but she has worked on projects related to bone health, rare diseases and childhood vaccinations. Prior to joining Economist Impact, Jocelyn worked as a radiation therapist delivering radiation treatments to cancer patients in Canada. Jocelyn holds a degree in Medical Radiation Sciences from McMaster University in Canada and a Master’s degree in Global Health and Development from University College London.

Chee is an experienced consultant in the healthcare and life sciences sector in North America and Asia Pacific, with more than 18 years of experience in business and operational strategy consulting, leveraging strong market research capabilities. She has more than 12 years of healthcare experience specifically in China.

Prior to joining EIU Healthcare, Chee was the Strategy & Change Pharmaceutical leader in IBM Global Business Services (previously PricewaterhouseCoopers) in China. Before that, she was with the North American R&D pharmaceutical industry practice based in Toronto.

Chee has extensive experience working with senior executives of both healthcare and life sciences companies and government organizations to develop and implement strategic plans.

Chee focuses on med tech globally, working with global IVD leaders such as Abbott Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, Danaher (i.e. Beckman Coulter, Leica, Radiometer), Bio-Rad and Sysmex. Chee has managed large scale projects to provide credible market insights to help clients achieve sustainable growth.

In Asia Pacific, she has worked with other medical technology companies and research institutes. She has led numerous consulting projects to formulate winning go-to-market strategies in emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

She has published various white papers and presented at major conferences on current healthcare topics in Asia. She has covered topics such as “Future Outlook for Health in China”, “SE Asia: The New Emerging Healthcare Market Challenge”, “Digital Healthcare”, etc.

Chee holds an MBA from Schulich School of Business, York University (Canada) and BSc (Hons) in Microbiology from University of Toronto.

Shaileen Atwal is a public health analyst in the Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact in London, where she is involved in projects ranging from Sex and Gender Equity in Brain-disease Research and Digital Health. Prior to this, she completed her Master’s in Public Health Degree at the University of Warwick. She has keen interest in the sustainability of food systems and has conducted research exploring the risk factors associated with farmer suicides in India and developed a campaign for SUSTAIN to increase the sustainability of small and medium food enterprises at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. Shaileen has a degree in Physiotherapy from St George’s University of London and started her career specialising in the field of neurology.

Ritu Bhandari is a manager with the Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact. She has over seven years of experience working in a wide range of public policy topics including food security, technology and sustainability. At Economist Impact, she manages research programs for private-sector, governments and NGO clients in Asia, covering topics like agriculture and food, climate and sustainability, and technology. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, where she specialised in economic policy analysis.

Neeladri Verma is a manager in the health practice team at Economist Impact. She works with international clients in the healthcare sector on global assignments conceptualising, delivering and executing bespoke research projects. She engages with multiple stakeholders and manages multidisciplinary teams, conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses across health priority themes. Dr Verma has a rich and diverse background in health and research, focusing primarily on Asian markets. A dental doctor by trade, she also holds an MBA from the University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining Economist Impact, she worked as a healthcare consultant at the Asia Care Group, conducting research and strategic analyses on topics such as vaccine procurement, the role of the private sector in health reforms, health system appraisals and multisectoral approaches to health policy.

Sook Chen is a Senior Principal at Clearstate, the Economist’s healthcare consulting arm. She has over 12 years of experience in healthcare consulting, leveraging strong market intelligence and analytics capabilities to uncover market insights and provide actionable strategies. Her experience spans across the healthcare ecosystem, covering diagnostics, medical devices, life sciences, therapeutics & pharmaceuticals.

Sook Chen has extensive experience working with prominent healthcare companies such as J&J, Abbott, Baxter, Roche, Danaher, Pfizer and Philips. Coupled with her strong background in Asia Pacific’s healthcare ecosystem and its unique challenges, Sook Chen is able to provide credible insights to both commercial and strategic leaders within these organisations.

Prior to joining EIU Healthcare, Sook Chen was a seasoned strategy and business consultant at Deloitte Consulting (SEA) for over 6 years. Sook Chen holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from University of York.

Mr. Santos is part of the Economist Impact’s Health Practice team with primary focus on health policy and research. He is a public health subject matter and domain expert with over 14 years of diverse experience in consulting, industry, non-profits and public sector. Santos is well steeped in the area of global health, prior to joining Economist Impact; he was part of various healthcare projects in India, Middle East and Africa. He has worked across the health ecosystem, from leading research projects on digital health and PPP evaluation for Apollo Hospitals to MENA pharma market dynamics at Ernst & Young and with UNICEF as part of the WASH program. Mr. Santos has published multiple research articles on digital health and telemedicine.

Mr. Santos has completed his Masters in International Public Health from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and Masters in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India.

Gillian Parker is a senior manager for policy and insights at Economist Impact and is currently based in Singapore. Previously she was deputy editor for Eco-Business, a news site and business intelligence firm specialising in sustainability issues across Asia.

Before moving to Singapore in 2019, she lived in sub-Saharan Africa for nearly a decade. She worked in Johannesburg and Lagos as a risk analyst for Control Risks, helping firms operate in challenging environments and navigate regulatory and political instability, ethno-religious conflict and community relations. Her other consulting work has included UKAID projects focusing on policies, laws and regulations affecting businesses in Nigeria and climate-resilient infrastructure in southern Africa. Before that, she reported across a dozen countries for The Economist, Time and Voice of America among other international news outlets. She was also a contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit, focusing on bespoke reports and indexes on topics ranging from food security to small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria and Islamic finance.

Ms Parker has a master’s degree in African and Asian politics from SOAS and hails originally from Northern Ireland.

Emi is a manager in the Health Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact. She has a special interest in health inequalities and the social determinants of health. Emi is a global health research strategist and has a wealth of experience in global health research, policy and programming. Her expertise in global health advisory, program design and healthcare communications mean that Emi brings a breadth of experience to the team across technical areas. Her current role involves exploratory research using economic models, rapid reviews of scientific papers and development of a global index on health inclusivity. Emi also designs and works on longer term research assignments across the international development sphere, including in the Education and WASH sectors.

Emi has experience working across sectors, having held various roles across the health and social care industry, serving as a Health Inequalities Manager within the UK Department of Health and Social Care, Consultant Epidemiologist with the World Health Organisation under the Health Securities and Preparedness Division and as a Technical Delivery Officer with UNICEF. Emi has an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science from the University of Warwick and a Master in Public Health from Imperial College London.