Digital Health Strategist, Healthcare Innovator, Cyberpharmacy Futurist & Researcher 

My Story

I am a digital health strategist, healthcare innovator and an inter-disciplinary cyberpharm futurist and researcher. My knowledge and skills stem from a healthcare background, complemented with knowledge in digital media creation, web databases, data mining and analytics. My interests span the whole digital healthcare innovation cycle from identifying the healthcare practice gap, through to the development, utilization, application and evaluation of informatics, internet, digital and other health-related technologies in various healthcare settings to enhance health-related outcomes and enhance patient safety. My work has been in the areas of e-databases and data mining, telehealth/telepharmacy and mobile health (mHealth), health data analytics and clinical prediction of adverse drug reactions, virtual reality, serious games and the Metaverse, as well as technology integration and quality evaluations of healthcare innovations. I have also done various consultations as a subject matter expert for the National Pharmacy Landscape in Singapore. I have over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters, 1 book and presented at more than 100 local and international conferences. My work has been featured in various media channels in Singapore and Australia, including The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore’s mainstream English and Chinese newspapers), The Australian News, Australia’s Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) newsletter, and the iMedicalApps mHealth Research Digest – an international website featuring medical apps for healthcare professionals. I am also honored to have received many awards, including the Young Investigator Award by the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, and the Re-imagine Education International Awards by the Wharton School and QS Rankings organization. I am on several journal editorial boards and an invited reviewer for over 30 international journals, conferences and grants.

Education & Certifications

Doctor of Philosophy, PhD – National University of Singapore, Singapore
2007 – 2011

Master of Engineering, MEng – Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
2004 – 2007

Specialist Diploma in Digital Media Creation, SDMC – Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore
2006 – 2007

Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, BSc(Pharm)(Hons) – National University of Singapore, Singapore
1998 – 2002

Certified Big Data Science Analyst – Global Science and Technology Forum, Rapidstart, Singapore
2017

Certificate of Graduation in Data Science Python Boot Camp – Hackwagon Academy, Singapore
2017

Certificate of Completion in Scrum: The Basics – LinkedIn
2020

Certificate of Completion in Leading Change in Large, Distributed Organizations – LinkedIn
2020

Certificate of Completion in IBM Blockchain Essentials – IBM Developer Skills Network
2020

Cognitive Class Learning Path for Data Science Foundations – Level 2 (V2) – IBM Developer Skills Network
– Certificate of Completion in Introduction to Data Science
– Certificate of Completion in Data Science Methodology
– Certificate of Completion in Data Science Tools
2020

Certificate of Completion in Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Neural Networks – LinkedIn
2020

Certified Ethical Hacker – EC-Council
2022

Certified Metaverse Expert™ – Blockchain Council
2023

Certified Prompt Engineer™ – Blockchain Council
2024

Experience

Clinical Associate Professor @ Surgery Academic Clinical Programme (ACP), SingHealth-Duke-NUS, Singapore
Pharmacy Practice Manager, Serious Games Lead @ Division of Pharmacy, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Digital Health @ School of Psychology & Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia (conjoint appointment)
2021 – Current

Senior Lecturer in Public Health (Digital Health), Course Coordinator of the Digital Health Course Suite @ School of Psychology & Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia
2019 – 2021

Senior Manager @ National Pharmacy Programme Management Office, Ministry of Health, Singapore
2018 – 2019

Lecturer @ Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, Singapore
2013 – 2017
Senior Manager @ National University Health System, Singapore (conjoint appointment, 2013)
Subject Matter Expert @ Chief Pharmacist Office, Ministry of Health, Singapore (conjoint appointment, 2014)
NUS Representative @ National Pharmacy Strategy (NPS) Project Team and Designated Champion @ Health IT Master Plan Capability Planning (HITCAP) Project, Ministry of Health, Singapore (conjoint appointment, 2015 – 2017)

Assistant Professor of e-Health Innovation @ Institute of Digital Healthcare, WMG, University of Warwick, UK
2011 – 2012

Research & Publications

H-index = 23
i10-index = 42

Recent publications (Access on Google Scholar)

Publication Statistics:

• Journal publications: 121
• Book chapters: 4
• Book: 1
• Conference presentations: 92
• Invited talks: 55
• Grants: 20
• Featured news / media: 28

Awards & Achievements

Best Graduate Researcher Award 2010 representing the NUS Pharmacy Department and Science Faculty) (2010)

Young Investigator Award 2011 awarded by the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) / International Society of Oral Oncology (ISOO) in Athens, Greece (2011)

Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize 2011 awarded by NUS for the Best PhD Thesis in the Natural Sciences (2011)

The Inaugural Deloitte Award for Best Pharmacy PhD Student 2011 awarded by Deloitte Singapore and the Department of Pharmacy, NUS (2011)

Mrs Tan Shook Fong – Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) Innovation and Scientific Research Award 2017 at the 27th Singapore Pharmacy Congress, Singapore (2017)

Reimagine Education International Conference and Awards 2018/2017 (1041 international entries judged by 168 judges), hosted by the Wharton School and QS Rankings organization, in Philadelphia, USA (4-5 Dec 2017), under Discipline Awards (Life-sciences & Medicine, Gold), Regional Awards (Asia-Pacific, Silver) and Virtual/ Augmented Reality Awards (Silver)

Project VRx – A Three-dimensional virtual reality apprentice program for medication safety training was awarded the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS)-Pfizer Innovation and Scientific Research Award 2022 at the 31^st Singapore Pharmacy Congress, Singapore (2022)

Outstanding Leadership Award at the Health 2.0 Conference (https://www.health2conf.com) for leadership excellence in the field of digital health, held at InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City, UAE. (Dec 2022)

Professional Activities

Co-Editor-in-Chief

• International Journal of Digital Health (2021 – 2023)

Associate Editor

• Annals of Medicine and Surgery (2023 – current)

Editorial Board Member

• TANG [Humanitas Medicine] (2011 – 2017)
• Alternative and Integrative Medicine (2013 – current)
• Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) (2015 – current)
• Integrated Pharmacy Research and Practice (2019 – current)
• AIMS Medical Science (2023 – current)
• Clinical eHealth (Elsevier) (2023 – current)

First Wikipedian to Define the Following Terms

• Digital Healthcare / Digital Health (Oct 2012)
• Cyberpharmacy / Pharmacocybernetics (Nov 2012)