Healthcare Asia Summit 2024

Alex Boulton is a partner in our Private Equity and Healthcare & Life Sciences practices, based in our Singapore office.

He leads our Healthcare and Life Sciences practice for Southeast Asia and, since joining Bain in 2010, Alex has led numerous strategy and transformation programs with healthcare companies across the region and value chain; covering payers, providers, pharma, MedTech and digital health. In addition, he leads the Healthcare sector for our APAC private equity practice, supporting healthcare commercial due-diligence, portfolio, and fund strategy engagements.

He holds a BSc in Economics, with First-Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
 

Mr. Thomas Wee was appointed Chief Executive Officer for Gleneagles Hospital Singapore with effect from 1 January 2023. On top of running one of Singapore’s premier private tertiary hospitals, he is responsible for rolling out a new Electronic Medical Records system for the IHH Singapore group of hospitals.

Thomas started his career in the Singapore Armed Forces, where he held various command and staff appointments. He joined the National University Health System in 2010 as Head, Corporate Planning & Development at the National University Hospital.

Thomas was later appointed as Director for Regional Health Planning & Development at NUHS, where he headed the newly-formed department to develop the strategy and plans for the regional health system. He was later appointed Chief Operating Officer of National University Polyclinics, leading and managing the operations of 6 polyclinics and helping to develop and integrate private and public primary care in NUHS.

In 2017, he joined The Ascott Limited, the hospitality arm of CapitaLand Investment as Managing Director, Middle East, Africa, Turkey & India, and later South China, while concurrently responsible for Senior Living and Strategic Projects.

As the Asia Pacific Director for Healthcare and Life Sciences at KPMG, Anastasia is passionate about partnering for outcomes, innovating for impact and leveraging digital and data to deliver value for people across the healthcare ecosystem.

Anastasia has over 20 years global and regional Life Sciences (MedTech, Pharma and Digital Health) and  Healthcare (Public and Private) working with and within industry delivering large-scale transformation initiatives across a variety of first-line and second-line roles. Anastasia couples her strategic and sector expertise with strong data science and engineering foundations and qualifications to help clients drive, create and translate value across key focus areas of Digital innovation strategy and readiness (inc. AI/ML, Emerging Technology), New Business Models, Ventures and Growth Strategy and Commercialisation.
 

Mr Yong’s healthcare career spans two decades as a businesss and operational leader with IHH Healthcare (IHH), Raffles Medical Group (RMG), and Alexandra Hospital (AH).

He is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of IHH Singapore and concurrently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asia Pacific’s renowned private quaternary institution at Mount Elizabeth Hospital (MEH). He was General Manager (GM) of commercial and Singapore’s largest chain of wholly-owned private primary care and ambulatory facilities at RMG, and held operational and hospital development roles at AH.

As Country COO, he drives the ecosystem and operational strategies of IHH’s Singapore assets comprising the acute hospitals (Mount Elizabeth, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway East Hospitals), and the primary, ambulatory and diagnostics units (Parkway Shenton, Parkway MediCentre, Parkway Radiology and Parkway Laboratories).

As MEH CEO, he is the Principal Officer and is responsible for driving the strategic direction, operational excellence, and financial performance of the 345-bed multi-specialty institution with a community of 650 doctors and 1,300 staff. He also leads the S$350M multi-year live site hospital redevelopment project – Renaissance.

At RMG, he was an EXCO member and GM of Raffles Medical. He managed the commercial portfolios and drove the financial performances and operational quality of the 50 ambulatory, primary care and health screening facilities, and the national COVID-19 projects. In 2010, he commissioned and operationalised RMG’s flagship facility in Shanghai, China.

His healthcare career started at AH where he led ambulatory and support operations, and was involved in hospital development. He was a member of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital Planning Committee and chaired the Operational Support Services Workgroup.

Mr Yong holds an MBA in Healthcare Management and guest lectures at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health since 2018. He was on the Ministry of Health Primary Care Network Council and serves as a District Councillor with the South East Community Development Council since 2011. In 2022, he was conferred The Public Service Medal (COVID-19).

SM Lee is a well-rounded professional with more than 30 years of experience in the Healthcare, Engineering and Banking & Finance sectors. In particular, he has demonstrated strategic and technical expertise in both Public and Private Healthcare sectors covering Management and Strategic Service Delivery, Human Capital Optimization, Business Excellence and Transformation, Risk Management, Standards, Accreditation, Compliance and Audit. 

Before his current appointment as CEO of Thomson Medical Centre (Singapore), SM had been the CEO of three separate private hospitals in Singapore, as well as CEO of a private hospital and ambulatory medical services group in Saudi Arabia.

SM was with Singapore’s National Healthcare Group for nine years in the public healthcare sector, where he contributed to many strategic areas such as Human Resource, Business Development and Hospital Operations.

Prior to his Private Healthcare experience, SM was the Managing Director (Finance) in Singapore Power Group covering Risk Management, Safety and Health, Strategic Investments, Project Financing and Treasury Settlements.

In the Banking and Finance industry, SM spent nine years with DBS Bank, holding various appointments including General Manager of DBS Los Angeles. In addition, he has extensive experience in the supervision of Overseas Branches, arranging International Syndicated Loans; Investment Banking; and Corporate Banking.  

At the national level, SM had served on the Management Committee of the Singapore Quality Award to promote Business Excellence. He is currently a member of Singapore’s Biomedical and Health Standards Committee (BHSC), serving as a Deputy Chairperson of BHSC’s Technical Committee on Healthcare and Health Informatics. He is also contributing to his alma mater as Vice Chairperson of Temasek Junior College’s Advisory Committee.

SM has a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree (First Class Honors) from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London. He had also completed his Master of Business Administration and an Advanced Management Program (jointly offered by University of California (Berkeley) and Nanyang Technological University).
 

Sanath is a Partner, SEA Healthcare Lead at Kearney. He comes with 18+ years of experience– working with pharma companies, governments, investors, healthcare entrepreneurs, education institutions, and regulatory bodies on solving specific issues in healthcare. Sanath holds deep expertise in strategy, operations, growth, and patient satisfaction. 

Saleem Butt is a principal in L.E.K.’s Private Equity and Healthcare & Life Sciences practices, based in our Singapore office.

Saleem has led numerous Go-to-Market redesign and entry planning, pricing, and growth strategy engagements for healthcare companies across the region; covering providers, biopharma, MedTech and digital health. Saleem is an active member of L.E.K.’s APAC Healthcare private equity practice, and advises investors and their portfolio companies on strategy, commercial due diligence, and portfolio company value creation. He is deeply passionate about co-creating solutions together with clients on innovative & purpose-led projects.

Saleem holds an M.Sci in Chemistry, with First-Class Honours, from Imperial College London.

Arnaud Bauer, a Partner in L.E.K. Consulting’s Singapore office, is Head of Healthcare Services and Healthcare M&A for Southeast Asia. He has over 15 years of experience in strategy consulting in healthcare and private equity, advising investors, healthcare provider and government agencies. His experience in the healthcare provider space spans across the entire care continuum, including primary care, telehealth, multispecialty hospitals, IVF, long-term care, laboratories, mental health and cosmetic centers, as well as with government agencies for healthcare investment planning and promotion across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.

Prior to joining L.E.K., Arnaud was an Associate Principal at IQVIA in Singapore and Managing Director for a strategy consulting boutique in Dubai. He holds a Master of Engineering from École Centrale and a Master of Business from ESSEC Business School in partnership with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Wei Jie, a dynamic Head of Customer Experience known for spearheading transformative initiatives in service excellence and change management. With a strategic mindset, he drives organizational success by aligning customer-centric strategies with business objectives. His leadership fosters a high-performance culture, emphasizing continuous training and development to empower teams. Being in the Customer Experience scene in different industries for the past 16 years, he is committed to elevating customer satisfaction and ensuring organizations thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

Shin is a Director at  YCP Solidiance, with nearly 10 years of strategy consulting experience in the healthcare sector. He has worked with leading pharmaceutical firms, medical devices companies, and hospitals in APAC markets to support market entry, distributor search, M&A advisory, channel engagement and supporting government policies, and medical tourism. Across different sectors, he specializes in market analysis, stakeholder engagement, strategy formulation and financial modelling. He has supported more than 50+ projects globally for his international and local clients on the market entry, M&A and business expansion strategies, especially in Southeast Asia. He regularly speaks at healthcare events discussing healthcare trends, digitalization, medical tourism and mobility topics. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Oxford Brookes University.

Dr. Jacob Yoong-Leong Oh is a Singapore-trained Orthopaedic Surgeon with an international fellowship training in Complex Spine Surgery in North America. He serves as a Senior Consultant and Deputy Head at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and is the Chief of the Spine Service. He is also the Director and Founder of the National Healthcare Group (NHG) Spine Centre.

Dr. Oh specializes in a comprehensive range of spinal surgery procedures, including spinal decompression, fusions, spine tumors, degenerative conditions of the cervical and lumbar spine, and spinal injuries. His clinical interests lie in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (Keyhole/Endoscopy), Adult Spinal Deformity (Scoliosis), Spinal Navigation, and Robotics.

Dr. Jacob has been performing Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) for over 10 years and is well established in the region for his expertise in this field. He frequently conducts courses both locally and abroad to train other spine surgeons about these advanced techniques. He has been invited to speak at international conferences on numerous occasions and sits on the Global advisory board with members from the US, China, UK, Canada, Japan, Korea as a Key opinion leader for the OLIF procedure (Lateral access Spine fusion).

Dr. Jacob Oh is an active member of the spine community and serves on the Executive committee of Singapore Spine Society (2018- Present), He is also heavily involved in the AOSpine, the largest international spine community, and was appointed as Country lead for Singapore since 2019. He is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Spine Society (APSS), North American Spine Society (NASS), Society for Lateral Access Surgery (SOLAS), ASEAN MISST and the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS). In Recognition of his expertise in Spine surgery, He has also been appointed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Singapore Medical Council (SMC) to serve on multiple workgroups to help improve patients care.

With over a decade of seasoned expertise in healthcare management consulting, Gaurav has collaborated with numerous healthcare entities in India, SEA, Middle East and USA, specializing in medical and business operations, digital initiatives, and currently drive key strategies including operations design and optimization, health system design, digital health and telehealth, and startup initiatives for leading healthcare groups.

Dr. Yang Guirong is currently the Director of Operations at Parkway East Hospital, a 123-bed tertiary private hospital under IHH Healthcare located in the eastern region of Singapore. He is a clinician by training and spent the initial part of his clinical career working in various departments within the public sector in Singapore, before making the switch to the private sector prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his time at IHH Healthcare, he has led the hospital through the COVID-19 pandemic and successfully transitioned to the post pandemic landscape. Concurrently, he also serves as the head of Parkway Emergency, overseeing the ambulance service operated by IHH as well as the urgent care centers within the 4 IHH hospitals

Paul has over 30 years of combined work experiences in audit, finance, and management operations.  Prior to joining Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, he held various executive positions in Davao Doctors Hospital, Steniel Manufacturing Corporation, Metro Pacific Corporation, and Price Waterhouse Coopers Philippines.  He also served as a part-time instructor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, where he completed his Bachelor in Accountancy degree.  Paul is CPA board topnotcher who also has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

Yasemin is a passionate leader driven to make a difference in her roles at IHH Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare networks in the world with more than 80 hospitals across 10 countries. Besides being the Group Head of Branding Strategy, she has started to lead Sustainability for the group in September 2021.

Yasemin has held diverse roles in her 20+ years career from working in leading PR and advertising agencies in Istanbul to joining Hyatt Hotels headquarters in Chicago after her Master’s Degree from Northwestern University. At Hyatt, she cherished all her various roles from doing database marketing, loyalty marketing, strategic marketing and managing Park Hyatt brand globally. After moving to Singapore, she continued her Park Hyatt role and formed her own strategic consulting firm where she consulted other hospitality brands, luxury brands and start-ups.

Yasemin also taught at Singapore Management University where she got awarded Top 10 Faculty. Teaching is a calling Yasemin looks forward to going back to at the right time again.

Healthcare was not an industry Yasemin ever thought about joining but the opportunity fell on her lap in 2017 right after her nephew and others she loved passed on after their battle with cancer. So she joined IHH Healthcare with a strong purpose to make a difference.

Yasemin makes it a priority to find quality time for her two daughters as well as herself to do ballet.

Her aim with her sustainability role is to look into her daughters’ eyes and be able to say she did the best she could to leave a better, healthier world for generations to come.

Feras Mahdi, a partner at L.E.K. Consulting in Singapore, specializes in healthcare with over 20 years of industry experience, including 17 in MedTech and a decade in business consulting across over 25 countries. Leading teams to enhance healthcare institutions' performance and growth, he focuses on using data for improving clinical, business, and social outcomes. Advising on operations optimization and patient centricity, his background encompasses leadership roles in healthcare consultancy, MedTech, and startups, with an academic foundation in life sciences, internal medicine, and business. Feras is interested in business resilience, organizational development and  AI in healthcare.

Associate Professor Alfred Kow is a practicing HPB and Liver Transplant surgeon at the National University Hospital Singapore. He is currently the Head of the Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery at the National University Hospital Singapore. His main area of interest is liver transplantation and minimally invasive HPB surgery. He has pioneered many complex HPB surgeries in Singapore using MIS technique including major laparoscopic hepatectomies, laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipples’), full laparoscopic ALPPS procedure and laparoscopic liver donor hepatectomy for liver transplantation. He is also the Clinical Director of the MILES program at NUHS (Management and Innovation for Longevity in Elderly Surgical patients), focusing on improving the peri-operative care and outcomes of elderly patients needing surgery in NUHS. In addition, he has been appointed the Associate Chairman of Medical Board (Education) for the National University Hospital Singapore in March 2022. He is also a pioneer in the world in developing mixed reality technology with holographic-guided HPB surgery, including holographic guided laparoscopic liver resection and holographic donor hepatectomy.

He has been actively involved in activities at the International Liver Transplant Society (ILTS) and is the member of the ILTS Education and Scholarship Committee since 2021. He is also the co-lead of the Regional Expansion Advanced Learning project for Southeast Asia and South Asia for the ILTS, focusing on growing the outreach of LT in the regions through education. He is a member of a few other committees in the ILTS. Recently, he has also been elected to be the Council member of the Executive Committee of the ILTS for 2023 to 2027. He has received the ILTS REAL award in 2023 for his efforts to grow the knowledge and skills of LT in the Southeast Asian and South Asian regions through education. On top of that, he is the study group lead for MIS HPB Surgery at the International Society for Liver Surgeons (ISLS).

In addition to his clinical work, Associate Prof Alfred Kow spends a lot of his time planning medical school curriculum for the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in National University of Singapore as the Assistant Dean of Education at the Deanery. He has also received many teaching awards for teaching excellence from the hospital, medical school as well as at the university level (Including the Outstanding Educator Award at the NUS University Awards in 2021). He is also actively involved in surgical training for postgraduate surgical program at the hospital as well as at the Ministry of Health of Singapore. He is also actively involved in developing advanced technology in education using VR, MR and AI with machine learning models in medical training.

Dr Kow has keen interest in research activities involving development of surgical techniques in HPB surgery, liver transplantation and outcomes of surgical treatment for HPB malignancies. Furthermore, he is also actively developing research to help improve surgical education and training for both undergraduate and postgraduate setting. Many of his research work on education aim to understand the art and science behind training the junior doctors to be excellent surgeons for the future. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and conference articles as well as a few book chapters in the areas of Hepatobiliary surgery and gastroenterology.

Extensive experience on Facility Management, Environment, Health and Safety, Asset Protection from Semiconductor Manufacturing to Health Care industries. Currently the Vice President & Head of St. Luke’s Medical Center – QC (including College of Medicine, Extension Clinics).

• Graduated with a BS Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Mapua Institute of Technology in Nov’1992. 
• 8th placer among the successful examinees in Registered Electrical Engineering State Board Examination in April 1993.
• Completed MBA units.

Completed the following select programs: 

• Facility Managers Development Program at Arizona State University (USA) in Year 2009 ;
• Management Development Program Certificate for Hospital Operations at Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Y2018. 
• Hospital Management Program by Singapore Management University in Year 2021.

Member of the Technical Working Group on Electrical Design Guide for Health Care Facility (Manual)and resource speaker for IIEE’s seminar and symposia on the topics of Retail Energy Supply – Open Access Electricity market, Electrical Safety, Electrical Design Guide for Hospitals among others.

Guided the SLMC team in winning Y2021 Healthcare Asia Awards on two projects (1) New Technology Approach to Grease Traps (2) Speedy Rewinding. Also awarded “Water Wise Choice Award” during the World Water Day Awards 2019 given by NWRB and got first place on QC Government’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s search for “Huwaran sa Kahandaan para sa Ligtas ng Bayan 2018” (Model on Disaster Readiness for a Safe City).
 

Narintara “Narin” Boonjongcharoen is a hospital executive with 30+ years’ experience in healthcare and hospital business, currently CEO of the BDMS group 6 covering Bangkok hospitals in southern Thailand and Royal hospitals in Kingdom of Cambodia. He share his direct experience of incorporation BDMS Green Healthcare practice into healthcare delivery.

Dr. Eugene Hong joined DBS in 2016 and is currently Executive Director of Institutional Banking Group heading the Global Healthcare sector within DBS Bank. He has more than 20 years of experience that spans across the healthcare value chain, he had taken up senior leadership positions at corporations such as Parkway, GE Healthcare, Novartis and National Australia Bank. His current role at DBS involves developing integrated financial services solutions for the healthcare industry including the milestone capital market activities in the SGX and IDX. He is also leading a sustainable healthcare ecosystem drive especially with regards to healthcare payments. His current portfolio of clients includes major healthcare players within Asia as well as western multi-national corporates. He graduated from Monash University in Master Health Service Management & MBBS Medicine and has also obtained a Master of Science, Global Finance from New York University.

Susan Fanning boasts an impressive 25-year career spanning commercial leadership in Healthcare and Financial Services across Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

As the former Chief Health & Wellbeing Officer at Prudential Thailand, Susan led the commercial success of their Health and Employee Benefits portfolios. Her tenure marked significant milestones, including Prudential Thailand's pioneering participation in World Diabetes Day and the launch of innovative digital tools for mental health and female health support.

Susan's diverse experience encompasses both established players like Bupa, Aon, Barclays, and Mercer, as well as agile start-ups. She is a fervent advocate for enhanced collaboration within healthcare ecosystems and harnessing data to unlock inclusivity, accessibility, and affordability in healthcare.

A fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and an INSEAD MBA graduate, Susan embodies a wealth of expertise and a unwavering commitment to forging a brighter future for healthcare.

Originally from the US, Phil has been in the computer graphics industry for nearly 30 years. He’s worked on a wide variety of projects, from Academy Award-nominated feature films, Interactive theme park shows and installations at Disneyland and Universal Studios to one of his latest projects, a Visual Effects Society-winning concert for the world-renowned pop sensation ABBA. He brings a diverse set of skills and knowledge from his time at George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

Paul Chua is the Greater Asia CyberSecurity Officer of Becton Dickinson & Co. Paul is responsible for developing and aligning cybersecurity initiatives with company-wide programs and business objectives in Greater Asia; and ensuring that information assets and technologies used in BD products, manufacturing, service, enterprise IT, and third-party partners are adequately secure and resilient. He leads security risk assessment, architecture reviews, awareness/training, incident response, and external engagements for BD within the APAC region.

Paul is a seasoned professional with more than 27 years of experience managing product development and operations across Asia Pacific for IT, Telecommunications, Healthcare, and Homeland Security. Paul holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Computer Engineering) from Nanyang Technological University of Singapore and an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. Paul is a certified cybersecurity professional with Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certifications from 
the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC2). Paul is also Fellow of Information Privacy with International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
 

Pauline leads the National Health Innovation Centre as Director, facilitating the development and commercialisation of clinical innovations at public hospital groups. Prior to this, she helmed the Innovation and Enterprise Directorate at the National Research Foundation of the Prime Minister’s Office, developing key signatures in Singapore’s tech ecosystem, such as the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), Early-Stage Venture Funds, and other international and public-private partnerships. Pauline has also served in industry as the Chairperson of Technology, Innovation and Productivity at the Singapore Business Federation, Executive Director and Head of Innovation Partnerships at UBS, and COO/CSO at Celligenics.

As the Head of the Division of Rheumatology at Changi General Hospital and a Clinical Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Dr. Anindita Santosa has extensive experience in rheumatology. Her education includes an MSc in Allergy from Imperial College London and an MBBS from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. 

Dr. Santosa is focused on utilizing Generative AI to enhance patient self-assessment and resource access for autoimmune rheumatic diseases, and facilitating appointment bookings.

Dr. Ethan Lim is the Head of Clinical Strategy & Partnerships at Fullerton Health Group. He is responsible for strategy and partnerships in corporate and community health and charting clinical direction and services for the Singapore market. As a seasoned clinician with more than 20 years of experience in general practice, sports medicine, lifestyle intervention and prevention programmes in the public, private, government and corporate health space as well as experience in the provider, payor, client and TPA sectors of the health financing business, he brings a broad strategic perspective to Fullerton Health Group