Meet Our Speakers

Gary Hickey is a Senior Research Manager at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the UK’s largest funder of health and social care research and led on the development of NIHR’s Guidance on co-producing a research project. Gary also works as a Patient and Public Involvement Lead on several research projects, contributing to research proposals and overseeing and managing patient and public involvement plans and activities.

Gary has a long history in patient and public involvement in health and social care research and provides advice, guidance, facilitation of workshops, training as well as writing, presenting and developing podcasts on these issues.

He is also a founding member of the International Patient and Public Involvement Network and has been involved in a series of webinars designed to share information and knowledge about effective patient and public involvement in research.

Kazuto Kato, PhD is Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Public Policy at the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Japan.  He has a PhD degree in developmental biology from Kyoto University. After finishing postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge with Sir John Gurdon, he started to work in the interface between bioscience and society, particularly focusing on ethical and social issues of genomics and stem cell research. He was an associate professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University before taking up the current position. 

He has served as a member of various international projects/academic societies such as Ethics Committee of Human Genome Organization (HUGO), ELSI group of the International HapMap Project, Ethics and Policy Committee of the ICGC (International Cancer Genome Consortium) and Ethics and Public Policy Committee of the ISSCR (International Society for Stem Cell Research). In 2010, he was appointed as a member of the Expert Panel on Bioethics of the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) of the Cabinet Office, Japan. In 2013, Professor Kato was also appointed as the chairperson of Research Ethics Committee, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB). Professor Kato is currently specializing in biomedical ethics, science communication and public policy of life sciences.

Since 2010 Professor Kato has been directing a new research group, the Research Unit for the ELSI of Genomics to carry out analysis of ethical, legal and social implications of human genome research, particularly focusing on the whole genome and exome analysis. The Research Unit actively collaborates with leading genomics researchers as well as ELSI scholars in Japan and other countries including those in Asia.

Hanin is an OPEN Voices Patient Partner, patient advocate at LEAP and a patient research advocate at IASLC. She grew up in Singapore and went to live in New Zealand for 15 years with her Kiwi husband and their son. She returned to Singapore to spend time with her chronically ill father and to start a position at NIE, specialising in early childhood education and complex systems.

Since her return, she has become familiar with the healthcare system as a patient with multiple conditions.  These include obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),  irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lung cancer, diabetes, fibromyalgia and histamine intolerance.  She has learnt to manage her OSA and IBS, and is still learning to manage the other conditions. After her lung cancer diagnosis in 2023, she started her patient advocacy journey.

Hanin loves to be physically active especially in the outdoors with running and hiking as her favourite activities.   In 2024, she completed a 3-day tramp (hike) on the Routeburn Track in New Zealand with her son and daughter-in-law.  It was her first multi-day tramp after returning to Singapore and it challenged her to experience sleeping without her trusty CPAP machine for her OSA.  She is looking forward to a 5-day tramp on the Heaphy Track later this year.

Konstadina Griva [MSC (Kings College London & University College London, UK) PhD (University College London, UK)] is an Associate Professor of Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Prior to this appointment, she has served as an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore (2007-2017) before joining LKCMedicine in January 2018. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the School of Health Sciences, City University of London, UK and the Jockey School of Public Health and Primary Care, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.

She a is a chartered Health Psychologist (CPsychol) and an internationally recognised researcher in the field of Psychonephrology, which is an appreciation of the psychological and social issues affecting those living with the physical burden of kidney disease. Her work with patients with long-term conditions has spanned over two decades, and while her earlier work was on measuring and mapping key patient outcomes and understanding patient experience, ultimately the goal remains to put research in the service of patients and providers.

“The priority has always been the development of programs to help patients with long-term conditions to get the best from treatment by supporting optimal adherence or better aligning existing health services to patients’ needs”. 

Mingshi is currently Director, TRUST Office under MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT). The Office oversees the running and continued development of TRUST. It also supports the development of national Research Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) health data initiatives.

Her experience in the biomedical sciences sector spans across strategy development at national and institutional level, managing strategic funding initiatives, as well as overseeing research operations.

Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis is an Academic General Practitioner (GP) and Academic Director of Primary Care and Family Medicine at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. Her research focus is on the development and implementation of technology to inform decision making in general-practice, health services research and the use of data to describe and improve general-practice activity, with a focus on cancer, chronic diseases such as chronic kidney disease, and antimicrobial stewardship. She is a contributor and proponent of practice-based research networks and programmes to develop primary care clinician researchers.

She aims to include primary care professionals and people that attend primary care in the development and implementation of research to ensure it meets the needs of end users and can be translated into practice.

Ai Ling Sim-Devadas is a patient advocate, breast cancer survivor and a patient engagement professional. Committed to grow patient engagement in Singapore’s healthcare landscape, she is bringing patients’ voices to medical research and education through NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Office of Patient Engagement (OPEN)

 In advocating the patient’s perspective, she is the Founding Co-Chair (2018-2022) and now the Patient Mentor at the SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network, Singapore’s first Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC), a member of the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) Consumer Panel, a member (lay representative) of the TRUST Data Access Committee, a member of the PRECISE Consumer Panel and a board member of the Alliance of Patient Organizations Singapore (APOS).  Globally, she serves on the International PPI Network (IPPIN) to bring patient and public involvement perspectives from this region.

Ellil Mathiyan is a double cancer survivor who is passionate about Patient Advocacy, providing psychosocial support to other patients and working with healthcare professionals, teams and institutions to effect change to improve outcomes, and amplify the patients’ and caregivers’ voices to elevate patient experience.

He is the co-founder and current President of the Ostomy Association of Singapore (OAS), Interim Vice-President of the Asia-South Pacific Ostomy Association, Mentor at the SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network (SPAN), SPAN@CGH (Changi General Hospital)and SPAN@SGH (Singapore General Hospital), Member SPAN@DEM (Department of Emergency Medicine), Consumer Panel Member in the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) in the Ministry of Health, Member of the Service Excellence Committee in Singapore General Hospital, International Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Patient Safety & Healthcare Quality (JPSHQ) and has leadership roles in the Colorectal Support Groups in the Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital and the Singapore Cancer Society. Patient Partner of OPEN Voices, Office of Patient Engagement (OPEN) Lee Kong Chian School Of Medicine

Sook Mei leads Office of Patient Experience (OPE) initiatives in patient experience, staff awards and recognition, ¹SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network, and patient feedback and complaints resolution. At SingHealth, Sook Mei leads efforts in deriving System-level insights about patients’ and caregivers experience of care. At CGH, she regularly reads patients’ letters and emails aloud at meetings and staff recognition platforms so that the voice of the patient is heard by staff to motivate them to put patients at the centre.

Sook Mei began her career as a pharmacist in Guardian Pharmacy. During those formative years, she was privileged to have managed pharmacies and learnt about retail business. Prior to joining CGH, Sook Mei worked with Zuellig Pharma (Singapore), a pharmaceutical distributor and Reckitt-Benckiser, a pharmaceutical company.

Outside of work, she serves as a member of the Ethics Review Board of Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and is a volunteer fundraiser for Ambulance Wish Singapore (AWS), a charity which grants last wishes for people with life-limiting conditions. 

Barnaby Young is an infectious disease physician at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and jointly appointed at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. He is Director of the Singapore Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network (SCRN), where he works with other clinician-scientists from across Singapore’s healthcare system and academia to co-ordinate ID-related clinical research. His research interests are primarily in viral infections, and in 2023 he was awarded funding by NMRC to conduct Singapore’s first controlled human infection study (with SARS-CoV-2). He is working to establish a robust and safe platform for these studies, including for other infections such as dengue.

Sophie Park is Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Education in the Nuffield Dept. of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. She is a GP in Hertfordshire and Honorary Professor of Primary Care and Medical Education at University College London.

Sophie is internationally recognised for her research about clinical education and the primary care workforce. She is a strong advocate for patient involvement and partnership in education and research. Her research explores workforce sustainability across clinical education, organisation and delivery of primary healthcare, to support equitable and effective patient care, healthcare services and learning systems.

Raj is an OPEN Voices Patient Partner and trained teacher specializing in Economics and Theory of Knowledge. He is married and a proud parent of two children, one of whom is a child with autism.

His journey as a parent has inspired him to conduct workshops for parents of children with autism, equipping them with practical strategies and support. He is deeply committed to promoting an inclusive society—one that values and supports caregivers and individuals with disabilities, particularly children with autism.

To advocate for this cause, he organized the ASIRVATHAM Exhibition, an initiative dedicated to sharing caregivers’ stories and fostering awareness of their well-being. Raj aspires to contribute to this mission through grassroots efforts, collaborating with organizations that share the vision of inclusion.

Nicole K. is the founder and executive director of The Tapestry Project SG, a non-profit organisation that seeks to shift the mental health narrative through the power of person-first stories. The Tapestry Project SG was founded in 2014, inspired by Nicole’s personal struggle with mental ill-health since 2006. Previously a freelance writer, Nicole firmly believes that telling the stories behind our statistics can make mental health issues real, relatable and preventable. As an online publication, The Tapestry Project SG has an average monthly readership of 1,500 and a collective reach of 5,000 followers on social media.

Besides advocating for mental health awareness through mainstream media such as The Straits Times, TODAY, Channel News Asia, and Lianhe Zaobao. Nicole actively collaborates with local voluntary welfare organizations, tertiary institutions, hospitals and government agencies in mental health education and awareness. Nicole has spoken at local and international conferences, most recently at the Together Against Stigma conference in Prague, and serves in the regional lead of the Global Mental Health Peer Network (GMPHN) as representative of Singapore. She is also an Arts for Good Fellow with the Singapore International Foundation and a Beyond The Label Ambassador with the National Council of Social Services in 2018.

Nicole graduated from the London School of Economics with a degree in Management and a graduate diploma in Psychology from Monash University. She later pursued a masters in Creative Writing awarded by Goldsmiths University and completed her thesis which was a 100-page stage play on language, identity and mental health. She was recently trained in narrative therapy certified by Dulwich Centre and University of Melbourne. 

Aprille Chua is a designer-researcher and lecturer with over a decade of experience in design for health and wellbeing. She holds a PhD from the University of South Australia, where her research focused on environmental graphic design and the integration of augmented technologies to support health and wellbeing. Her innovative work has earned her multiple accolades, including the Emerging Scholar Award and the Good Design Research Award. Dr Chua’s research interests span collaborative design, human-centric system design, and design communication.

Serene is a passionate Patient Advocate with more than 30 years of lived experience navigating lupus, kidney failure, and kidney transplant. She actively shares her personal journey through various media channels. Serene formerly served as a Council Member of the Lupus Association of Singapore, is an active member of the NKF Transplant Support Group, and currently contributes as a Patient Partner with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, where she lends her voice to patient-centric research and education initiatives. Her commitment to amplifying patient perspectives reflects her vision of a more empathetic, inclusive, and patient-centered healthcare system.

Professionally, she is the Deputy Head of Corporate Communications & Outreach at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), where she leads strategic efforts to shape public understanding and awareness of kidney health in Singapore. With over 17 years of experience in communications and branding in healthcare and community care, she has been instrumental in crafting narratives that drive awareness, inspire behavioural change, and foster greater advocacy around kidney disease prevention and management. She was recognised as one of the young leaders under NCSS 40-Under-40.

Assoc Prof Michael Tan is Dean of Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of the Arts Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. A leading figure and advocate in creative health in Singapore, his contributions span the landmark State of Arts and Health Development in Singapore report and numerous cross-disciplinary collaborations that interrogate, reimagine, and transform the culture of care with stakeholders within and outside academia across sectors such as healthcare and social care. His ongoing inquires include mental health, arts in medicine, end-of-life care, and health equity. He is also part of an esteemed global working group contributing to the forthcoming WHO Lancet Global Series on the health benefits of the Arts.