Integration of Food Science and Nutrition to Improve Global Health

Chairs:

Mr. Geoffry Smith is President of ILSI Southeast Asia Region (ILSI SEA Region), based in Singapore, and a Representative of the branch to the ILSI Global Assembly. Mr. Smith is also the Chairman of the Essential Micronutrients Foundation, a non-profit organization which addresses micronutrient deficiencies globally as a public health issue. In addition, he is Director of Nutrition Strategies International, which deals with food and nutrition issues in developing countries. Mr. Smith serves as a member of the editorial board of the journal Food and Nutrition Bulletin.
Prior to his current positions, Mr. Smith was the Global Director, Health Chelates for Akzo Nobel Functional Chemicals, and directed the global business for these compounds in food and nutrition as well as pharmaceutical applications. He was responsible for the global project within Akzo Nobel addressing iron deficiency anemia.

Dr. Hazel Khoo is currently the Executive Director of the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).  Officially launched in April 2020, this institute brings together existing efforts and research capabilities across A*STAR under one roof, in the areas of microbial discovery, biotransformation, fermentation, agri-food technology, as well as clinical nutrition and food safety research.  In addition, SIFBI is building up new capabilities in food structure engineering, food process engineering as well as downstream processing. SIFBI engages with a wide range of partners, including industry and public sector agencies, and positions itself to be a global player driving excellence in food and biotechnology innovation for economic and societal advancement.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Khoo was the Executive Director at the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) of A*STAR. Her portfolios included overseeing the SERC research institutes in the sectors of Chemicals, Materials & Energy, Electronics, Infocomms and Engineering; strategic and resource planning including infrastructure (Fusionopolis 2 development and re-location); laboratory and cleanroom management; and the competitive research funding framework under the domain of advanced manufacturing and engineering. In 2015, Dr. Khoo was appointed as sub-team co-leader in the Technology team for the National Scenarios 2035 (NS2035) exercise in Singapore.

Speakers:

Mr. Suresh Sachi is Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate), A*STAR. He oversees the corporate services divisions and its research entities in performing functions such as Corporate Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, and Enterprise Risk Management, to ensure provision of client-centric services to support A*STAR’s R&D operations. Mr. Sachi concurrently serves as A*STAR’s General Counsel, taking charge of all legal and intellectual property (IP) matters. Mr. Sachi currently serves on the boards of the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS) and IPOS International, having served for 9 years on the Board of IPOS. He also serves on the board of the A*STAR Research Entities that houses all the A*STAR research institutes and research entities. Mr. Sachi is currently a member of the SingHealth Centralised Institutional Review Board and the Data Protection Appeals Panel.
Before joining A*STAR, Mr. Sachi was a partner in the Technology and Intellectual Property Department in a leading law firm. He has represented many public and private organizations, including A*STAR Research Institutes and local and foreign institutes of higher learning. He spearheaded a number of national efforts to coordinate and streamline legal and IP terms across Singapore’s public agencies, including the Public Sector Master Research Collaboration Agreement (MRCA) and the Master Clinical Trials Agreement. He was a former member of the board of governors of and an advisor to the IP Academy. Mr. Sachi is also a founding member and past president of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) Singapore.
As a specialist in intellectual property and technology transfer, Mr. Sachi is a frequent speaker at the Global Forum on Intellectual Property and other forums by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, LES Singapore, the IP Academy, and the Law Society of Singapore. He was named in the 2020 IAM 300 magazine as one of the World’s Leading IP Strategists (IAM 300). Mr. Sachi holds an LLB from the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore and attended the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, Fontainebleau in 2016.

Prof. Huck Hui Ng is the Assistant Chief Executive of the Biomedical Research Council, A*STAR. He is renowned in the field of gene regulation and genomics. His laboratory is developing diagnostics and therapeutics modalities for brain and liver diseases.
Prof. Ng was the Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore and the Executive Director of the A*STAR Graduate Academy. Prior to joining A*STAR, he was a postdoctoral fellow with Harvard Medical School under the prestigious Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellowship. He was also the President for the Stem Cell Society Singapore, a major platform for educating the public on stem cell research. In 2016, Prof. Ng was elected to be an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, making him the only associate member based in Singapore. Most recently, Prof Ng was also elected as Fellow of the Singapore Academy of Science (SNAS). In recognition of his scientific contributions, Prof. Ng has received numerous local and international honors and awards, including the President’s Science Award (Team Award) in 2018 and The Public Administration Medal (Silver), National Day Awards 2019.
Outside of A*STAR, Prof. Ng holds adjunct positions at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS Faculty of Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) School of Biological Sciences and LKC Medicine and the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). He also sits on the Board of Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS) Pte Ltd, National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Science Centre Singapore and NUS High School.

Prof. John Eu-Li Wong is the Isabel Chan Professor in Medical Sciences; Executive Director, Centre for Population Health at NUS, and Senior Advisor, National University Health System (NUHS) Singapore. He is Co-Chair of the US National Academy of Medicine Commission for a Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity; an invited Commissioner of the Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Health Threats, a member of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The Culinary Institute of America, and the Association Montessori Internationale on Healthy Aging, Diet and Lifestyle, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
He received an honorary Degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is an international member of the US National Academy of Medicine, and an elected member of Academia Europaea. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore, the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and London, and the American College of Physicians.

Prof. Sze Wee Tan is the Assistant Chief Executive of A*STAR's Innovation and Enterprise (I&E) Group, comprising the Industry Development Group and A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd. Prof. Tan leads the I&E Group in steering efforts to translate A*STAR’s R&D to market so as to enable research-fueled economic and social impact. Prof. Tan has been in various leadership roles in A*STAR since 2009, supporting and leading both the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). He is also an Adjunct Professor of NTU’s Lee Kong Chian Medicine and at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. Prof. Tan is a member of the Singapore National Eye Centre's Ophthalmic Incubator Board. He is also a council member of the Singapore Medical Association, as well as SMA Charity Pte Ltd. He was a former Nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore, and a recipient of Friend of Labour Award and the Public Administration Medal (Silver).
Prof. Tan graduated with MBBS from NUS, and attained his MBA from Warwick University, UK. He attended the Stanford Executive Programme at the Stanford Graduate School Business. He was awarded a certificate of completion for the Senior Fellowship in Public Service Programme, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He is an affiliate member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, UK.

Prof. Judith L. Swain is Chief Medical Officer of Physiowave, a medical device startup in Palo Alto, USA, and Visiting Professor, NUS. Her current research interests are centered on assessing and enhancing human performance in extreme environments. She currently serves on the Higher Council for NEOM City, Saudi Arabia, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, The Institute for Life Changing Medicine, and Prometheus Biosciences. She is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.
Prof. Swain was previously A*STAR Senior Fellow and Professor of Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, and was the Founding Executive Director of the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences. In 2018 she was awarded the Singapore Presidential Science and Technology Medal, the highest scientific award bestowed in Singapore. Prior to Singapore, she was the Dean for Translational Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and previously served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University and held the Arthur Bloomfield and George E. Becker Professorships there. Dr. Swain served in several national leadership roles in the U.S., including President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, President of the American Association of Physicians, and an elected member of the Council of the National Academy of Medicine. She served on the NIH Director’s Standing Committee on Clinical Research, the NIH National Advisory Research Resources Council, and the NRC Commission to evaluate the organization of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Swain also served on international advisory committees including the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Association, the UK Medical Research Council, the Qatar Foundation, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
Dr. Swain received her undergraduate education at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her medical education at the University of California, San Diego. She trained in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine at Duke University. She then joined the faculty at Duke where she became widely known in the field of molecular cardiology and pioneered the use of transgenic animals to understand cardiovascular development and disease.

Dr. Stephan Theis is Head of Nutrition Science at BENEO-Institute, Germany. His responsibilities include the scientific research activities on the nutritional and health benefits of Beneo’s functional carbohydrate ingredients including prebiotic dietary fibers and Palatinose™ worldwide. He joined the Suedzucker/Beneo Group in 2001.
Dr. Theis graduated with a diploma in Nutrition Science from the University of Giessen, Germany, and obtained a PhD (Dr. rer. nat) from the Technical University of Munich. He is actively involved in international scientific committees and collaborative research projects including several Committees of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI).

Prof. Yap Seng Chong is the Lien Ying Chow Professor in Medicine and Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS. He is also Deputy Chief Executive (Education & Research), NUHS. As the former Executive Director (2015-2021) and now the Chief Clinical Officer at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR, Prof. Chong oversees clinical programmes that seek to promote health and human capacity in Singapore and the world. These programmes include the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) and the Singapore Preconception Study of long-Term maternal and child Outcomes (S-PRESTO) longitudinal studies. Prof. Chong is also a Senior Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the National University Hospital (NUH) under the NUHS.
In addition to his special research interest in the developmental origins of health and disease, Prof. Chong has co-authored more than 500 research publications. He received the National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award from Singapore’s Ministry of Health in 2017 for his research efforts in early human development and nutrition, and was recently conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) at the 2022 Singapore National Day Awards. For the past few years, his energies have been focused on helping develop national strategies to advance child and maternal health and well-being, promoting healthy living for families, and improving health resources equity in Singapore.

Chairs:
Mrs. Boon Yee Yeong is the Executive Director of ILSI SEA Region, based in Singapore. ILSI SEA Region was established as a regional branch of the world-wide scientific-foundation ILSI in 1993, covering ASEAN and Australasia. Mrs. Yeong oversees the Branch’s operation, scientific programs and partnership activities, working closely with stakeholders from private sectors, leading academic institutions, international organizations and key government and health agencies throughout the vast geographical region. ILSI SEA Region facilitates programs that address pertinent nutrition, food safety and sustainability topics as well as issues for the improvement scientific decision for public health benefits.
Mrs. Yeong obtained her BSc and Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics from Kings College (previously Queen Elizabeth College) University of London, and has over the past decades actively served to build scientific capacity and nutrition improvement for the target population in the region.

Dr. Sumanto Haldar is a Principal Investigator and Junior Group Leader at the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovations (SIFBI), ASTAR. He has a primary research interest on how foods and food components effect cardiometabolic disease risk, in particular type 2 diabetes and CVDs. Through his recent work, he has been contributing to the understanding of how timing of consumption of foods and food components affects cardiometabolic health. He has over 15 years of experience working both in UK and in Singapore, undertaking and managing over 30 clinical trials in nutrition, which included extensive collaboration with the food industry.
He has published numerous papers and presented at several conferences and is an alumnus of the European Nutrition Leadership Programme (ENLP), founding joint-secretary of the ASEAN Nutrition and Food Science Network (ANFSN) and member of several learned bodies of nutrition globally.

Speakers: 
Prof. Winnie Chee is Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at the International Medical University (IMU), and also Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic and consultant dietitian at IMU Healthcare. In addition, she leads the Centre of Transformative Nutrition & Health at IMU. Prof. Chee is the President of the Malaysian Dietitians’ Association, having been appointed to the position since 2014 and serves on national committees including setting medical nutrition therapy in clinical practice guidelines for Type 2 diabetes (2020) and Osteoporosis (2021). She is also a member of the writing group for Recommended Nutrient Intakes (2017), Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (2020) and chaired the development of the Healthy Plate Model for Malaysia (2019). Prof Chee is also a Council Member with the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council.
Prof Chee is active in research and publications with over 90 peer-reviewed publications and has led several research grants on dietary/lifestyle interventions for the prevention and management of Type 2 diabetes, obesity and bone health. She contributes medical nutrition therapy expertise for several diabetes lifestyle related programmes in the country. Prof Chee has been invited speaker to national and international workshops and conferences on diabetes nutrition, and featured in local news media to promote healthy diet and lifestyle to the public. Prof Chee was awarded the Wimpfheimer-Guggenheim International Lecture Award from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, USA in 2015.

Prof. Barry Halliwell is Chairman, BMRC Advisory Council, A*STAR, and Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry, NUS. He is also Senior Advisor, Academic Appointments and Research Excellence, Office of the Senior Deputy President and Provost, NUS, and Programme Leader, Neurobiology Research Programme, Life Sciences Institute. Prof. Halliwell is recognized for his seminal work on the role of free radicals and antioxidants in biological systems, being one of the world’s most highly-cited researchers with a Hirsch-Index of 168 (Based on Scopus, Jan 2023). His Oxford University Press book with John Gutteridge, Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine, is now in its 5^th edition (2015) and regarded worldwide as an authoritative text. He was honored as a Citation Laureate (2021) for pioneering research in free-radical chemistry including the role of free radicals and antioxidants in human disease. The distinction is awarded by Clarivate to researchers whose work is deemed to be of “Nobel Class” as they are among the most influential, even transformative, in their fields. He was one of 16 scientists (only 3 in Chemistry) listed in the 2021 Hall of Citation Laureates.
Prof. Halliwell was a Visiting Research Professor of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry at the University of California Davis (1995-1999). He graduated from Oxford University with BA (first class honours) and D.Phil degrees.  He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the University of London. He was a faculty member with King’s College London (1974-2000) and held a prestigious Lister Institute Research fellowship.

Dr. Conor Delahunty is Vice President, Global Sensory & Consumer Insights, Symrise Taste, Nutrition & Health. Dr Delahunty has more than 30 years of experience in underpinning and applied research in flavor science, sensory and consumer science and nutritional science, and with Symrise in the development of new flavour solutions, foods and beverage products. His scientific achievements have application to methods development, understanding the flavor of foods, foods reformulation for health (lower salt, sugar, fat), and demonstration of the role of sensory properties of foods in dietary compliance and eating behaviours.
Dr. Delahunty is recognized internationally, having worked closely within the sensory science community and having (co-) authored numerous scientific research papers and articles.

Dr. Viswanathan Mohan is the Chairman of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre at Chennai in South India, which is an IDF Centre of Excellence in Diabetes Care. Dr. Mohan oversees a chain of 50 diabetes centres across 8 states of India and has over 585,000 registered diabetes patients across all his centres. He is also Chairman of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation which is Asia’s largest stand-alone diabetes research centre.
Deeply interested in research from his undergraduate medical student days, Dr. Mohan has published over 1560 papers in peer reviewed journals which includes 1006 original articles. His research has attracted over 179,000 citations and has a ‘h index’ of 147.

Prof. Emorn Udomkesmalee is Senior Advisor of the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Thailand, and holds a current position of Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA. Internationally, Prof. Udomkesmalee currently serves on the Standing Together for Nutrition (ST4N) Consortium; Technical Advisory Group for Global Anemia Exemplars; Scientific Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy as well as Scientific Director of ILSI Southeast Asia Region. At national level, she holds the position of the Eminent Panel member under the National Policy Council on Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation; Chair of Sub-Committee on Agriculture and Nutrition, Office of Atoms for Peace (Thailand) as well as Board member of Ajinomoto Foundation/Thailand.
Prof. Udomkesmalee was Former Director of the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Thailand. She was also former Board Chair of IFPRI and former Member of the Board of Directors of the Micronutrient Forum. Prof. Udomkesmalee’s research interests include micronutrients; efficacy of food-based interventions; maternal and child nutrition policy and program implementation. She received her Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA in 1985. Her post-doctoral training was at the Vitamin and Mineral Nutrition Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA, Beltsville, Maryland, USA (1987).

Chairs:
Ms. Pauline Chan is the Director of Scientific Programs for ILSI Southeast Asia Region, a global scientific organization that seeks to improve public health through the advancement of science in the areas of nutrition and food safety. ILSI SEA Region is headquartered in Singapore and covers the 10 ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. Pauline has extensive experience in developing scientific programs and facilitating dialogue between scientists, government regulators, and industry to address regional and international issues in nutrition, food safety, sustainability and health. A frequently invited resource speaker at conferences and seminars, Ms. Chan is a registered dietitian (RD) with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Ms. Chan received her M.Sc. in Nutrition and Dietetics from New York University, USA, and her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Bi Xinyan is a professional with expertise in chemical and biomolecular engineering. She holds a PhD from the National University of Singapore, where she focused on engineering oligopeptide-modified surfaces for metal ion adsorption and sensing. Her work experience includes research fellow positions at the Clinical Nutrition Research Center, where she conducts analyses of metabolites and biomarkers related to human nutrition. She has extensive knowledge in utilizing advanced analytical techniques such as LC MS/MS, GCMS, and ICPMS.
Her previous roles include working as a research scientist at Nitto Denko Asia Technical Center, where she developed medical devices, assays, and microfluidic systems. Additionally, she has conducted research at the National University of Singapore, focusing on projects involving quantum dots-based microfluidic devices and portable liquid crystal-based bioassays. Before her research career, she worked as a teacher at Beijing Foreign Language School and as a research scientist at the Shandong Academy of Sciences, specializing in the synthesis of fireproof phenolic resin composite materials.

Speakers: 
Prof. Paul Teng is Adjunct Senior Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and concurrently Managing Director & Dean, NIE International Pte. Ltd., both of Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He is also Senior Adviser (AgriFood) to A*STAR Singapore. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in tropical agrifood systems, urban agriculture and food security. He has published widely and is a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences and other professional societies.
Prof. Teng previously held leadership positions in the Worldfish Centre, the International Rice Research Institute, Monsanto Company and U.S. universities. He has an Honorary D.Sc. from Murdoch University, Australia.

Prof. Johanna Dwyer, D.Sc., R.D., is a professor of medicine and community health, and adjunct professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, director of the Frances Stern Nutrition Center, Tufts Medical Center, and senior scientist at the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts. Her career has been devoted to expanding the scientific basis for clinical and public health interventions related to diet, especially in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, and to ensuring that public policy fosters such efforts. She has written over 550 research and review articles in scientific journals and books and currently serves as editor of Nutrition Today.
Prof. Dwyer served on the scientific review committee for A*STAR at the University of Singapore, Singapore (2016-18) and at the SIFBI (2022).  Her many government assignments include: staff, US Congress, and senior nutrition scientist, Office of Dietary Supplements, US National Institutes of Health (2003–present). She was a member of the year 2000 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and also of the Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and served on its Council. Her honors include the C.A. Elvehjem Award for public service of the American Society of Nutrition (2005) and the Monsen award 2021 from the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  She holds a BS from Cornell University, M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, and M.Sc. and D.Sc. from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Makiko Yoshida is current manager of Nutrition Care Group, Quick Nourishment Dept of Food Products Division at AJINOMOTO. CO., INC.  In this role, she manages the Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) Project.  Dr Yoshida has been involved in the RUTF project since 2019 and member of the Promasidor Nigeria and Ajinomoto joint project of the development of nutritious products for children in Nigeria since 2016.  Prior to that she was a team member of the research and development of iron fortified products for pregnant and lactating women in Ghana.  From 2008 to 2016, Dr Yoshida has served in the clinical development of new medicines related to noncommunicable diseases and data management.
Dr. Yoshida graduated from Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan and the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. She received her Ph.D.in Nutrition Epidemiology Major from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. Her publication includes Vit K supplementation on insulin resistance and effect of different food ingredients on diabetes.

Prof. Adam Drewnowski is the Director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition and Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.  His Seattle Obesity Study (S.O.S.), funded by the National Institutes of Health, combined health survey research with novel methods of spatial analysis to examine the multiple determinants of health and body weight. Prof. Drewnowski has published more than 350 research articles, and advises governments, foundations and the private sector on affordable nutrient density, product reformulation, and obesity-related issues. He is the author of the Nutrient Rich Foods Index, an early nutrient profiling model which helps consumers to identify affordable healthy foods.
Prof. Drewnowski obtained his MA degree in biochemistry at Balliol College, Oxford; PhD degree in psychology at The Rockefeller University in New York.

Prof. Weibiao Zhou is the foundation Head of the Department of Food Science and Technology and the inaugural Cheng Tsang Man Chair Professor in Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore (NUS). He has been working as a food scientist for over 30 years.
Among his many professional appointments and honours are: Elected Fellow of Singapore National Academy of Science (SNAS), International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the UK, Singapore Institute of Food Science and Technology (SIFST); Chair, Advisory Committee on Evaluation of Health Claims, Singapore Food Agency (SFA); and Editor for Food Control (published by Elsevier) and Associate Editor for Science of Food (published by Nature).

Prof. Philip Calder is Professor of Nutritional Immunology and Head of the School of Human Development and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. He is an internationally recognised researcher on a) nutritional immunology; b) the metabolism and functionality of fatty acids with an emphasis on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids. He is currently President of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies and Associate Editor of several journals.
Prof. Calder was President of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (2009-2012), Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (2012-2016), President of the Nutrition Society (2016-2019) and President of ILSI Europe (2019-2021). He has received many awards and prizes including the DSM Lifetime Achievement Prize in Human Nutrition (2017), the European Lipid Science Award (2021) and the Stephen S. Chang Award (American Oil Chemists’ Society; 2023). He was Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nutrition (2006-2013).

Chairs:
Ms. Steffiana Wijaya is Scientific Programs Manager at ILSI SEA Region. She develops scientific programs and facilitates dialogue between scientists, government regulators, and industry to address nutrition and health issues in the region. She and the ILSI SEA Region team recently facilitated a Symposium on ReThink Proteins in Southeast Asia, a collaboration with SIFBI and NUS, and co-published a report on the regulatory status of micronutrient fortification in Southeast Asia in Q1 2023.
Before joining ILSI SEA Region, Ms. Wijaya was Senior Manager in the Health Promotion Board, where she co-led a research study on the effectiveness of a health coaching cum biometric and lifestyle data feedback intervention among pre-diabetic individuals. She also provided one-to-one health coaching for a range of clients including engineers, teachers, hawker assistants and migrant workers. Prior to the study, she led and provided personalized lifestyle coaching programs for overweight and underweight students and their parents, benefiting more than 8,000 children and youth in Singapore. Ms. Wijaya has presented at the MOH Diabetes Prevention & Care Taskforce and at public health conferences. She received her Master in Nutrition & Dietetics from the University of Canberra, Australia, and B. Sc. in Food Science & Technology, NUS. She is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling Psychology.

Dr. Shaun Sim is a Junior Principal Investigator at SIFBI, A*STAR’s Clinical Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC). He received his Ph.D in Food Engineering at Cornell University and his B.A. (Hons.) in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Sim is constructing future foods and ingredients with nutritional advantages. His team focuses on plant-based proteins and fats; egg and dairy alternatives; high-pressure processing and other novel technologies. Some products developed by his group include high-protein plant-based yoghurts and pastries made using healthier plant-based solid fats.

Mr. Sridhar Kameswaran is the Area Director for Abbott Nutrition R&D for the Asia Pacific region. In his current role, he manages the R&D team across Singapore and India leading product, process, and packaging development. He and his team work across the Paediatric & Adult portfolios, and partner cross-functionally to deliver the Innovation pipeline for Asia Pacific consumers and patients.
Before joining Abbott, Sri led the Nutrition Category R&D efforts for Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) in Singapore. Before GSK, he was with Tata Global Beverages based in London, heading up the Global R&D team across India, the U.K, and the U.S. In a previous role with the Kellogg Company in the U.S, Sri was the Director of Global Crackers and Wholesome Snacks portfolios. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for innovative new product launches, core product improvements, and significant capacity expansions - while bringing together multicultural technical talent. Originally from India, Sri has an M.Tech in Dairy and Food Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, an M.S in Food Science from the University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A in Entrepreneurship and Strategy from the Carlson School of Management.

Prof. Alejandro G. Marangoni is a Professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging at the University of Guelph, Canada.  His work concentrates on the physical properties of food materials in foods, cosmetics and biolubricants, with particular emphasis on sustainability, preservation of biodiversity and health. Prof. Marangoni is a fellow of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, the Institute of Food Technologists and the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.).  He is the Editor in Chief of both Current Opinion and Current Research in Food Science. Prof. Marangoni has also founded and commercialized 3 major technology platforms with global reach.  With an H-index of 85, i-index of 403 and over 26,000 citations of his work, he has published over 500 refereed research articles, 90 book chapters, 18 books, and over 40 patents.  His awards include the 2015 ISF Kaufmann Medal, the 2017 AOCS Alton E. Bailey Medal, and the 2019 European Lipid Technology Award from EuroFed Lipids.
Prof. Marangoni was honored as one of the 10 most influential Hispanic Canadians in 2012, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018, and an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2021.

Mr. Luke Tay is Founder of Cornucopia FutureScapes and a Singapore Futures Fellow (adjunct) in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), NUS. He leads Cornucopia, a globally-oriented foresight and strategy practice with a focus on food security, sustainability, technology, and geopolitics. Mr. Tay works on emerging issues, scenarios, and strategic opportunities, and supports foresight capability development, and future-readiness initiatives, advising corporates, institutions, governments, and international organizations. He convenes a range of platforms to address emerging futures and opportunities in food systems transformation, (inter)national resilience strategies, ESG, food citizenship, countering misinformation, and the future of strategic agrifood value chains.
Mr. Tay lectures and develops content for the LKYSPP executive education arm in foresight and Singapore public policy. As a Resident Futurist at venture builder Budding Innovation (BI), he helps shape BI’s work to ideate, innovate, and implement future-ready nutrition, wellness, and sustainability solutions.

Dr. Catherine Lefranc-Millot is Senior Nutrition & Health R&D Manager at Roquette, France. Her research is specifically focused on long-term, prospective and exploratory research, around plant-based proteins and their derivatives, with interest in their potential impact on nutrition and health. She has been working for Roquette since 2005, first as the Corporate Scientific Communications Manager for Nutrition and Health (R&D), before her current role since 2016.
Prior to working for Roquette, she had managed for several years a research team in a French dairy company, working around milk peptides, proteins and hydrolysates with specific biological activities, compatible with food and nutraceutical applications. She qualified as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (from the National Veterinary School, Maisons-Alfort, France) and later obtained a French PhD in Biotechnology (from the University of Technology, Compiègne, France).

Dr. Min Hao Wong is the incoming director for Food & Nutrition at A*STAR. He was previously at SIFBI, where he led the corporate strategy and business development team, securing several large grants and projects for the institute.

Prior to his appointment at A*STAR, Dr. Wong was at the Boston Consulting Group in the Boston office, where he was a project leader. Dr. Wong holds an MBA and PhD in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and has received awards such as the Forbes 30 under 30 and the MIT Tech Review Innovators under 35 for his work.

Prof. Christiani Jeyakumar Henry is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI) and the director of the Clinical Nutrition Research Centre. He initially trained as a food scientist and subsequently obtained his MSc and PhD in Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was instrumental in the development & launch of the UK’s first dedicated Functional Food Centre. Prof. Henry has served on several committees including the UK Committee on Medical Aspects of Food & Nutrition Policy (COMA) panel on novel foods, was a board member of the UK Food Standards Agency and was a member of the General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS) of the Food Standard Agency (FSA). He also served as a panel member on the UK Department for International Development (DFID) health and population research committee and was a member of the research panel of the UK Crop post-harvest Technology. He was a Royal Society visiting professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong & continues to remain a visiting professor at the same university.