APPOINTMENT OF ADJ A/PROF RAYMOND CHUA AS CEO OF HEALTH SCIENCES AUTHORITY

      Adjunct Associate Professor Raymond Chua Swee Boon will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer-Designate of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) from 12 September 2024 and will officially assume the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role from 13 December 2024. Dr Mimi Choong May Ling, the current CEO of HSA, will retire from public service with effect from 13 December 2024.

2    Dr Mimi Choong was appointed as CEO of HSA on 1 July 2014. Over the past 10 years, she has led HSA to many significant achievements and has raised HSA’s international profile and standing in regulatory and scientific areas.  Under her charge, HSA was among the first three regulators to achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Listed Authority status in 2023 for its medicines regulatory system. This was preceded by HSA being the first regulator in the world to be accorded the WHO’s Maturity Level 4 status in 2022. She expanded and strengthened international collaborations, notably driving work-sharing with medicines regulators from Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the UK, to speed up Singapore’s access to novel and cost-effective medicines. Major regulators, including Australia, Switzerland and the UK, now recognise HSA as a reference agency, which enables companies to fast-track their entry into these markets.

3    Dr Choong drove the development and implementation of two new regulatory frameworks for cell, tissue and gene therapy products and active ingredients, and modernised the regulation of therapeutic products – facilitating timely access to life-saving health products while maintaining robust safety, quality and efficacy standards. Dr Choong also oversaw the introduction of pre-market consultations and priority reviews for health products.

4    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Choong led HSA's comprehensive response efforts, which were crucial to Singapore's management of the crisis. HSA swiftly implemented robust regulatory measures for COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments, facilitating early access to safe, high-quality health products. Dr Choong championed the rapid establishment of a National Biologics Laboratory, enhancing Singapore's independent vaccine testing capability. Under her guidance, HSA provided timely, evidence-based guidance to healthcare professionals and the public, supporting Singapore's pandemic response strategy.

5    Dr Choong played a key role in positioning HSA as a leading international scientific organisation, with analytical and forensic laboratories providing cutting-edge services and capabilities, such as rapid DNA analysis and Virtual Reality simulation analysis of traffic crash incidents. She spearheaded the development of a national quality assurance programme for clinical testing laboratories to ensure the accuracy and reliability of key biomarkers used to detect and manage chronic diseases prevalent in Singapore such as HbA1c for diabetes.

6    Dr Choong has been a driving force behind the continuous success of the National Blood Programme, deepening the partnership with the Singapore Red Cross to promote regular blood donation, and ensuring adequate and safe blood supply, such as during the Zika virus threat in 2016 and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  During her tenure, HSA opened two new Bloodbanks at Westgate and One Punggol, and also introduced routine Hepatitis E screening for blood donations.  

7    Dr Choong also strengthened corporate governance and built up a strong culture of innovation, transformation, digitalisation and automation in HSA. She guided HSA’s implementation of an advanced Labware Laboratory Information System and the first nationwide Active Surveillance System for Adverse Reactions to Medicines and Vaccines.

8    Adj A/Prof Chua is currently Deputy Director-General of Health (Health Regulation) at the Ministry of Health (MOH), overseeing the regulations of healthcare services and information in Singapore. He will continue with this appointment concurrent to his role as CEO of HSA, to better synergise regulatory operations and enforcement across healthcare services, information and products. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Centre of Regulatory Excellence in Duke-NUS. In MOH, Adj A/Prof Chua has led multiple transformative regulatory initiatives, including the enactment and implementation of the Human Biomedical Research Act and Healthcare Services Act, which modernised the healthcare regulatory framework and enabled new modes of service delivery, making Singapore a pioneer in this area.

9    Adj A/Prof Chua also played a key role in enabling the rollout of new care models and new technologies through embracing regulatory innovations. He established regulatory sandboxes for new services such as telemedicine, mobile inpatient care-at-home and clinical genomic medicine services, as well as introduced the voluntary accreditation scheme for private ambulances prior to its regulations under the Healthcare Services Act. In addition, he instituted governance measures and guidelines to facilitate the safe introduction of new technologies such as precision medicine and artificial intelligence in Singapore. He also drove the development and implementation of several initiatives to raise the cybersecurity resilience of medical devices, including the launch of a sandbox for the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme for Medical Devices.

10    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Adj A/Prof Chua was the Deputy Commander for the Medical Operations Taskforce, where he played a crucial role in supporting the COVID-19 clinical operations to ensure sufficient laboratory and treatment capacity in both the public and private sector, set up the COVID-19 Testing Repository, facilitated the safe setting up of various COVID-19 testing, isolation, treatment  and vaccination facilities, and oversaw the enforcement of the COVID-19 control orders.

11    Prior to his appointment in MOH, Adj A/Prof Chua was the Group Director of the Health Products Regulation Group at HSA. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nottingham.

12    MOH and HSA wish to express our deep appreciation to Dr Mimi Choong for her leadership and contributions during her ten years as CEO and extend a warm welcome to Adj A/Prof Raymond Chua as the new CEO of HSA.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

HEALTH SCIENCES AUTHORITY

12 SEPTEMBER 2024