About AMILI
ASIAN MICROBIOME LIBRARY
Asian Microbiome Library (AMILI) is Southeast Asia’s first and only precision gut microbiome company serving as a hub for gut microbiome innovation and therapy. Our aim is to advance microbiome research, grounded in science and compassion, to address unmet and critical needs in healthcare with the potential to positively impact millions of lives across Asia.
United by a shared belief that science can be a powerful driver for the greater good when combined with ethically- and scientifically-backed tools, our cross-disciplinary team is creating a sustainable platform for the collection, processing and distribution of gut microbiome-derived products to hospitals and research institutions. We are also building up a regional gut microbiome repository to support fundamental discovery into the impact of the gut microbiome on human health in Asia. As a Singapore-based healthcare organization, we not only leverage the infrastructure and resources of one of Asia’s top biomedical hubs, but also have access to the city’s diverse and global populations to help further purpose-driven science.
OUR TEAM
DR JEREMY LIM
CEO
Associate Professor Jeremy Lim is the founder of AMILI (Asian Microbiome Library), the first gut microbiome bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
AMILI’s mission is to advance human health through microbiome science and we work with clinicians, researchers and patient groups to make microbiome accessible for patient care and research. Prior to AMILI, Jeremy founded global consultancy Oliver Wyman’s Asia healthcare consulting practice in 2012. He has held senior executive roles in both the public and private sectors in Asian healthcare including director of research in Singapore’s largest healthcare system and Singapore CEO of a Pan-Asian private healthcare group. He continues to serve in the National University of Singapore as co-director of the global health program in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
CLIFFORD TAN
Vice President, Operations
Clifford has extensive regional experience and network in the life sciences sector having set up and managed business units for various companies.
He has a diverse professional background with both startups and multinationals ranging from KPMG in Vancouver, running his own business in Malaysia, to developing consultancy and ASEAN-focused business development centres across various markets. In the last few years, he has been active in the genomics and digital health space and led the regional operations for a Singapore-based Asian genetics group. He has also recently led the market entry of a Boston-based genetics company’s entry into Asia and Australia.
VIVEK RAVINDRAN
Chief Technology Officer
Vivek Ravindran is a start-up builder with a proven capability of aligning product, technology and business teams to deliver value. He has built 2 start-ups from seed to success. He has a core expertise in product management and data-science.
Vivek is an ADB Scholar and has an education in Engineering and a Masters in Management.
He has acquired a patent in data-science, and has hired teams and built products on sparse budgets with distributed Product and Data-science teams in Singapore, Chennai, and California. He has also led UI and Engineering teams to create composite Natural Language Knowledge bases that enable users to have personalised conversations about their preferences and choices.
He is also a key member of MHAT charity, which is one of the largest Charitable Mental Health Networks in South India, providing medication and clinical support free of cost, and has developed a system that helps 2-3 psychiatrists manage over 5000 patients.
BIBI CHIA
Chief Dietitian Consultant
Bibi Chia is the Principal Dietitian at Raffles Medical Group, with vast experience in the public health, healthcare, and food industries. She is particularly interested in the prevention of nutrition-related non- communicable diseases, and has a strong social media presence building awareness of the importance of nutrition to overall health.
DR CHONG CHUN WIE
Lead Data Science Consultant
Dr Chong Chun Wie, BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, PhD (Microbial Ecology) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, and serves as AMILI’s lead data science consultant.
He is an experienced researcher in Antarctic soil microbial ecology and the human gut microbiome. He is also the resource person for bioinformatics and multivariate analysis for Malaysian microbiome research.
He has been involved in the analysis of the microbiome profiles of farm animals, preterm neonates, Malaysian indigenous populations, experimental animals (toxoplasmosis and trypanosomiasis), as well as diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus, Parkinson’s Disease, multiple systems atrophy, periodontitis, chlamydia etc.
WILLIAM LEOW
Head of Finance
William Leow joined AMILI as its Head of Finance in December 2019.
With more than 11 years of finance and accounting experience, he has a wide-ranging knowledge of FP&A, Business Partnering and External Audit and has led various finance and accounting functions for companies such as Fullerton Health and SMRT. He has worked with consultants such as Anaplan to implement budget and business planning platforms, as well as helped to build financial models for organisations. William is a member of CPA Australia.
MAYANK SONI
Head of Partnerships
An economist by training, with a BA from the University of Oxford and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, Mayank has 6 years of experience as a public sector economist, including at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Finance, where he carried out research as well as formulated public policy. Most recently, he helped formulate Singapore’s COVID-19 budget package, and led the team designing and implementing the S$24b Jobs Support Scheme.
KAI YEE TOH
Laboratory and Operations Manager
Kai Yee joined AMILI as the laboratory and operations manager in September 2019.
Prior to joining AMILI, she set up two research centres in National University of Singapore – Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (NUS-SSHSPH) focusing on health technology assessment and health services research where she was PI and co-I for three research grants. She also set up a number of research laboratories in A*STAR and NUS in the area of molecular genetics, immunology and microbiology. She has a Masters in Public Health from NUS- SSHSPH and Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science) from the University of Adelaide.
DR LEE SEOW ENG
Head of Data Systems Architecture
Seow Eng has a Doctor of Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine, a Masters in Biomedical Engineering, and a Masters in Technology (Software Engineering). He has 22 years of experience in project management, software engineering, Laboratory Information Management Systems, database administration, big data analysis, and bioinformatics, and 10 years of experience as a TCM physician.
YVLYN CHEN
Administrative Manager
Yvlyn has over 7 years of experience in office management, corporate secretarial and personal assistance, as well as organisation of corporate events.
HO JIA PEI
Assistant Laboratory Manager
Jia Pei has over 10 years of experience in the life sciences field, having worked in major research institutes in Singapore, such as ASTAR, NUS and Duke-NUS as research assistant and lab manager. She is well versed in both in vivo and in vitro techniques, and has contributed to works in high impact journal articles. She has a Bachelor of Science (with Honors) from the University of Melbourne.
DR JOEY XU
Research Scientist
Joey is an immunologist by training and has committed the last decade to drug discovery. Her most notable achievement was the discovery of a therapeutic antibody for tetra-serotype Dengue infection that is currently in clinical trials.
Joey is currently earning her degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine on top of her Doctorate that she has already earned from Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Her last appointment with the national platform for drug discovery saw her double up as a scientific project lead on top of her primary role as an antibody discovery platform lead in directing the advancement of drug discovery into the clinic. Joey remains passionate about healthcare innovation and aims to put her diverse experience to good use in her current role.
DR SAISHREYAS SUNDARAJOO
Clinical Affairs
Dr Saishreyas Sundarajoo is a qualified medical doctor with prior experience in healthtech and consulting.
YI PING TAN
Quality Executive
Yi Ping is a chemistry major with in-depth experience in the GMP environment in food industry. Her key specialisations include lab operations, regulatory compliances, and quality control.
SAMYUKTA VENKATRAMAN
Executive, Strategy and Communications
Samyukta has a Masters in Economics from UCL with prior experiences in healthcare consulting, non-profits strategy, and funding partnerships. She is specialised in quantitive analysis and impact assessments.
RACHEL QUEK
Executive, Research and Marketing
Rachel has a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, with special interest in meta-ethics, population ethics, and the philosophy of technology. She has four years of experience in marketing and market research, particularly for small companies.
BOARD OF ADVISORS
DR. DAVID ONG
Dr David Ong is the Head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore.
His areas of clinical and research interest include Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) as well as Gut Microbiome. He was the first to perform a Faecal Microbiome Transplant (FMT) in Singapore and is the Founder of the IBD Unit at NUH. Dr Ong also serves as the President-Elect of the Gastroenterological Society of Singapore (GESS), Member of the Singapore Medical Council Complaints Panel and Disciplinary Tribunal, as well as being the Director of Risk and Values for the National University Health System (NUHS). Dr Ong has published widely in the field of Gastroenterology and delivers talks both locally and internationally and sits on the global advisory boards of various international pharmaceutical companies.
DR. JONATHAN LEE
Dr Jonathan Lee is a Consultant specialising in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the National University Hospital, Singapore.
He graduated from the University of New South Wales, Sydney with honours in 2010 and did his postgraduate residency training in NUH. He completed his fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and was certified by the Specialist Accreditation Board of Singapore in 2017. Dr Lee has a keen interest in endoscopic screening and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. He is also skilled in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy, and is involved in colon cancer screening, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of colon polyps and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of early gastrointestinal tumours. Dr Lee’s research interest is in the role of the microbiome associated with gastrointestinal diseases, and is actively involved in basic and translational research on this subject. He is also the principal investigator for ongoing studies in the field of microbiome and gastrointestinal diseases.
DR. CHRISTOPHER TING
Dr Christopher Ting is Group CEO of Pathology Asia Holdings, South East Asia’s largest independent private medical laboratory provider with operations currently in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia.
He has been a successful entrepreneur in the medical diagnostics space over the past 15 years having founded and scaled these businesses into leading positions in their respective geographies. Dr Ting’s passion is to leverage technology to achieve the twin objectives of improving health outcomes and accessibility at lower costs. He serves as a board member and advisor to several medical technology companies operating across South East Asia.
PROFESSOR DR. MICHAEL KAMM
Professor Dr Michael Kamm is Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Gastroenterologist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
He was Chairman of Medicine and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Physiology Units at St Mark’s Hospital, and Professor of Gastroenterology at Imperial College, in London until 2008. His main focus is on luminal gastroenterology, with a special interest in inflammatory bowel diseases and functional gut and pelvic floor disorders. His current research interests include the science to the practice of inflammatory bowel disease, including microbial manipulation, and the development of multi-disciplinary paradigms for managing functional gut disorders. He has been the recipient of many national and international awards, most recently the Distinguished Research Award by the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, The Joseph Sung lectureship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the David Sachar International Award from Mt Sinai Hospital in New York.
ASSOC. PROFESSOR DR. DAN YOCK YOUNG
Associate Professor Dan Yock Young obtained his basic medical degree (MBBS) from the National University of Singapore in 1994.
He went on to complete his basic specialty training and obtained a Master of Internal Medicine (MMED S’pore) and membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK, MRCP (UK) in 1998. He obtained his Gastroenterology fellowship from the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (FAMS S’pore) in 2003. He has vast clinical interests in hepatology which includes viral hepatitis B and C, liver transplantation and liver cirrhosis. He is a clinician scientist and his interests include the cost-effectiveness of clinical treatments, liver progenitor cells and their therapeutic applications, as well as pathogenesis and treatment targets in liver failure.
EMERITUS PROFESSOR DATO DR. GOH KHEAN LEE
Professor Goh Khean Lee is widely recognized as a leading expert in gastrointestinal and liver diseases in Malaysia and internationally.
Professor Goh started the Gastroenterology and Hepatology unit at the University of Malaya Medical Center. The Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center of the University of Malaya is a world class center providing the whole range of therapeutic procedures and has been recognized by the World Endoscopy Organization as a “Center of Excellence” since 2008. He has trained numerous gastrointestinal specialists both from this country and overseas in his centre. He is a top ranked academic in the country with the highest bibliometrics amongst professors in the biomedical field in Malaysia. He was awarded the highly prestigious Merdeka Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement for Elevating the Study and Practice of Gastroenterology and Hepatology to Global Standards in 2011. In recognition of his leadership qualities, he has held several high positions- President of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology, President of the Asian Pacific Digestive Week Federation as well as Vice President of the World Gastroenterology Organization. He is also Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is well respected and liked by peers both locally and internationally. As a doctor he is known to be kind, sincere and empathic and is very popular amongst his patients.
PROFESSOR DR. JOSE SOLLANO
Professor Dr Jose Sollano is a Doctor of Medicine from University of Santo Tomas. He specialised in Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Ultrasound and Interventional Techniques.
His major research interests include chronic hepatitis B and C, hepatocellular carcinoma, portal hypertension. He has published several original scientific works in peer-reviewed journals and is also a reviewer and/or member of the Editorial Board of several international periodicals in Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Hepatology. He is a key opinion leader in Asia and has been Faculty and/or Convenor of several Asian-Pacific Consensus Guidelines, including those on Chronic Hepatitis B (2005), Chronic Hepatitis C (2000 & 2006), Portal Hypertension (2007) and Non Variceal Upper GI Bleeding (2011).
ASSIST. PROFESSOR DR. PISES PISESPONGSA
Assistant Professor Dr Pises Pisespongsa is a specialist in Gastroentology and Hepatology, at the Bumrungrad International Hospital.
His specific clinical interests include Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Diagnostic and Advanced Endoscopy. He continues his academic interests as assistant professor at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. He holds a Diploma from the Thai Board of Internal Medicine and a Diploma from the Thai Subboard of Gastroenterology, 2004. He has over 40 articles to his name in the field of Gastroentology, specifically IBD.
ASSOC. PROFESSOR MATTHEW CHANG
Matthew Chang is an Associate Professor in Biochemistry in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Director of the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY), Wilmar-NUS Corporate Laboratory (Wil@NUS) and NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI).
His research interests lie in the development of biological systems that perform programmable functions. In particular, he has pioneered the development of microbial cells programmed to perform targeted therapeutic functionalities. His scientific contributions have been recognized with international honours and awards, including the Scientific and Technological Achievement Award from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and featured in leading media outlets worldwide. He serves as an editor and an editorial board member for a number of journals including Cell Systems, ACS Synthetic Biology, Biotechnology for Biofuels, Metabolic Engineering, and Critical Reviews in Microbiology. He serves on the advisory committee of key international research programs such as the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) and CSIRO Future Science Platform. He is a strong advocate of promoting interdisciplinary science that marries engineering, biological, medical and social sciences through education and public science outreach.
DR. NICHOLAS CHEW
Dr Nicholas Chew is a senior medical consultant and award-winning scientist specializing in Infectious Diseases.
He has more than 20 years of medical and research experience both in Singapore and at an international level. Dr Chew has Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), Diploma in Genitourinary Medicine, Society of the Apothecaries, London (2005) and a Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland (2010). Returning to Asia Pacific in 2010 he is passionate about providing international standard medical care for patients. Prior to setting up his private practice, Dr Chew was Head, Transplant Infectious Diseases Program and Senior Consultant & Clinical Director in the Division of Infectious Diseases, National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore. Highlights of his tenure in NUH included groundbreaking clinical set up for faecal microbiome transplantation; he was also involved with the first liver transplant to be performed in a HIV, Hep B and Hep C co-infected patient in South East Asia. He has also had expanded responsibilities as an Assistant Professor at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). His team won 8 national and institutional grants to gain further insights into the interaction between bacterial and chronic viral infections with the development of osteoporosis.
MAY LOH
May Loh was with the Singapore Legal Service and served in the Competition Commission, Attorney-General’s Chambers and as a District Judge in the State Courts.
More recently, she led development work in Stewardship Asia to promote effective stewardship and governance in businesses across Asia. An alumnus of the University of Kent and Harvard Law, May now devotes her time to work on governance and sustainability, serving various boards including the Securities Investors’ Association and the Singapore Government’s Charity Council sub-committee on Transparency.
PREM H. SAMTANI
Over the past 30 years, Prem has held a diverse range of positions at leading financial services firms specialising in Asian capital markets including Richardson Greenshields (acquired by RBC), Crosby Securities (acquired by Societe Generale), Sofaer Capital / FrontPoint Partners, and Morgan Stanley.
More recently, from 2012 to 2018, he served as the Senior Portfolio Manager (SPM) at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (www.cppib.com) in Hong Kong developing and overseeing the fund’s investment program in Japanese public markets.
An active angel investor, Prem currently serves as a “hands-on stakeholder-advisor” to a portfolio of promising firms in the region with a focus on food-tech, fintech, health & wellness, and digital media services.
A long term resident of Japan, Prem obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree specialising in Finance at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and holds an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainbleau, France).
At AMILI, we are pushing the boundaries of biomedical science
As one big unconventional family, we embrace diversity as an engine of innovation. Our team is always on the lookout for creative problem solvers, team players and bridge-builders interested in contributing to something greater than themselves. If that sounds like you, we would love to get to know you.