Our Vision

Enhancing the Capabilities of Educators in the Asia-Pacific Region Teaching Biomedical Sciences in Health Profession Programs.

Our Mission

Establish an Asia-Pacific network of educators involved in the teaching and learning of biomedical science in health professions to:

• Surface local and regional issues for discussion, collective action and support
• Share emerging best practices and innovations for members to consider and adopt
• Collaborate in research to address local and regional gaps in health professions education
• Strengthen our collective identity as health professions educators in Asia-Pacific

Chen Zhi Xiong (Chairperson) Assistant Dean of Students, Office of Student Affairs Senior Lecturer and Integration Lead Educator, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore

Dr. Chen Zhi Xiong is the Deputy Education Director at the Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Biomedical Science Educators Association (APBSEA). He is also Principal Investigator of the Neurodevelopment and Cancer Laboratory and Joint Scientist at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. In addition, he is a Resident Fellow of King Edward VII Hall where he lives among students including those from healthcare and life sciences disciplines. Sitting at the crossroads between biomedical sciences and health professions, Zhi Xiong is exploring ways to enhance education in both areas with specific interests in biomedical sciences graduate education, the role of biomedical sciences in medical education and faculty development.

Chiara Marie M. Dimla Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center Inc. (UERMMMCI), Philippines

• Diplomate, Philippine Pediatric Society
• Clinical Data Analyst (Research Consultant), Health Services Outcomes Research, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Philippines
• Education and Training:
• B.S. Biology, University of the Philippines
• Doctor of Medicine, College of Medicine, UERMMMCI
• General Pediatrics Residency Training, Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center
• M.S. Public Health, The Graduate School, UERMMMCI
• Academic Citation Awardee, Leadership and Management Development Program, Ateneo De Manila University, Graduate School of Business, Center for Continuing Education, Philippines

Celestial Yap Suen Mei Associate Professor and Program Director, Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore

Celestial Yap is Associate Professor and Physiology Program Director at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). Graduating with an MBBS degree from NUS, she was engaged in hospital and primary healthcare practice, and subsequently awarded the NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship to pursue a PhD degree in biomedical research at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. As Physiology Program Director, she is actively involved in medical and dental education, where she services in committees overseeing examinations as well as curriculum revision and implementation. She co-leads the Respiratory System-Based Workgroup which aims to foster the integration between basic science education and clinical practice in respiratory medicine. She also set up the Cytoskeleton and Tumour Biology laboratory at NUS in 2006, which focuses on cytoskeletal derangements and signaling pathways that promote tumour invasion and recurrence. The laboratory is committed to education in research, having trained clinician-researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate research students.
Her experience in clinical medicine as well as biomedical research has sparked her interests in integrative approaches to medical and research-related education. Working closely with clinicians and scientists, she hopes to contribute to a culture of holistic professionalism.

Dujeepa D Samarasekera Director, Centre for Medical Education (CenMED), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System Senior Consultant (Health Professions Education), Ministry of Health, Singapore

Dujeepa Samarasekera is the Director, Centre for Medical Education (CenMED), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Senior Consultant (Health Professions Education) at the Ministry of Health Singapore. Dujeepa has been involved in curriculum development, quality assurance and accreditation and faculty development at both undergraduate and postgraduate level health professional courses. He is the Course Director of the Masters in Health Professions Education - Singapore which is a collaboration with the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. He is the Chair Faculty Teaching Excellence Committee (FTEC) for Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. In addition Dujeepa leads the School of Medicine Continuous Quality Improvement team at the deanery and is the co-chair for faculty development in the residency programme. He is also a member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and Graduate Medical Education Committee, Faculty Assessment Committee and Curriculum Steering Committee at the School of Medicine and NUHS.

At the MoH level, Dujeepa is part of the Professional Training Assessments and Standards (PTAS) division and provides expertise in the following areas - Undergraduate Medical Schools and Postgraduate speciality training accreditation; development of Postgraduate Year 1 training and assessment framework; Nursing curriculum framework (Nursing Executive Education Committee); Pharmacy and Allied Health programmes to refine their training and evaluation programmes.

At the regional and international level Dujeepa is a member of the ASPIRE for Excellence panel at the European Association for Medical Education to evaluate medical schools that have achieved excellence in specific areas of faculty development, assessment etc and Co-chair the Asia Pacific Scholar Network (APMENet) in medical education. He is the present President of the College of Clinician Educators at Academy of Medicine Singapore and also the President of the Western Pacific Association of Medical Education which is the regional branch organisation of the World Federation of Medical Education in charge of global medical school standards and accreditation. Dujeepa is the Editor-in-Chief of The Asia Pacific Scholar (TAPS) journal and serves on the editorial advisory boards of Annals of Academic Medicine Singapore, South East Asian Journal of Medical Education (SEAJME), Korean Journal of Medical Education, BLDE Medical Journal and AMEE online journal MedEd Publish. He serves in many international medical education organisations and has published widely in peer-reviewed medical education journals as well as authored book chapters relating to Medical and Health Professional Education. Dujeepa holds the fellowships of Academy of Medicine Singapore, Academy of Medicine Malaysia, Academy of Medical Educators in the United Kingdom and the fellowship of Medical Educators Europe.

Eugenie Phyu Aye Thwin Senior lecturer, School of Health and Social Sciences, Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore

Dr Eugenie Phyu Aye Thwin, MBBS, Master of Medical Education, is a senior lecturer from School of Health and Social Sciences, Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore. She teaches basic medical sciences subjects in nursing and allied health diploma and advanced diploma courses. She is passionate about health professional education of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students. Her interests in medical education include the curriculum development, instructional strategies, technology-enhanced learning, assessment, and continuing professional development

Hooi Shing Chuan Professor, Chair, Medical Sciences Cluster, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore

Professor Hooi Shing Chuan graduated with MBBS degrees from the National University of Singapore in 1983 and obtained his PhD from Harvard University in 1992. He joined the Department of Physiology, National University of Singapore in 1985 and was Head of Department from 2000-2008. He was the Vice Dean (Education) in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine from 2010-2017. He is inaugural Chair of the Medical Sciences Cluster, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, formed in 2018. He has been teaching Physiology to Medical and Allied Health students over the past 25 years. He has received many teaching awards at Faculty and University levels, including the NUS Outstanding Educator Award in 2012.

Inthrani Raja Indran Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore

Dr Inthrani is a lecturer at the Department of Pharmacology. She holds a joint appointment with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her research interests revolves around women’s health. She is also interested in understanding how organisational cultures and behaviours can shape staff motivation and development.

Lai Siang Hui   (Sub-committee - Finance & Governance) MBBS, DMJ(Path), FRCPath Associate Professor and Assistant Dean, Duke-NUS Medical School Academic Vice Chair (Education), Pathology Academic Clinical Programme, SingHealth Duke NUS AMC Editor, Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare, SingHealth Senior Consultant, Department of Anatomical Pathology, Singapore General Hospital

Dr Lai is Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Pre-Clinical Education at DukeNUS Medical School. He is also Senior Consultant at the Department of Anatomical Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, and served as pioneering Residency Director for Anatomic Pathology at SingHealth. He is currently Academic Vice-Chair for Education for Pathology at SingHealth. Outside of the institution, he is President of the Medico-Legal Society of Singapore, and Board Member and faculty of the Centre of Medical Ethics and Professionalism, SMA.

Neil Osheroff Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine John G. Coniglio Chair in Biochemistry

Neil Osheroff is Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and holds the John G. Coniglio Chair in Biochemistry. In addition to directing his research laboratory, he is committed to educating the next generation of health professionals and is very interested in curricular design and integration, assessment, and the professional development of medical science educators. He has been a course director in the School of Medicine since 1990 and was one of four faculty members who were tasked with developing and implementing the pre-clerkship phase of the medical curriculum as part of a major revision in 2013. He currently serves as one of the two faculty co-leaders of the pre-clerkship phase and chairs the phase’s teaching team. He also directs the School of Medicine Academy for Excellence in Education and chairs the Master Science Teacher group.

Internationally, Dr. Osheroff is a Past-President of the Association of Biochemistry Educators and currently serves as the President of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE).

Dr. Osheroff has received awards for mentoring, teaching, curricular design, educational leadership and service, and promoting diversity and inclusion. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018 and received the IAMSE Distinguished Career Award for Excellence in Teaching and Educational Scholarship in 2019. He has published over 260 papers and has presented more than 300 scientific and educational talks in 32 different countries.

Solomon Sathishkumar Professor of Physiology and Former Vice Principal (Undergraduate Medical Education) Christian Medical College, Vellore, India

Dr. Solomon has vast experience in unravelling the miracle of Human Physiology to Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Sciences students. His interests include Integrated Learning and Early Clinical Exposure. He has several publications in field of Medical Education. As the former Vice Principal, he was involved in the massive Curriculum Renewal that took place to mark 100 years of Medical Education at Christian Medical College. His other research interests include treatment of articular cartilage defects with cell based therapy.

Viktor Riklefs   (Sub-committee - Outreach & Programs) Vice-Rector, Academic Affairs, Karaganda Medical University, Kazakhstan

Viktor Riklefs, PhD, MHPE is the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Karaganda Medical University (Kazakhstan). He holds the degree of International Master of Health Professions Education awarded by the Maastricht University (Netherlands) and PhD in Physiology awarded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. His research is focused on assessment, simulation, e-learning, virtual patients, active learning and curriculum development. He is also an active researcher in adaptation, stress, mind-body therapy, heart rate variability and nonlinear analysis of electrophysiological signals.