e-Open House on 16 May 2020
Pharmaceutical Science: The Arsenal of the Healthcare Battle
There is constant tug-of-war between emerging diseases and medical breakthroughs. Especially in the past few decades, the rise of new medications has defined much of our success against dreadful diseases - vaccines have curbed pandemic outbreaks of infections, some cancers have become treatable, and other genetic diseases can now be better managed. In this battlefield, pharmaceutical science undergirds much of the healthcare revolutions, while the products arising from related R&D efforts can be considered its arsenal. We will discuss pharmaceutical science from this perspective and unpack the ongoing transformation of the pharmaceutical industry and the career opportunities that it offers.
Speakers
Prof Christina Chai obtained her B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Canterbury and her Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University. Following her Ph.D., she was awarded a Violette and Samuel Glasstone Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford where she studied bioorganic reaction mechanisms. This was followed by Faculty positions at Victoria University of Wellington (1991-1993) and the Australian National University (1994-2004). Prof Chai was a Principal Scientist at the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) (2004-2011) and was co-appointed Director of Graduate Affairs at A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council (2008-2011). Prof Chai joined NUS in 2011 and is currently Head of NUS’ Department of Pharmacy.
Prof Ho Han Kiat received his B.Sc. (Hons) in Pharmacy from NUS (2000) and Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Washington (2005). He returned to Singapore for a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Medical Biology before joining NUS to establish his own research programme focusing on drug-induced liver toxicity and the study of new drug targets for various chronic liver diseases. He also directs a toxicology division within NUS’ Drug Development Unit. He has published about 80 papers in internationally recognised journals and has won multiple Faculty- and University-level teaching excellence awards. He is an elected fellow of the NUS Teaching Academy and a joint appointee of the University Scholars Programme. He is currently Deputy Head (Education) at NUS’ Department of Pharmacy.
