Prof Tan Sze Wee

Affiliation

Assistant Chief Executive, Biomedical Research Council; Senior Advisor, Innovation and Enterprise (National Platforms), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Profile

Professor Tan Sze Wee is currently the Assistant Chief Executive of A*STAR’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and Senior Advisor of the Innovation and Enterprise (I&E) Group.

Prof Tan’s career in A*STAR started in 2009. He was first appointed as Programme Director of the A*STAR Medical Technology initiative in Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and was subsequently appointed as Director, SERC, where he oversaw all SERC cluster-led research and development (R&D). From 2012 to 2015, Prof Tan was Deputy Executive Director (DED), BMRC and his cross-Council experience enabled A*STAR to engage companies across industry sectors.

In 2016, Prof Tan was appointed ED, SERC and was subsequently redesignated as ACE, SERC in 2019. As ACE SERC, Prof Tan drove the implementation of strategic plans and initiatives set for A*STAR in the Science and Engineering areas. Prof Tan was appointed ACE, I&E as well as Acting Chief Executive of A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd in 2020. He aligned A*STAR industry engagement, licensing and venture creation value chain among the A*STAR Research Institutes and the National Platforms. This is to drive efforts to translate A*STAR’s R&D to market so as to enable research-fuelled economic and societal impact.

Professor Tan is Adjunct Professor at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore.

Professor Tan was formerly the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Rockeby Biomed Limited. Prior to joining Rockeby, he was the Asia-Pacific Associate Regional Medical Director (Asia Regional Office) for Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company from 1997 to 2001. Professor Tan was a former Nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore, and is a recipient of Friend of Labour Award and the Public Administration Medal (Silver).

Professor Tan is a member of the board oversight committee for Ministry of Health’s Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS), and a member of the management board of the Tropical Marine Singapore Institute. He is an advisory member to the Singapore National Eye Centre’s Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator Advisory Board. He is a council member of the Singapore Medical Association (SMA), as well as a board director for SMA Pte Ltd and SMA Charity Pte Ltd. Prof Tan is also the Chairman of Unlocking ADHD Ltd.

Professor Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and attained his Masters of Business Administration from Warwick University, UK. He attended the Stanford Executive Programme at the Stanford Graduate School Business, and was awarded a certificate of completion for the Senior Fellowship in Public Service Programme, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Prof Tan also attended the Executive Leadership Programme from the Singapore Civil Service College. He is an affiliate member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, UK. He is a registered medical practitioner with the Singapore Medical Council and the Hong Kong Medical Council.