Dr Lye Whye Kei – Director
Whye Kei is Director of the SingHealth Intellectual Property Office (SHIP). He was previously the Director of Business Development (Future Health Care) at the NTUitive Pte Ltd, the technology transfer arm of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore where he led the creation of several programmes to support the translational development of drugs/therapeutics and medical devices.
Prior to NTU, Whye Kei was CTO-founder of Setagon, Inc., a startup which developed several proprietary stent technologies, including a metallic nanoporous surface modification for medical devices such as coronary stents. Setagon obtained over US$5.5 million in venture financing and was acquired by Medtronic.
Whye Kei is the primary inventor of the acquired technology and has over 28 patents/patent applications. His technical experience includes work in the fields of nanoscale materials, micro-electromechanical systems, and biological nanosystems. He has a B.Sc. (Honors) from the California Institute of Technology, and a PhD from Yale University.
Dr Jenefer Alam – Assistant Director
Jenefer joined SHIP in September 2018, from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) where she was a Patent Examiner for five years. Alongside her patent search and examination activities in the biopharma field, she was also the leader of the Search Standards Office and provided prior art search training to local and international stakeholders, and represented IPOS in bench marking exercises with other national Intellectual Property Offices.
Before joining IPOS, Jenefer was a Research Fellow at the Experimental Therapeutics Centre under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). While at A*STAR, Jenefer worked on different aspects of drug discovery and led the medicinal chemistry efforts for ETC-159, the first publicly-funded drug candidate discovered and developed in Singapore in collaboration with Duke-NUS.
Prior to this, Jenefer spent seven and a half years at Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases where she worked on small molecule drug discovery projects to find new medicines to treat neglected, infectious diseases including dengue fever, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Jenefer holds a Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University and a Master's Degree from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. Her Ph.D. thesis was awarded the World Future Foundation Ph.D. Prize in Environmental & Sustainability Research.
Dr Erin Teo - Assistant Director
Erin joined SHIP in June 2019. She was formerly with the KK Research Centre, KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), where she headed the Research Strategic Support unit. The team provides strategic support focusing on grant and project management, legal affairs, regulatory management, strategic programmes and scientific affairs, to all research conducted in KKH. Erin was also involved in spearheading and executing strategies and policies to strengthen research in KKH, develop talents and promote collaborations within KKH and with external institutions and industry.
Prior to this, Erin spent her days in the laboratory, where she worked as a scientist with the Department of Reproductive Medicine at KKH, researching fetal stem cells and establishing a First-in-man Phase 1 clinical trial. She also spent two years before this as a Research Fellow with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, researching biomaterials and tissue engineering.
Erin obtained her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with focus on Biomaterials from the National University of Singapore.
Dr Patrick Tung - Manager
Patrick joined SHIP in November 2022. He was formerly an intellectual property (IP) Manager at NTUitive, the technology transfer office for Nanyang Technological University (NTU). At NTUitive, he managed an IP portfolio that included machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), medical technology, quantum technology, sensing and control systems.
Prior to NTU, Patrick was a patent examiner at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) where he reviewed patent applications in the fields of electrical, mechanical, and optical technologies.
Patrick obtained his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore under the President’s Graduate Fellowship award.
In his spare time, Patrick finds joy in practicing meditation, restoring vintage electronics and in analog photography.
Dr Ng Kim Hong – Assistant Manager
Kim joined SHIP in September 2019 from IPOS International where she was a patent examiner for five years. Her role was conducting searches of the state-of-the-art and examining whether an invention is new as well as having both technical and legal basis for the invention to be granted in Singapore. Her focus was on pharmaceutical applications, such as small molecules invention. She also dealt with applications of various fields such as semiconductors, oil & gas processes, food and beverage compositions, analytical and diagnostic tools, etc.
During her five years as patent examiner, Kim was also involved in the implementation of an internal search guideline which serves as a reference for new examiners who seeks to perform prior art searches in the chemical registry.
Kim is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and has been serving as the treasurer for the Singapore Chapter since 2016. She is responsible for the yearly application of funding from RSC – UK, management of funds, organizing networking and self-development activities for the members in Singapore.
Kim holds a Ph.D with a focus on organophosphorus metal complexes from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Ms Chole Chu – Assistant Manager
Chole joined SHIP in January 2015. Prior to this, Chole worked for Intellectual Property Intermediary (IPI) Singapore where she identified problem statements and business needs of client companies and worked to provide tailored technology solutions. She also supported technology matching projects across medtech and biopharma, where she used business intelligence to pair companies which had complementary commercial objectives. Chole's time with IPI Singapore deepened her interest in technology commercialization and built her expertise in the marketing of early stage innovations.
Chole holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biological Sciences from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Ms Sneha Srikanth – Executive
Sneha joined SHIP in Jan 2024. Prior to this, she did her internship in Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. where she started to develop an interest in IP. She assisted in managing the company’s IP Portfolio which includes evaluating existing patents, identifying potential areas for new filing and preparation of IP related documents. This experience not only honed her skills but fuelled her curiosity to explore the intersection of law and science further leading her to join SHIP.
She graduated from La Trobe University with a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Pharmaceutical Science. In her spare time, Sneha enjoys exploring various dance forms and enjoys painting.
Suhailah joined SHIP in November 2017 and leads the office administration management. She provides full administrative support to the Director and is responsible for the efficient handling of finance and operations for the office. Additionally, Suhailah supports the SHIP team with post deal management, which involves invoicing functions within and external to SingHealth and revenue disbursement to inventors and organisations. She also handles event and meeting logistics for the office.
Suhailah graduated from the School of Business Administration and is currently undertaking further studies in human resources.
