Committee Members

A/P Atsushi Kambayashi
Dr. Atsushi Kambayashi holds a Pharmacy degree from Tokyo University of Science and a PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt. He previously worked as a research fellow at Astellas Pharma Inc. in their Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Labs. He currently serves as an Associate Professor at Tokyo University of Science's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, as well as a visiting Associate Professor at University of Shizuoka's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Kambayashi is an active member of The Academy of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (Japan), and The Japanese Society for the study of xenobiotics. His research focuses on utilizing in silico modeling and simulation approaches to predict the in vivo pharmacokinetics of various solid oral dosage forms.

A/P Celine Liew
Celine Liew obtained her BSc and PhD from NUS. Following her PhD, she worked in the Pharmaceutical Department, Ministry of Health, Singapore before joining Department of Pharmacy, NUS as a Research Fellow in GEA-NUS PPRL in 1997 and later, as a faculty member, 2001-21. She has also industrial work experience as Senior Scientist at Niro Inc., MD, USA, 2002-3. She is currently an Assoc Prof at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia. Her research interest is in pharm solids, preformulation and formulation, granulation and pelletization along with material characterization and multiparticulate dosage forms.

A/P Matthias Wacker
Associate Professor Matthias G. Wacker works in the Department of Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He earned his doctoral degree in pharmaceutical technology from Goethe University in Frankfurt (Germany), where he also was a principal investigator and completed his habilitation under the guidance of Jennifer Dressman and Jörg Kreuter at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology. Prior to joining NUS, he headed the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Nanosciences at Fraunhofer IME in Frankfurt. He serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals (e.g., European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Frontiers in Chemistry, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology) and has been recognized for his research excellence with awards such as the Eudragit® Best Paper Award and the Phoenix Pharmaceutics Science Award. He is a member of various committees and organizations, including the United States Pharmacopeial Convention‘s General Chapters – Dosage Forms Expert Committee and the Expert Panel on New Advancements in In-Vitro Product Performance Testing, as well as the International Organization for Standardization’s Technical Committee 229, which is responsible for developing nanotechnology standards. In his research, he focuses on using a quality-by-design approach to develop and characterize nanomedicines, with a particular emphasis on biopredictive release and in silico methods to establish in vitro-in vivo correlations. He was also recently recognized as one of the World’s Top 2% Scientists of 2022 by Standford University. His work has the potential to improve the selection of optimal formulation prototypes for preclinical or clinical translation.

A/P Paul Heng
Dr. Paul W S Heng obtained his basic degree in pharmacy and doctorate degree in pharmaceutical technology from the National University of Singapore. He then joined the Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore and taught pharmaceutical technology for over three decades. He served as Head of Department, 2000-2004. In research, he established GEA-NUS Pharmaceutical Processing Research Laboratory which focused on solids processing and product development. He has since retired in June 2022 but continued to serve as a Consultant to GEA-NUS. He also has an adjunct appointment with Airlangga University. He has successfully supervised or co-supervised over 60 doctorate program students, several masters students, authored or co-authored over 300 international refereed research journal articles and has also written several book chapters and patents. He is the editor-in-chief of the Asian J Pharm Sci and is in the editorial boards of several other journals.

Dr. Chin Chiat Lee (JSEA guest judge)
Chin Chiat Lee is an accomplished Business Director with a strong background in Biomaterials. Currently working at Purac Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, he has over 4 years of experience leading Biomaterials Sales for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device (Asia). Chin Chiat excels in formulating effective commercial and technical strategies to achieve ambitious growth targets. He is known for his collaboration with start-ups to drive technological advancements and for forging successful partnerships with commercial entities across Asia. With a keen focus on market segmentation and identifying cutting-edge technologies, Chin Chiat ensures Biomaterials products contribute to commercially viable solutions. His expertise is backed by a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Technology from the National University of Singapore, with specialization in micronization, formulation, solid dispersion, poorly soluble drugs, particle sizing, and drug assay.

Dr. Linda Hong (JSEA guest judge)
Fresh off her Swiss post doc, Dr Hong joins NUS as a lecturer. Her undergraduate and Ph.D. were completed in Monash University, Australia, while her post doc was at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her research interests include food and formulation science, using scattering techniques to characterize the physicochemical behaviour.