Sze Wee Tan

Professor Tan’s career in A*STAR began in 2009, where he held the appointment of Programme Director of the Medical Technology initiative in the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). His next appointment was as Director of SERC’s Strategic Initiatives, where he oversaw all SERC cluster-led R&D development. He also provided leadership for SERC’s cross-cutting programmes such as the Thematic Research Programme and the Joint Laboratories programme with the local universities and concurrently spearheaded the Healthcare and Lifestyle Programme in A*STAR.

In October 2012, Professor Tan was promoted to Deputy Executive Director in the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC). His experience with the SERC research institutes enabled BMRC to engage companies in these industry sectors holistically, cross-promoting the multi-disciplinary capabilities available at both Councils to meet the needs of companies. He helped to pave the way for growth of A*STAR’s engagements with companies in the Food & Nutrition, Medical Technology and Consumer Care sectors with leading MNCs like GE Healthcare, Nestle, Coca-Cola and P&G.

Professor Tan was appointed Assistant Chief Executive of SERC in January 2016, and this involved directing the SERC research institutes to work closely in the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Domain. Together with the Universities, public-private partnership models such as the Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine Singapore Ltd (TCOMS) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) have been successful in demonstrating its platform to facilitate research capabilities to private industries.

Professor Tan was appointed on May 2020 as the Assistant Chief Executive of the newly established Enterprise Division, comprising the Industry Development Group and A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd. As Assistant Chief Executive (ENT), Professor Tan leads the Enterprise Division in steering efforts to translate A*STAR’s R&D to market so as to enable research-fuelled economic and social impact.

Professor Tan is Adjunct Professor at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and 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.

Professor Tan 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.

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. 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.