Dr Philip Yeo
Dr Philip Yeo is the Special Advisor for Economic Development to the Prime Minister's office, Singapore and the Senior Advisor for science and technology within Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry. His field of expertise is in building knowledge based economies.
Dr Yeo is Chairman of SPRING Singapore, a governmental agency dedicated to the promotion of Singapore's economic growth and productivity. From 1970 – 1986, Dr Yeo worked for Singapore’s Ministry of Defense, where appointments included, Permanent Secretary for logistics, technology, research & development and defense industries.
Dr Yeo was the first Chairman of Singapore’s National Computer Board from 1981 - 1987 and currently serves as Chairman of Accuron Technologies Ltd, which engineers and produces high value aircraft engine components and systems.
Dr Yeo holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Toronto, an MSc from the then, University of Singapore, and an MBA from Harvard University. He has received numerous honors and awards over his career.
Dr Sydney Brenner
Dr Sydney Brenner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for his contributions to molecular biology and genetics; specifically his introduction of C.elegans as an experimental system for many fields of biological science.
In the 1960’s Dr Brenner made many important contributions to the emerging field of molecular biology, which impacted on early genetic code research. Dr Brenner founded the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkley, California, an independent, non-profit research laboratory that combines genomic experimentation with computer modeling.
Dr Brenner is currently the acting Senior Scientific Adviser to A*STAR in Singapore, which charts the course for Singapore's science and technology development. Dr Brenner is also a Senior Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California and is associated with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies CA and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.
Dr Brenner holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Science from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and a D.Phil. Chemistry from Oxford University. Dr Brenner was a Postdoctoral fellow in the Virus Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr Tidu Maini
Dr Tidu Maini is the Science and Technology Advisor to Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, and Executive Chairman of Qatar Science and Technology Park.
Dr Maini has 30 years experience in the management of technology companies in the defense, electronics, energy and ICT sectors. Dr Maini’s extensive experience also includes management of businesses in Europe, US, Asia and the Middle East.
From 2002 - 2007, Dr Maini was Pro Rector for Development and Corporate Affairs at Imperial College London. Previous positions include Senior Vice President of Schlumberger Inc; Main Board Member of Sema Group plc; Deputy Chairman, GEC Marconi and Managing Director, GEC Software Systems.
Dr Maini currently holds non-Executive Board positions at Ranbaxy Fortis Healthcare Ltd India; Imperial College Abu Dhabi Diabetes Clinic; Imperial Innovations Ltd and Tata Africa Holding Ltd. Dr Maini is a trustee of the Emirates Foundation; the India-UK Roundtable and a member of the Joint Advisory Board of Texas A&M University at Qatar. Dr Maini is also Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Technology Board.
Dr Maini holds a PhD and BSc in Engineering from Imperial College and was a Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr Magid Abou-Gharbia
Dr Magid Abou-Gharbia is currently Senior Vice President Discovery Research and Head of Chemical & Screening Sciences at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Dr Abou-Gharbia oversees the company’s research, coordinating findings from 500+ scientists at the four research sites in the USA and from the150 chemists at affiliate company, GVK Biosciences in Hyderabad, India.
Dr Abou-Gharbia joined Wyeth Dr g Discovery and Development in 1982, advancing to his current role as Senior Vice President, Discovery Research. In this position, Dr Abou-Gharbia has built a strong, multi-disciplinary research program, based on modern Dr g discovery technologies. His group research efforts have led to the discovery of four marketed Dr gs and many other compounds currently under clinical evaluation, including antidepressants and anticancer agents.
Dr Abou-Gharbia has received numerous awards for his work and currently holds several academic appointments including that of adjunct Professor at Temple University, Philadelphia; Northeastern University; Cairo University and the University of Ferrara, Italy.
Dr Abou-Gharbia holds a BS in Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and an MS in Medicinal Chemistry from Cairo University. He gained his PhD from The University of Pennsylvania and followed this with a two-year NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at Temple University.
