Ali is an engineer and a serial healthcare entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of British company babylon.

Since its launch in 2015, babylon's sole aim is to put an accessible and affordable health service into the hands of every person on earth. Today, the digital health startup has brought together one of the largest teams of scientists, clinicians, mathematicians and engineers to focus on combining the ever-growing power of machines with the best medical expertise of humans to create a comprehensive, immediate and personalised health service and make it universally available. babylon's technology now serves millions of users globally, with operations in the UK and Rwanda.

Prior to babylon, Ali left an investment banking career to establish healthcare company Circle and built it within a few years to become Europe's largest partnership of clinicians, with some £200m of revenue, some 3,000 employees and a successful IPO.

Earlier, Ali was the recipient of the UK’s Royal Award for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for founding his first business, V&G, and the Healthcare Entrepreneurial Achievement Award for establishing Circle. Ali was named by The Times among the 100 global people to watch, is the UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics.

Singapore has highly-developed healthcare infrastructure, the availability of deep medical expertise and a willingness to adopt advanced technologies. Like many developed countries, however, Singapore's healthcare system is under pressure to transform itself to cope with the strain of a growing chronic disease burden, ageing population and increasingly-stretched resources.

In such a scenario, how can the delivery of healthcare be made more accessible and effective with affordability at the back of our minds? One promising technology is AI-powered chatbots, which can enable the triage of patients in community settings and direct patients to the right care setting, reducing or even avoiding costly, unnecessary Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC) visits. From a physician’s perspective, the chatbot can help to capture a consistent account of a patient’s symptoms and have an AI-triage assistant to provide evidence-based decision support to the physician to help him or her with the diagnosis and treatment plan.

Dr Ali Parsa, CEO of babylon — one of the pioneers in the use of AI in healthcare — will reveal how they have used chatbots to help patients navigate the complex healthcare system, empowering them to triage their condition and seek help at the appropriate care setting. Clinicians can also benefit by using it as decision support tool to make the consult more efficient and less error-prone. He will also give his insights on how babylon navigated the tenuous terrain of clinician acceptance, consumer skepticism and intense regulatory scrutiny to successfully scale their technology in various countries.

Brian Gerkey is co-founder and CEO of Open Robotics, which drives the development and adoption of open software and hardware for robotics.

Prior to Open Robotics, Brian was a postdoctoral research fellow in the AI Lab at Stanford University, a Computer Scientist in the AI Center at Stanford Research Institute, and Director of Open Source Development at influential robotics lab Willow Garage where he was a member of the core team that developed the Robot Operating System (ROS). A leading advocate of ROS, Brian has worked on the ROS Project since 2008, contributing to the development and release of one of the most widely used robot software platforms in robotics research, education, and industry.

He is the founding and former lead developer on the open-source Player Project, a predecessor to ROS. For his work on Player and ROS, Brian was recognised by MIT Technology Review with the TR35 award in 2011 and by Silicon Valley Business Journal with their 40 Under 40 award in 2016. At Open Robotics, Brian oversees the development of ROS and Gazebo – an open source robot simulator.

As more robotics technologies are introduced to healthcare, interoperability should be front and centre for every manufacturer, systems integrator, and end user. No single vendor can supply the breadth of systems that are required in a modern healthcare facility and no single facility can afford to operate a collection of siloed systems with vendor-specific interfaces.

We need food-delivery robots from one vendor to communicate with drug-delivery robots from another vendor. We need a unified approach to command and control all the robots in a facility. We need a reliable way to develop and test multi-vendor systems in software simulation prior to deployment. And for it to succeed, we need this critical interoperability infrastructure to be open source — not just to spur further innovation, but to enable the subsequent scaling of these innovations.

Learn from Open Robotics CEO Dr Brian Gerkey how his team in Singapore is developing an open source platform to revolutionise the way in which robots interact with each other and end users in hospitals.

Ngai-Tseung (NT) Cheung is the Head of Information Technology & Health Informatics and Chief Medical Informatics Officer of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HKHA), and is also the Consultant for eHealth for the Hong Kong Government. He has played a key role in the digitisation of health records for Hong Kong’s public healthcare. Every patient now has a complete interoperable electronic patient record which can be accessed by any of his/her clinical carers in the 42 hospitals and 120 clinics of the HA. The HA’s Clinical Management System (CMS) has been integrated into all the major care delivery process and provides decision support, workflow enablement, and informs the management and planning functions at all levels. His current work focuses on taking the CMS through a generational leap, working with clinicians and executives and embracing innovative IT and data-driven approaches to enable new and enhanced healthcare service delivery models.

NT also led the development of the territory-wide Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS) in Hong Kong, which the HA is now operating on behalf of the government. Although the eHRSS is a voluntary scheme, today there are over 600,000 patients signed up and the majority of doctors and nurses in Hong Kong are registered users.

NT is active in the informatics research and education communities, and is a frequent speaker at international conferences. He holds a medical degree from the University of Sydney and a Master’s degree in computing science from Imperial College, London.

The Hospital Authority (HA) is the largest provider of healthcare in Hong Kong, managing all the public hospitals in the territory, and delivering around 90 per cent of secondary and tertiary care. HA has strategically invested in Information Technology from her creation in 1990, and has developed and implemented a single electronic medical record system across all HA settings: the Clinical Management System (CMS), with one integrated Electronic Patient Record (ePR) accessible from all care locations.

The Hong Kong Government has also worked with the HA to develop the Electronic Health Record Sharing System to bring together the records of all private and public sector healthcare providers. This system was launched in 2016 and nearly 800,000 patients and 45,000 healthcare professionals are participating.

Although these large-scale IT developments have served HA and Hong Kong well, new disruptive technologies and societal expectations demand greater agility and faster results than are possible with the formal project governance and traditional development models. HA’s IT and Health Informatics Department has taken the lead to develop a model of IT Innovation, comprising an “Innovation Funnel” approach to these new technologies along with a more flexible approach to governance, resourcing and team dynamics. Three internal Competency Centres have been formed — Mobile, Data and Geek. In this presentation, Dr NT Cheung will share examples of innovation projects in these areas, as well as discuss the success factors and stumbling blocks encountered.

With over 20 years in senior management positions helming technology, Mr James Woo brings with him extensive experience, particularly, in healthcare Information Technology. His previous roles as Deputy Chief Information Officer of MOH Holdings Pte Ltd as well as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the National Healthcare Group has given him intimate insights into the challenges and the possibilities with healthcare systems.

James has been instrumental in pushing benchmarks and raising standards of technology. In his role at Starhub Ltd, he led the Information System division to develop applications that won awards from ZDNet, Billing World, CIO Magazine, MIS Asia IT, Intelligent20 and Symantec. His IT blue print has enabled Farrer Park Hospital to be consistently recognised as a leading SMART Hospital, winning multiple awards at Asian Hospital Management Awards, Enterprise Innovators Award as well as Global Health and Travel Award.

A recognised industry leader, James sits on the Board of TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) - Healthcare Sector, an initiative driven by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore. He is an active advisor and is passionate about sharing his knowledge and expertise.

A behind-the-door story of how the IT ecosystem and technologies of Farrer Park Hospital were conceived from zero state and subsequently developed to where they are today. Mr James Woo will highlight the design considerations, challenges and lessons learnt throughout the hospital’s 6-year journey, and some of the key operational issues faced post-implementation.

Over the course of recounting Farrer Park Hospital’s innovation journey, Mr Woo will also ruminate on the factors that invariably affect the private sector’s appetite for innovation, and on the relationship between private and public healthcare providers vis-à-vis achieving scale.

Ron transitioned from an Air Force operational career into various business roles in the defence, cyber-security and IT spaces, with a geographic focus on the Asia Pacific region.

Ron heads the Australian subsidiary of Israeli software company Bio-Nexus, and works closely with government agencies and military organisations in both digitisation of pre-hospital operations (Bio-Nexus Medical) as well as Cyber-Security of networked medical devices (Cyber-Nexus). Prior to Bio-Nexus, Ron was a Director at Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems where he managed the Australia, India and Singapore markets. Ron served in the Israeli Air Force and gained an MBA from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and a Degree in Law and International Relations.

Across the world, we are seeing a steady rise in the adoption of connected devices within the healthcare space. The flipside to this promising trend is that the threat of major cyber security breaches has never loomed larger, given the rapid expansion of the digital attack surface. As we explore the adoption of new devices and scale the use of existing ones in our hospitals, the need to consider the cost of securing these devices has become of paramount importance.

In this presentation, Mr Ron Hoffman will expound on the unique risks posed by connected medical devices, review the various approaches to securing them, and share the experiences and learnings resulting from recent pilots conducted in Melbourne and Israel.

Mr Hoffman’s presentation will include a live demonstration of how easily the security of a connected medical device can be compromised — a real-time hack that promises to be eye-opening.

Mr Ng Chee Khern is Permanent Secretary for Smart Nation and Digital Government in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to lead the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group formed in May 2017. In this role, he leads the government's efforts in driving the development of digital enablers for citizens and businesses, and applying digital and smart solutions to improve the lives of citizens in a Smart Nation.

Mr Ng was previously Permanent Secretary (Defence Development) in Singapore's Ministry of Defence where his portfolio covers defence research and technology, capability development and acquisitions, and defence administration. He was concurrently 2nd Permanent Secretary in Singapore's Ministry of Health from August 2014 to February 2016 where he oversaw the overall operations, emergency preparedness and capacity building for the public healthcare sector in Singapore.

He is the Chairman of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) board, and a Director of the boards of CapitaLand Mall Trust Management. Mr Ng also serves as a board member of both the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Changi Airport Group (CAG).

Mr Ng was enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1984 and served in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Throughout his military career, Mr Ng held various appointments, including: Commanding Officer, 149 Squadron; Commander, Tengah Air Base; Director, Joint Operations and Planning Directorate; Chief of Staff (Air Staff). He succeeded as the Chief of Air Force in March 2006. After leaving the Air Force, Mr Ng was appointed as the Director of the Security and Intelligence Division in September 2010.

Mr Ng was a recipient of the President's Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1985. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Class Honours) and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He also graduated with a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.

Mr Liang is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IHiS and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of MOH. Between these 2 roles, Mr Liang is overall responsible for the advancement of healthcare IT in Singapore. This includes IT funding, policy development, strategy, plan, implementation and operations of country wide programs and capabilities. As CEO of IHiS, Mr Liang is also overall responsible for the delivery of Health IT services to all Public Healthcare Institutions.

Prior to joining MOH and IHiS, Mr Liang was with Accenture for 19 years. He held various leadership roles, including Partner for Growth and Operations of ASEAN Products Practice as well as the Health and Public Sector Practice in Asia Emerging Markets. He has extensive experience in complex and large scale enterprise planning and Business-IT transformation programs for governments and large businesses across Asia.

Mr Liang graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) in 1994. He has been active in the development of the Infocomm industry in Singapore. He currently holds Directorship on the Board of Assurity Trusted Solutions Pte Ltd. He also sits on the Executive Committee of Singapore Computer Society (SCS) and the Executive Council of Information Technology Management Association (ITMA).

Dr John Eu‐Li Wong, Isabel Chan Professor in Medical Sciences, is Senior Vice President (Health Affairs) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Chief Executive of the National University Health System (NUHS), incorporating public primary care clinics, community, general, and tertiary hospitals, national speciality centers in cancer, cardiovascular, and oral health, and the National University of Singapore's medical, nursing, dental, and public health schools under one unified governance in a fully integrated academic health system.

He is actively involved in the development of Health and Biomedical Sciences as a key pillar of Singapore's economy and serves as a member of the National Health and Biomedical Sciences Executive Committee. A medical oncologist‐hematologist, Wong obtained his medical degree from NUS and did his residency and fellowship at the New York Hospital‐Cornell Medical Centre, where he was the Chief Resident in Medicine, and Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Centre.

He is involved in the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centres, the Association of Academic Health Centres – International, the Global Genomic Medicine Collaborative, the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the International Editorial Board of the American Journal of Medicine, and the Advisory Board to the Government of Qatar on Academic Medicine.

He was previously involved in the Global Agenda Council on Personalised & Precision Medicine, World Economic Forum, jointly founded the Cancer Therapeutics Research Group (CTRG), a consortium of eight academic institutions spanning 5 countries in Asia and Australia and served on the International Affairs Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Professor Philip Choo is the Group Chief Executive Officer of the National Healthcare Group (NHG) since January 2015.

He is well recognised as a Geriatrician with more than 25 years of experience.

Prof Choo was awarded the TTSH Doctor of the Year in 1996. His contribution during SARS, as head of the medical team, earned him the National Day Public Service Star Award in 2003. In 2011, he was awarded the National Day Public Administration Medal (Silver), and the National Day Long Service Medal in 2015.

Prof Choo serves on several Boards which include the NHG-Johns Hopkins Singapore Institute Pte Ltd, Ren Ci Hospital, The Courage Fund Limited, and Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital. He also sits on various Ministry of Health Committees and a member of various committees eg Medical Advisory Board to MINDEF and SAF, Ageing Research Institute for Society and Education Advisory Board NTU, Community for Successful Ageing Advisory Committee and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Governing Board

Professor Kenneth Kwek is the Chief Executive Officer of Singapore General Hospital (SGH), a member of Singapore Health Services (SingHealth). SGH was established in 1821, and is Singapore's largest acute tertiary hospital with 1,700 beds and is a referral centre offering a comprehensive range of 36 clinical specialties on its campus. Every year, about 1 million Singaporeans benefit from advanced medical care delivered by its 800 specialists. As an academic healthcare institution and the bedrock of medical education, SGH plays a key role in nurturing healthcare professionals, and is committed to innovative translational and clinical research.

Prior to his appointment as CEO, SGH, Prof Kwek was CEO of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore’s largest and only hospital dedicated to women’s and children’s health. He is an obstetrician specializing in Maternal Fetal Medicine, with a clinical interest centered around care for high risk pregnancies, particularly preterm labour, cervical incompetence, pre-eclampsia as well as post partum hemorrhage.

Prof Kwek is passionate about improving the quality of patient care and harnessing process re-engineering, innovation and technology to enhance the safety and reliability of clinical care and patient outcomes. In July 2017, Prof Kwek was concurrently appointed Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (Organisational Transformation & Informatics), SingHealth.

Prof Lee Chien Earn is Deputy Group CEO, SingHealth Regional Health System, and concurrently Adjunct Associate Professor Lee is Chief Executive Officer of Changi General Hospital, a 1,000-bed public acute teaching hospital. As part of SingHealth’s senior leadership, Prof Lee drives expansion of the cluster’s programmes that include the Eastern Community Health Outreach that helps detect and manage chronic diseases early, and Neighbours for Active Living, which enables ageing-in-place. It has also been at the forefront of healthcare innovation, such as in assistive robotics technology.

His prior appointments include leadership positions in Health Services, Healthcare Performance, Health Regulation and Health Services Finance in the Ministry of Health, Singapore.

Prof Lee is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. He was a member of the Medishield Life Review Committee and chaired the subcommittee on Universal Coverage. Prof Lee currently also chairs the Singapore Healthcare Improvement Network (SHINe). He is the Director of the Eastern Health Alliance Education Office and Innovation Office.

He was/is a member of various international committees, such as International Steering Committee of World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety; Steering Committee, Asia-Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; Joint Commission International Standards Advisory Panel and the Global Health Policy Forum Working Group on Innovative Healthcare Delivery Models.

Prof Lee also co-edited the book "Singapore's Health Care System: What 50 Years Have Achieved", published in 2015. He also contributed the chapter on Strategies for Health Services in the sixth edition of the Oxford Textbook of Public Health (2015).

Prof Lee was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2011 and the Commendation Medal in 2003.