Adj Prof Sze-Wee Tan

Affiliation

Advisor, Ecosystem Enablement (Healthcare & Lifescience), Temasek Singapore Pte Ltd

Profile

Education and Training: Professor Tan graduated with MBBS from National University of Singapore (NUS), and attained his MBA from Warwick University, UK. He attended the Stanford Executive Programme at the Stanford University’s Graduate School Business, and was awarded a certificate of completion for the Senior Fellowship in Public Service Programme, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. Prof Tan also attended the Executive Leadership Programme from the Singapore Civil Service College. 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.

Leadership Appontment: Prof Tan Sze Wee, is currently Advisor to Temasek Singapore Pte Ltd. Temasek is a global investment company headquartered in Singapore with a multinational staff of over 900 people. Prof Tan will be supporting Temasek at BioSparc in Suzhou. This is a China-Singapore Life Sciences Park, which Temasek is working on with Suzhou Industrial Park. It aims to build on the SIP’s strengths in the biomedical sector, providing research and development centres and manufacturing facilities to advance cutting-edge innovations from drug development and medical devices to artificial intelligence-driven medical technologies.

Between 2009 to 2025, Prof Tan served various leadership roles in the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), which is Singapore's lead public sector R&D agency. As a Science and Technology Organisation, A*STAR bridges the gap between academia and industry. A*STAR's R&D activities span biomedical sciences to physical sciences and engineering, with over 6,000 staff within 17 research entities and national platforms primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis.

Prof Tan’s career in A*STAR started in 2009. He was first appointed as Programme Director of the A*STAR Medical Technology initiative in Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), that led in the partnership with Stanford BioDesign @ Stanford University, and Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology (CIMIT) in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA. Prof Tan was subsequently appointed as Director (SERC), where he oversaw all SERC cluster-led research and development (R&D). From 2012 to 2015, Prof Tan was Deputy Executive Director (DED), Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and his cross-Council experience enabled A*STAR to engage companies across industry sectors.

In 2016, Prof Tan was appointed ED, SERC and was subsequently redesignated as Assistant Chief Executive (ACE), SERC in 2019. As ACE SERC, Prof Tan drove the implementation of strategic plans and initiatives set for A*STAR in the Science and Engineering areas. Prof Tan was appointed ACE, Innovation and Enterprise as well as Acting Chief Executive of A*ccelerate Technologies Pte Ltd in 2020. He aligned A*STAR industry engagement, licensing and venture creation value chain among the A*STAR Research Institutes and the National Platforms. This is to drive efforts to translate A*STAR’s R&D to market so as to enable research-fuelled economic and societal impact.

From 2023 to 2025, Prof Tan was appointed ACE BMRC. BMRC supports, oversees and coordinates public sector biomedical research and development activities in Singapore to cultivate a thriving biomedical cluster. At BMRC, he oversaw the development of core research capabilities in bioprocessing, genomics and proteomics, molecular and cell biology, bioengineering and nanotechnology, and computational biology. Prof Tan also served on the governance committee of National Platforms Diagnostic Development Hub (DxDHub), Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC) and Medtech Catapult.

Prior to these roles, Prof Tan was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Rockeby biomed Limited from 2001 to 2009. He was the Asia-Pacific Associate Regional Medical Director for Mead Johnson Nutritional’s, a division pf Bristol-Myers Squibb Company from 1997 to 2001.

Academic, Clinical and Innovation Focus: Professor Tan constantly promotes international research, innovation and enterprise partnership between Singapore, A*Star and its key scientific, industry and venture building partners across the world. He has forged bilateral research partnership programmes between Singapore and China, Germany, Korea, Japan, New Zealand. He is a speaker at international conferences on topics around medical technologies, AI in Healthtech, and advises academic, corporate and not for profit organisations for wide range of topics. Within A*STAR, he oversees close to 2,000 research scientists and engineers during his stint at BMRC and SERC, each with annual operating budget of US$300M.

Professional Service: Professor Tan has served on various national committees in Singapore. He is a member of the Board Oversight Committee for Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS). He is a board member of the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) as well as a member of its Incubator Advisory Board for the SERI Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator Phase II Program. He is a council member of the Singapore Medical Association (SMA), as well as a board director for SMA Pte Ltd. Prof Tan is also the Chairman of Unlocking ADHD Ltd.

Awards & Honours: Professor Tan was a former Nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore, and is a recipient of the Singapore Public Administration Medal (Silver) as well as the Singapore (Covid-19) Public Administration Medal (Silver). He has also received the Friend of Labour Award.