Western Pacific Pharmaceutical Forum

Wai-Keung, an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, is academic staff of the Pharmacy Department at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He has been involved in Pharmacy education for more than 10 years.  Wai-Keung graduated from NUS with a B.Sc. (Pharm) Hons degree in 1987 and thereafter proceeded on to further his education at Aston University in the United Kingdom.  Graduated with a PhD (Medicinal Chemistry) in 1990, he moved on to take up a post-doctoral fellow position at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  One year later, he was appointed as a member of the academic staff at his alma mater.

Besides educating the future pharmacists of Singapore, Wai-Keung is also actively involved in research work.  One of his areas of research interest includes the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of potential therapeutic agents, focusing particularly on agents that exhibit anticancer and neuroprotective properties.  In addition, he is also interested in developing methods of analysis for determining drugs in biological fluids and for standardizing Chinese herbal medicines.

Wai-Keung was appointed as the Sub Dean of the Faculty of Science in July 1999. During the one-year appointment he overlooked matter concerning research and graduate studies in the faculty.  Currently, he is appointed as the Deputy head of the Department of Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore.

Wai-Keung has devoted much of his time to the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore.  He was elected as council member of the Society since 1995 and is currently serving his third term as the President of the Society.  Some of his contributions to the society include being the editor for the Singapore Pharmaceutical Bulletin since 1995, being involved in a Manpower Survey work team, being the scientific co-ordinator for the Singapore Pharmacy Congress from 1996-98 and the chairman of the 13th Singapore Pharmacy Congress in 1999.  For all these contribution, he was named the winner of the Professor Lucy Wan Outstanding Pharmacist Award in 1999.

At the international level, the World Health Organization has appointed Wai-Keung to be a member of the advisory committee for International Non-proprietary Names (INNs) for Pharmaceutical Substances.  This committee is responsible for approving INNs for new drug substances.  He was elected as executive member of the Western Pacific Pharmaceutical Forum in year 2001.

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