NHIC to Operate as an Independent Business Unit, Governed by New MOH Holdings Subsidiary

Singapore, 18 June 2020 – The National Health Innovation Centre Singapore (NHIC), an innovation and enterprise office established to accelerate healthcare innovation through translational funding, mentoring and facilitating deal formations with companies, will now be managed under a newly formed holding organisation, the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS).

Established in 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of MOH Holdings, CRIS seeks to strengthen synergies and promulgate strategies for national-level clinical research and translation programmes that are under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health (MOH). The organisation will preside over NHIC and four other entities as business units under a common management and governance structure.

For more information on CRIS, click here.

About the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS)

The Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS), a wholly owned subsidiary of MOH Holdings, has been established in 2020 with the goal of strengthening synergies and promulgating strategies for national-level clinical research and translation programmes that are under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health (MOH).

CRIS has been formed by repurposing the former Singapore Clinical Research Institute Pte Ltd and brings together the following five entities as business units under a common management and governance structure:

• Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI)

• National Health Innovation Centre Singapore (NHIC)

• Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute Singapore (ACTRIS)

• Precision Health Research Programme Singapore (PRECISE), and

• Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium (STCC).

Each business unit will continue to be accountable to their respective Board Oversight Committees for deliverables. The CRIS Board and CRIS HQ will address corporate governance and support matters, and optimise synergies in operations and research efforts across these entities.

CRIS aims to make a positive difference to Singapore patients and researchers by ensuring that these clinical research platforms and programmes are at the cutting edge of capability development and innovation, through facilitated collaborations and enduring partnerships with research and biomedical entities and communities across the public sector and industry in Singapore.

Appointment of Dr Danny Soon as inaugural Chief Executive Officer, CRIS and concurrent Executive Director, SCRI

The CRIS Board is pleased to announce that Dr Danny Soon has been appointed CEO CRIS and ED SCRI.  He will assume these concurrent positions full-time from 1 Aug 2020 and on a part-time basis during July 2020.

As the first CEO of CRIS, Danny will have the responsibility for building CRIS as the Headquarters (HQ) for its five business units. He will provide strategic direction and oversight to CRIS in partnership with its business units, to ensure that the Consortium achieves its vision and mission to keep Singapore’s clinical research capabilities and innovation at the cutting edge, while maintaining accountability to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other key stakeholders.  Danny will work closely with MOH divisions and stakeholders to ensure effective and efficient translation of policy objectives into implementation.

As ED of SCRI, Danny will be accountable to deliver on SCRI’s mission. SCRI strives to improve patient care as Singapore’s academic research organisation through the design and support of cutting-edge clinical trials and research by working closely with its partners, including leading pharmaceutical, medical devices and biotech organisations, and investigators in the public sector healthcare system.

Danny presently holds the position of Executive Director, Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) in A*STAR. His team in BMRC is responsible for incepting and coordinating efforts and programmes in drug development, precision medicine, medical technology and biomanufacturing.  Danny has had long experience in drug development, having been founding CEO of the Experimental Biotherapeutics Centre in A*STAR and previously with Eli Lilly and Company for 15 years, where he was Managing Director and Principal Investigator of the Lilly Singapore pharmacology research centre.

We warmly welcome Danny and look forward to his leadership of CRIS to advance clinical research and innovation in Singapore.

Professor John CW Lim
Chairman, Consortium for Clinical Research & Innovation Singapore