Speakers

 

  

 Choy Lup Bong

 Undersecretary, Policy and International Relations Division

 Ministry of Health, Malaysia

 

 

Choy Lup Bong is Undersecretary for Policy and International Relations in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. His job responsibilities include formulating and review of non-clinical policies of the Ministry, international cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels and promoting the health industry of the country which includes health services, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Previously, he has also served in the Human Resource Division of the Ministry.

 

He has vast experience in the civil service, beginning his career as an Administrative and Diplomatic Service officer in the Public Service Department in 1981. Since then, he has served in the Ministry of Human Resources dealing with labour policy and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry where he was responsible for trade practices and multilateral trade issues.

 

He holds a B.Soc.Sc in Economics from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang and a Masters degree in Labour and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University, USA.

 

 

 Suresh Ponnudurai

 Founder & Chief Executive Officer

 Malaysia Healthcare, MALAYSIA

 

 

Suresh Ponnudurai is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of www.malaysiahealthcare.com . Coming from a technical background in manufacturing he received his Diploma from the London College of Printing in 1981 and his Bachelor of Science in Print Technology form Rochester Institute of Technology in 1985.

 

Having been exposed to working overseas, he is driven by integrity as a professional, offering 20 years of business success on national and international levels with multinationals such as Dupont, Akzo Nobel, and several other corporate companies. With having spent 15 years abroad he uses his exposure and understanding of western cultural norms to support global businesses in areas of project marketing, management and customer service management. He experience is primarily in the Asia Pacific, and North America. He is recognized as a visionary with strengths in thinking out of the box, seizing opportunities, developing ideas, defining end to end solutions and processes, presiding over lively brainstorming sessions, building consensus, recognizing peer’s strengths, delegating the right tasks to the right person and building powerful teams that can manage challenges. Couple with his attributes he is a seasoned businessman with highly diverse business knowledge propensity to initiate positive changes.

 

He is the visionary that initiated and founded one of the first few comprehensive platforms (www.malaysiahealthcare.com) which promotes health care providers in Malaysia globally. Launched by the then Minister of Tourism Malaysia, Dato Seri Tengku Adnan in 2006, he spearheaded the partnerships with the support of the private and public sector in Malaysia. He next established credibility of the platform by initiating a core team of Medical Advisors to make the services medically driven. Having initiated B2B and B2C interests both locally and abroad though his platform he has established successful international joint ventures with the latest technology required to further position the opportunity of health tourism. His main focus always is being the opportunity to market and brand Malaysia as a leading destination for healthcare targeting the estimated trillion dollar global business. His knowledge combined with his experience and people skills enables a good mix between all providers whether it health or travel to collaborate in this niche business of health tourism globally.

 

 

 Vibhu Talwar

 Group Chief Operating Officer

 Moolchand Healthcare Group, INDIA

 

 

 

Vibhu Talwar, co-promoter of Moolchand Healthcare Group, is on the advisory panel to Ministry of Tourism, India and an advisor to several governments worldwide. With deep expertise in this field, he is regarded as an authority in medical tourism. He has been keynote speaker at many national and international conferences such as World Medical Health Tourism Conference, Thailand; Medical and Wellness Tourism Show, Dubai and will be speaking at European Medical Travel Conference 2010 at Venice, Italy.

 

Vibhu Talwar has served as the Group COO of Moolchand Healthcare Group since 2002 and has played a pivotal role in its transformation. He is viewed to be a leader in the healthcare services space in India. He has developed deep expertise in healthcare quality, systems and process development, operations excellence and organization design and development.

 

Prior to assuming his current role in 2002, Vibhu was associated with Salomon Smith Barney (real estate M&A) and JP Morgan (industrial consumer goods M&A) in New York, London and Singapore for more than 4 years. He focused on corporate finance, cross border M&A, leveraged buyouts and mezzanine finance.

 

 

 Timothy Chang

 Chief Operating Officer

 Mahkota Medical Centre, MALAYSIA

 

 

 

Timothy began his healthcare career in Mahkota Medical Centre Melaka in 2005 and is currently the Chief Operating Officer. His contributions to Mahkota Medical Centre includes overseeing the development and implementation of the hospitals strategic plans, daily operations as well as the hospital's efforts for Medical Tourism.

 

During his tenure, Mahkota Medical Centre has aggressively expanded its presence in Indonesia from a few rep offices to a network of 15 offices ranging from Aceh in the west of Indonesia to Bali in the east and Makassar in the North. The hospital has since ventured beyond Indonesia and has established its presences in Singapore, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

 

 

 Amir Firdaus Abd

 Chief Executive Officer

 Gleneagles Hospital (Kuala Lumpur) Sdn Bhd, MALAYSIA

 

 

 

Amir Firdaus Abd is the CEO of Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur since December 2008. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Hospital Pantai Ampang. While there he also managed the Service Quality portfolio for the Pantai Group of Hospitals.

 

He is a member of the Institute of Healthcare Management, UK and has a wide range of experience in Healthcare Management both in the private and public sectors of healthcare delivery. He believes very strongly in people, quality and technology centric management as being central in the safe delivery of healthcare and excellent clinical outcomes. He is also an elected Board Member of the Association of Private Hospitals, Malaysia.

 

Qualifications:

Masters Degree in Business Management (Aus)

BSc Health Sciences (UK), DCR (Mal)

Attempting to pursue a PhD in Business Management

 

 

 Stuart D Rowley

 Chief Executive Officer & Board Director

 Prince Court Medical Centre, MALAYSIA

 

 

Mr Rowley has been exposed to many variations of management and clinical settings in numerous Health Care Systems with almost 30 years involvement in the Health Industry at a Senior Level, with Rural and Teaching Hospital experience in both Public and Private Healthcare settings in Australia, the UK and South-East Asia. His previous roles include; CEO of Mercy Hospital for Women (Victoria’s largest specialist women’s hospital) in Melbourne Australia, CEO of LaTrobe Regional Hospital (Victoria’s first privatised public hospital).

Mr Rowley is currently completing his Doctoral Studies in Public Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne with special interest in Clinical Risk Management. His academic qualifications include a Masters Degree from the Victoria University of Manchester UK (VUM) in Health Economics, a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Administration from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and his undergraduate Business qualification from the Education Department of Victoria.

Mr Rowley is also actively involved in the Australian Healthcare Services, Accreditation Standards and Management with more than 20 years of experience as a Consultant and Surveyor with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS).

 

 

 Raymond Chong Chin Wah

 Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

 Samitivej Group of Hopitals, THAILAND

 

 

 Raymond Chong is currently the MD and CEO for Samitivej Hospital Group. Samitivej is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and operates 3 JCI accredited hospitals. He also sits on the Board of various companies including as Chairman of Sodexo Healthcare Support Services and National Healthcare Services.

 

Train in Finance, he has more than 20 years experience in healthcare sector. Starting in Australia where he worked for St. John of God Healthcare System which operates 11 hospitals across Australia. After 8 years in Australia, he returned to Malaysia and commissioned 2 major private hospitals, Sunway Medical Centre and Pantai Indah. 

 

He has spent the past 4 years in Bangkok, Thailand operating Samitivej hospitals, a premier hospital group serving local and international patients.

 

 

 Dr. Umapathy Panyala

 Chief Operating Officer

 Apollo Hospitals, INDIA

 

 

Dr Umapathy Panyala is the COO for the Apollo hospitals-Bangalore. In his current assignment he is responsible for strategizing and establishing the network of hospitals across the state of Karnataka, including Bangalore.

 

Dr Panyala has completed his Bachelors in science and is a fellow of Emergency medicine. He has also completed his Masters in hospital administration from the Symbiosis institute, Pune and his Masters in business administration from the National University of Singapore/Stanford.

 

He has been in the healthcare services since 1992 and is a faculty in the hospital administration course of the Osmania University.

 

He is on the advisory panel of the Marcus Evans and has many speaking assignments internationally and nationally.

 

  

 Dr Paul Chang, MBBS, MPH, CPHQ, FACHE

 Managing Director, Asia Pacific
 Joint Commission International, SINGAPORE

 

 

Dr Paul Chang is Managing Director of Joint Commission International's Asia Pacific Office. In this capacity, he is responsible for furthering the development of relationships between JCI and Asia-Pacific healthcare organizations and works with regional Ministries of Health, other governmental agencies, NGOs, hospitals, laboratories and other healthcare organizations in their efforts to reduce risk and improve health outcomes.

 

Prior to this, Dr Chang was overseeing clinical quality, risk management, quality improvement and JCI accreditation in Changi General Hospital, an 800 bed Singaporean public hospital, and was part of the management team that led the hospital to achieve JCI accreditation in June 2005 as well as JCI Disease specific certification in 2 Cardiology programs in January 2007. Dr Chang also has previous working experience as a JCI accreditation surveyor, in the Singapore Ministry of Health, as well as in various Singapore hospitals.

Dr Chang earned his medical degree and his Masters in Public Health from the National University of Singapore. He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). He is also a accreditation surveyor with the International Society for Quality (IsQua). 


 Joe Ledesma
 President & Chief Executive Officer
 St. Luke’s Medical Centre, PHILIPPINES

 

Since April 1981 Joe Ledesma has been a dominant figure in the transformation of St. Luke’s Medical Center from an obsolete, dilapidated and almost bankrupt 150-bed hospital to one of Asia’s best medical institutions.

 

Actually running the hospital first as Hospital Manager in 1981, then as Executive Director in 1986 and now as President & CEO since 1996, Mr. Ledesma has presided over the explosive growth of St. Luke’s to 650 beds, with its own medical school since 1994, and about to open a second 620-bed state-of-the-art hospital at Bonifacio Global City in Metropolitan Manila.

 

For many years now being the most advanced and the most financially viable medical institution in the Philippines, and better technologically equipped than 95% of hospitals in the United States, St. Luke’s feat is all the more remarkable since this was achieved with no debt or borrowings since Mr. Ledesma joined the then ailing hospital in 1981 (except this year, to finance 30% of the cost of building and equipping the new hospital).

 

Before moving to St. Luke’s, Mr. Ledesma worked for nine years as a medical representative for pharmaceutical companies Glaxo, Beecham and Bristol Myers, and for three years was CEO of Iloilo Mission Hospital.

 

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degree at the University of San Agustin, a Certificate in Hospital Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business, and an MBA at the Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila).

 

A past president of the Rotary Club of Makati Central, Mr. Ledesma is currently Chairman of the Board of the Philippine Ballet Theater and the Philippine Foundation for Liver Diseases. He is also the President of the Makati Central Heart Foundation, Treasurer of the Philippine Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Philippine National Red Cross.

A Past Master in freemasonry and a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, he is a serious collector of fine wine, Lladro figurines and paintings.

 Dr. Ramli bin Abd Ghani
 Director, Traditional & Complementary Medicine Division
 Ministry of Health, MALAYSIA

 Catherine-Brillantes Turvill

 Founder & President

 Spa Association of Philippines, PHILIPPINES

Catherine Brillantes-Turvill (Cathy) is a pioneer and leader in the Philippine Spa and Wellness Industry. As Founder and President of Nurture Spa, one of the Philippines’ first destination spas, and Spa Professionals International Development Center, the first internationally accredited spa school in the Philippines, Cathy is also involved in various spa consultancy projects with local and international companies including  Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Eskaya Resort & Spa, Plantation Bay Resort & Spa, Marco Polo Hotels, among others. As Founding and Current President of the Spa Association of the Philippines, Cathy was instrumental in bringing the Philippine spa industry to the International arena and strengthening the private/public sector cooperation in the Philippines to develop the industry.

 Dr. Talavane Krishna, MBBS, F.F.A.R.C.S.,

 Founder President

 Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre, INDIA

 

 

Dr.Krishna is a pediatric anesthesiologist by profession. He has practiced in the U.S.A, Canada and UK for 30 years but exposure to Ayurveda as a family tradition and passion about Ayurveda brought him back to India to set up Indus Valley Ayurvedic Centre in the year 2000. Soon it became a global model for Ayurvedic institutions. People from over 55 countries visit this centre, many of them regularly.

 

IVAC is the first ISO 9001-2000 certified Ayurveda health and rejuvenation center in the world. The clean and hygienic conditions maintained at IVAC impress even the most hard to please guests, rating it on par with a standard of service sought the world over. The well trained, loving, caring and hospitable staff will ensure that the guests will have the best of personalized service round-the-clock.

 

IVAC specializes in authentic Ayurveda treatments such as Panchakarma - the ultimate Ayurvedic detox, Shirodhara and Abhyanga - the Ayurvedic oil bath and massage, as well as specially formulated Ayurvedic packages for rejuvenation, beauty enhancement and weight loss. The centre also offers short term courses in Ayurveda treatments, Vaastu, Ayurvedic cooking and planning to shortly open organic counters.

 

IVAC also lends it’s expertise in setting up centers with similar standards in various properties across the country. Currently there are four such satellite centers in Karnataka state including one in a super specialty hospital in Bangalore. IVAC recognizes that the future of the Medical Tourism hinges on the Medi Spas. It is planning to expand through out India along with super specialty hospitals to become the front runner in the medical tourism.

 Vijayan Samuel