SAOT Council &
Leadership
Gabriel Kwek
President
Gabriel is currently a Senior Professional Officer and Team Coordinator for the Health & Social Sciences Team within the Professional Officers Division, Singapore Institute of Technology, where he takes pride in the education and development of future OTs in Singapore. His clinical and leadership experience spans across the Health & Social Care sector - from specialist/tertiary rehabilitation at TTSH Rehabilitation Centre, to home-/ school-/ community-based roles in NCSS’ Sun Ray Scheme & AWWA Community Integration Service, and community/population health with TTSH/Central Health’s Community Health Team. He also helms additional external portfolios such as Consultant Principal Occupational Therapist with AWWA’s Outsource Therapy Hub, and is also in the Allied Health Profession Council’s (AHPC) Review Committee for Additional Qualifications. Gabriel’s journey with SAOT started with his involvement with the SAOT Student Committee where he became the 5th President of the Student Committee. Gabriel then joined SAOT Council upon graduation, and served in roles such as Head of various subcommittees and also Vice-President (Hon. Secretary). Gabriel strongly believes in building on collective leadership (through ground efforts and passionate OT volunteers) to drive meaningful impact and avenues for service users. Beyond crafting meaningful client-related opportunities through SAOT, Gabriel also hopes to leverage on SAOT as an aggregator to innovate, formalize, and spread awareness of local OT initiatives and useful resources (e.g. Practice Toolkits, Guidelines), thereby raising the quality of professional development/training for OTs across practice fields.
Asst. Prof. Yeh I-Ling
Vice-President (Honorary Secretary)
I-Ling is an assistant professor in Singapore Institute of Technology. She has been in the Education and Research Committee of SAOT council since 2018. She is involved in research-related portfolio, including administration of annual SAOT research grant, and research mentorship. She has also advised the student committee of SAOT since 2019. She previously served on the Scientific Committee of the National Occupational Therapy Conference in 2019. She has authored several peer-reviewed articles on neurorehabilitation, rehabilitation technology, stroke rehabilitation and occupational therapy. She has been a Review Editor for Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences since May 2021 and has been reviewing for academic journals in related fields. She is dedicated to serving the professional community and believes in SAOT as a platform to continue strengthening the profession by facilitating clinical research and creating conversations and collaborations.
Yap Li Wen
Vice-President Finance (Honorary Treasurer)
Li Wen started her journey as an Occupational Therapist in a restructured hospital, followed by a rehabilitation centre and ventured into the community. Currently, she is in a therapy hub and has been working in various Intermediate and Long-Term Care settings such as Senior Care Centres, Nursing Homes and Home Therapy. Her involvement with SAOT started as the President of SAOT Student Committee. She went on to lead SAOT Physical Rehabilitation Special Interest Group from 2017 and joined the Council as part of the Promotion & Development subcommittee in 2020. She believes in the power of communities and partnerships between therapists, organisations, clients and the community to build an inclusive society where everyone with different abilities is given opportunities for participation. Through SAOT, she hopes to contribute to shaping the development of various communities and partnerships to push for clinical advancements in the profession and advocate for the people we serve together with the people we serve.
Millicent Poh
Council Member – Education & Research (Head)
Millicent is currently an Occupational Therapist in a restructured hospital serving patients in the inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation setting. Outside of her day to day job, her passion lies in disability sports, and she has been volunteering in various disability sports communities. In addition, she sets aside time to volunteer with the spinal cord support group. Over the last 3 terms, she served in P&D and E&R where she facilitated professional learning and bonding through multiple events, such as SAOT OT Day, SIGs and NOTC. As a council member, she hopes to unite the profession as one and to enhance the quality of patient care and to support students' transition to clinicians.
Jessica Hooi
Council Member - Education & Research
Jessica received her occupational therapy training in Singapore and Australia. She is currently seconded as vice principal to St Andrew’s Autism Centre under NCSS Sunray Scheme. As an OT, she has worked in the children and adolescents setting across different sectors over the past 16 years and is currently holding appointed roles in various committees under the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC). Having been involved in the SAOT Student Committee as a student in Nanyang Polytechnic and in the Paediatrics Special Interest Group (SIG) as a clinician, she values the opportunities and platforms that SAOT creates to increase the importance and value of the OT profession. Jessica is passionate about driving the quality and visibility of the OT profession and hopes to create more opportunities for professional sharing and creation of collective knowledge within the OT Community.
Cai Mingxiu
Council Member – Education & Research
Mingxiu joined the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in 2013 as an occupational therapist in forensic psychiatry. She worked closely with offenders with mental health needs in the Psychiatric Housing Unit (PHU), which was housed within the Changi Women’s Prison (later known as Institution A4), over the next 6 years. In 2019, Mingxiu was involved in the hospital-led empanelment initiative, which sought to support individuals from acute inpatient stay through to community in their recovery journeys. Since joining Singapore Anglican Community Services in 2022, Mingxiu continues her role as a mental health occupational therapist, and oversees the rehabilitation programme planning at Anglican Care Centre, Hougang. She believes in the power of occupation-centred practice in mental health, and hopes to contribute in building a local community that is passionate in reaching out to individuals with mental health needs through her role as a council member in Education and Research.
Leo Zhao
Council Member – Education & Research
Leo has been practising for over ten years in the restructured hospital internal medicine setting, and has been involved in multiple hospital-wide workgroups looking into improving clinical care. He has also been actively involved in clinical teaching for junior clinicians as well as OT students. With a Masters in Critical Care, he hopes that more can be done by OTs within the ICU setting, and that clinicians can feel more confident when managing patients requiring acute care. Leo is currently managing the SAOT Research Grant and is also supporting the Assistive Technology SIG. As a member of the Education and Research subcommittee, he hopes to be able to explore ways to help our OT community feel more supported in their professional growth and development. Join him, will you?
Jonathon Coo
Council Member – Education & Research
Jonathan has been a practicing Occupational therapist for over 20 years with 12 years of clinical experience in the Philippine hospital setting and 9 years in Singapore. He is currently a Senior Occupational therapist in St Luke’s Eldercare focusing on Adult and Geriatric cases including Persons with Dementia and Parkinson’s disease. He led the ongoing adapted NUHS H.A.P.P.Y. project in SLEC daycare in collaboration with AIC. He completed his Bachelors degree in Occupational therapy from one of the WFOT accredited university in the Philippines. He hopes to build a strong community and OTs that is passionate about helping the elderly with needs to fight frailty, age gracefully in the community and achieve a satisfying quality of life.
Sharifah Rawiah Binte Matnor
Council Member - Promotion & Development
Sharifah Rawiah is currently an occupational therapist in a social service agency serving a DAC for adults with autism and an internal programme focusing on inclusive work. She was previously a SAOT Workplace Ambassador for 2 years before joining as SAOT council member in Promotion & Development. She believes staying connected with other OTs as well as open sharing with one another will not only promote cohesion but encourage learning within the profession. Hence, she enjoys using social media platforms to reach out to other therapists both on her personal platform as well as organisation’s platform. Being the SAOT Vice-president (honorary secretary), she hopes to further connect with more OTs as well as elevate the profession further by representing and supporting the members and community.
Pow Siok Kee
Council Member - Promotion & Development
Siok Kee is currently an occupational therapist in National University Hospital, specializing in hand therapy and rehabilitation. She is also involved in functional capacity evaluation, work rehabilitation and MOM return to work (RTW) programme as a RTW coordinator. She was previously a SAOT workplace ambassador for 2 years, being a communication touch-point between SAOT and OTs in NUH. She believes in SAOT representing the professional body and values the opportunity to contribute to the association. As a member of the P&D subcommittee, she hopes to promote and further develop the profession, amplifying the identity of occupational therapy in Singapore.
Nurul Jannah Binte Kamaludin
Council Member – Promotion & Development
Jannah is an occupational therapist with over ten years of experience working with adults with neurological, orthopaedic or traumatic conditions in inpatient and outpatient settings at a rehabilitation centre. She has been involved in various initiatives for promoting self-management and participation, and conducted workshops in Amputee Rehabilitation. When she was doing her Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy in University of Southern California, she had the opportunity to experience and witness first-hand the importance of having a professional body such as the AOTA, in providing a platform for the voices of individuals across different sectors to be heard. The passion and drive in advocating for what they believed in was truly inspiring. Although advocacy was not entirely new to her, it was mainly limited to advocating for patients in her day to day clinical work. The exposure she had in the US expanded her worldview on what advocacy can look like beyond day to day clinical work. She joined the council as she believes that advocacy can only happen when there is a collective voice strong enough to be heard. As a member of the Promotion & Development subcommittee, she hopes to contribute to the local OT community and grow the profession to greater heights so that occupational therapists can better advocate for the people we serve.
Krystal Lin
Council Member – Promotion & Development
Krystal is currently an Occupational Therapist in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She has worked in various areas of practice, such as geriatric, general medicine, renal, palliative and hands rehabilitation. Apart from inpatient acute settings, she also had experience conducting outpatient home visits for community-dwelling older adults and developing educational materials to promote safer living within the community for older adults. She was also invited as a speaker to share and discuss the application of Activity Card Sort-Singapore for community participation during SAOT OT Day 2021. As a council member, she hopes to support SAOT in developing and bonding the OT profession, adding value to the care of our clients.
Eunice Chua
Council Member – Promotion & Development
A lot of work is in place to facilitate a more seamless healthcare system, one with different stakeholders of the system coming to work more closely and with less definite boundaries between them. Similarly, I wish to be that “stitch” that helps to bring our profession closer together through creating opportunities for knowledge sharing and building networks across the different practicing sectors, ensuring that different sectors’ needs are being heard and providing the support that they need to bridge gaps, and also be the driver of professional growth within the nation’s healthcare system. And I believe that by joining SAOT as a council member would help me achieve those goals, where I would serving alongside like-minded individuals to bring our profession to greater heights.
Florence Cheong
WFOT Delegate
Florence is currently Senior Principal Occupational Therapist and Head of Occupational Therapy Department in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Since 2006, Florence’s driving assessment team has been collaborating with governmental authorities such as Land Transport Authority, Traffic Police, Ministry of Manpower and Singapore Medical Association to develop and conduct driving assessments for elderly vocational drivers. Partnering with Traffic Police, Land Transport Authority and the Handicapped Welfare Association, the team developed a workflow for persons with disabilities to learn/return to driving after a medical condition in Singapore. Florence served as council member in the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) from 2013 to 2019 and is the Deputy Chair of the Occupational Therapy Credentials Committee in AHPC. She co-chairs the Occupational Therapy Panel in MOH. Florence volunteered in various portfolios in SAOT: as elected President (2006-2016); elected Vice President (Finance) (2016-2020) and currently, as Singapore’s Delegate to the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. She won the Inspiring Occupational Therapist Award conferred by SAOT in 2019. Florence is an adjunct faculty with the Singapore Institute of Technology, imparting knowledge on health systems, management and leadership. She is a recipient of the Skillsfuture Fellowships 2020.
Adj. Assoc. Prof. Patrick Ker
WFOT 1st Alternate Delegate
Patrick is a Senior Principal Occupational Therapist at the Singapore General Hospital, sub-specialising in upper limb rehabilitation and ergonomics. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Singapore Institute of Technology. Patrick had taken on leadership roles including Head of the SGH Occupational Therapy Department and Coordinating Head of the Rehabilitation Centre. He is currently the Director for the SGH Postgraduate Allied Health Institute and the Lead for SGH’s Allied Health Division Clinical Education Unit where he oversees clinical education matters for allied health professionals. Patrick has served as SAOT President, WFOT Delegate and is currently the 1st Alternate WFOT Delegate. He was also the President for the Asia Pacific Occupational Therapy Regional Group (APOTRG). Patrick has always been passionate in the development and promotion of the occupational therapy profession in Singapore and internationally. He launched the 1st Occupational Therapists Day in Singapore during his term as SAOT President and continues to serve in various committees that uphold the professional standards of occupational therapy practice.
Assoc. Prof. Lim Hua Beng
WFOT 2nd Alternate Delegate
Hua Beng is an Associate Professor with the Health and Social Sciences Cluster at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). He is the current Programme Leader of Occupational Therapy degree at SIT. Hua Beng has dedicated his career to educating and mentoring Singapore’s future generation of occupational therapists. He is actively involved in various workgroups and committees with the Allied Health Professions Council, the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of Health. In 2007, Hua Beng was awarded the Tsuyoshi Sato Lectureship Award by the Asia Pacific Occupational Therapists Regional Group. He also received the Inspiring Occupational Therapist Award from the Singapore Association of Occupational Therapists in 2015, the Educator Achievement Award from Nanyang Polytechnic in 2017 and Teaching Excellence Award from SIT in 2020. Hua Beng has served as President, SAOT , WFOT Education Programme and was one of the WFOT delegates who founded the Asia Pacific Occupational Therapy Network which is now the Asia Pacific Occupational Therapists Regional Group.