GovInsider celebrates healthcare innovators

As Singapore’s population health movement, Healthier SG, moves from rollout to impact, the resolve and innovation of Singapore’s healthcare professionals would be key in building a society where people lived longer and healthier lives. 

To celebrate these healthcare professionals, GovInsider gave out its inaugural Healthcare Day Awards 2025, as part of its Healthcare Day 2025 event on September 16. 

Across six categories, the awards recognised and celebrated outstanding individuals and teams driving digital innovation, inter-agency collaboration and bringing in impactful changes to Singapore’s public healthcare sector. 

Spotlighting digital mental health and interagency collaboration  

MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT)’s Deputy Director, Janice Weng, clinched the Healthcare Transformation Leader of the Year Award.  

She leads mindline.sg, Singapore's national digital first-stop touchpoint for mental health. 

Weng redefined how Singapore delivers mental health care in the digital age.  

She transformed a pilot project into the nation's first fully integrated, anonymous mental health platform, which was now helping thousands across various communities. 

“We saw an opportunity to go deep into digital solutions to address the rapidly increasing mental health needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. We grappled with a couple of interesting challenges.

“How do we get individuals mental health support in the convenience of their homes during lockdown? How do we address the stigma with mental health and encourage people to gain awareness of their wellbeing and seek help if needed?” said Weng to GovInsider. 

Weng's team collaborated with users and stakeholders to create a self-help website that provides anonymous, accessible support to anyone and anywhere. 

Since then, mindline.sg has expanded its resources to include a mental health service directory and a moderated forum where individuals can find support and advice from counsellors, peer supporters and befrienders. 

The one-stop platform also contained tools to help users assess their state of wellbeing, digital therapeutic exercises, an AI therapy chatbot, and a library of psycho-education content.  

“Digital technology advances at a rapid pace and we see many opportunities to tap into their potential, especially AI, to improve engagement, personalise care, and reach out to groups which are hard to reach,” Weng added. 

Excellence in data driven transformation 

The Agency for Intergrated Care (AIC)’s Silver Generation Office (SGO) and Synapxe’s Data Analytics & AI (DNA) team jointly secured the Excellence in Data Driven Transformation Award with its SGO Preventive Health Visits Feedback Analytics initiative.  

The two agencies collaborated on the project that transformed how feedback from the SGO PHV was analysed, leveraging data-driven solutions to address a major operational solution. 

Previously, SGO staff had to manually review samples of verbatim feedback, limiting the ability to draw comprehensive insights. With an average of 300,000 visits yearly across 17 satellite offices, the volume of feedback was overwhelming.  

Automating the analysis enabled the agency to obtain systematic and deeper insights into seniors’ experiences, providing a valuable lens for shaping resource planning, service delivery and policymaking for Singapore’s ageing population. 

“Data-driven transformation powered by technology and AI is essential for creating more customised, personalised SGO's engagement with older adults - empowering them live well and age well with dignity,” said AIC’s Chief of Silver Generation Division, Dr Sng Hock Lin. 

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What’s new at HCD 2025 

GovInsider’s annual healthcare event featured new formats and topics, reflecting the evergreen need for innovation in achieving the nation’s healthcare goals. 

The rapid roundtable sessions provided attendees the opportunity to engage in a quick-fire, hands-on, close-combat dialogues with fellow attendees across topics of digital literacy, pilot scaling, artificial intelligence (AI), and upskilling.  
 
Chandler Academy of Governance (CAG)’s Dean Ho Wei Jiang, who moderated the rapid roundtable titled Bridging the Digital Health Divide, noted how the conversations highlighted that the digital health divide has many layers to it - from access and affordability to digital literacy and trust. 

“What came out clearly was that the key is to keep the human in the loop: designing user-centric solutions that absorb complexity on behalf of the user, so that no matter their age, background or circumstance, they can benefit equitably from digital health,” he said. 

This year’s event agenda also reflected the diverse stakeholders involved in Singapore’s whole-of-government (WOG) push for community-driven, preventative healthcare. 

The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF)’s Healthcare Regionalisation Project Office Head, Dr Magdalene Lee, lent her unique insights on the military’s approach of aligning policy with operational readiness, using data to predict and prevent injuries. 

She reflected her agency’s experiences in high-stake environments, such as deciding whether a pilot is safe to fly, and how these experiences shaped her approach to healthcare transformation.

These experiences imparted non-negotiable principles like mission clarity, resource discipline, and systems-level integration. 

The panel discussion titled Age Well SG: A Multi-Agency Approach to Community Eldercare looked into how Singapore was equipping and integrating strategies for seniors to age independently within their communities considering a rapidly ageing population.  

Caregiver support agency SG Assist’s Co-Founder Adrian Tan underscored the different definitions of what a “fulfilling” life was.  
 
“I think one thing that we should do is really to consider a lot of our programmes were designed with a specific purpose, skill future, wanting more older workers to stay at work because of economic concerns. 

“How can we balance the narrative better and offer other channels to really allow the senior to explore what they truly wish to do, rather than telling them what they should do? I think that's a challenge that we haven't truly figured out,” he said. 

If you didn't manage to attend the event, we hope you enjoyed reading about it here! Stay tuned for more stories about the award winners. 

The full list of the Healthcare Day Awards 2025 winners can be found here:
 

Healthcare Transformation Leader of the Year
Winner:

• Janice Weng, Ministry of Health Transformation 

Special mention:

• Tan Cher Heng, Tan Tock Seng Hospital 

Digital Health Champion
Winner:

• Dr Clement Chia Luck Khng, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital 

Special mentions:  

• Wong Shuk Wei Sylvia, Synapxe 

• Dr Karen Chua Sui Geok, Tan Tock Seng Hospital 

Best in AI-Driven Healthcare Innovation
Winner:

• CHAMP Team, National University Health System 

Special mentions:  

• Synseh, Synapxe 

• HealthHub AI, Synapxe Data Analytics & AI (DNA) team 

Excellence in Data-Driven Transformation
Winner:

• Silver Generation Office Preventive Health Visit Feedback Analytics, AIC Silver Generation Office and Synapxe Data Analytics & AI (DNA) team 

Special mentions:  

• NUHS Group Enterprise Risk Management (EMR) & Compliance, National University Health System 

• NHG Health Group Data & AI team, NHG Health 

Next-Generation Healthcare Facility Award

Winner:

• Woodlands Health, Campus Planning & Development Sustainability, AI and Innovation Office, Woodlands Health 

Special mentions:

• Operation and Technology Roadmap (OTR) to Improve Inventory Management in Perioperative Services, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital 

• KTPH Smart Ward, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital 

 
Workplace Transformation Champion

Winner:

• NurseFirst, Woodlands Health 

Special mentions:  

• JurongHealth Campus Digital Think Tank, JurongHealth 

• Synapxe Tandem, Synapxe Data Analytics & AI (DNA) team