TAN Shyong Wei, Kevin

Kevin SW TAN is Associate Professor at and Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, National University of Singapore. He is also Vice-Dean, Graduate Studies, at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Head, Innovation in Graduate Studies, at the National University Health System. His curiosity for parasites originated from his graduate student days at NUS and blossomed during his postdoctoral stint at The Rockefeller University, New York City. He is relieved to be awarded tenure in 2011, and can now spend more time on social issues, such as public science education. Kevin’s research focuses on understanding how parasites commit suicide and exploiting such knowledge to trigger death mechanisms as an anti-parasite strategy. He is also interested in the problem of drug resistance and his team has recently come up with new ways to find drugs that overcome resistance. More recently, his team has embarked on projects focusing on the role of single cell eukaryotes (SCEs) in the host microbiome. He hopes that the research from his team would accelerate the finding of new cures for parasitic diseases.

Research Areas

• Malaria
• Cell Death
• Blastocystis
• Microbiome
• Bioimaging

Companies

• Head Of Department NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (2020)
• Vice-Dean (Graduate Studies) NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (2019)
• Associate Professor National University of Singapore (2011)
• Assistant Professor National University of Singapore (2003 — 2011)
• Postdoctoral Fellow The Rockefeller University (2000 — 2003)
• Commissioned Officer Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) (1988 — 1990)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) National University of Singapore (1994 — 1999)
• BSc (Hons) National University of Singapore (1991 — 1994)
• A Levels Raffles Junior College (1986 — 1987)
• O Levels Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) (1977 — 1985)