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Professor Johan Eriksson is the Executive Director and Programme Director for Human Development at A*STAR IHDP, and Director of the Human Potential Translational Research Programme at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. A specialist in internal medicine and general practice, Professor Eriksson was last full professor at the faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, and chief physician at Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland. He holds clinical interests in diabetes and related metabolic diseases.

His research focuses on the early programming of health and disease, as well as on the prevention of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic outcomes by lifestyle interventions. He is in charge of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, a unique birth cohort study with a follow-up of over 20,000 individuals from birth until the age of over 80 years. Furthermore, he has been involved in the gestational diabetes prevention study RADIEL, in which a lifestyle intervention was shown to successfully reduce gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM); and the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) – the first randomised study to show that lifestyle intervention is effective in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Professor Eriksson received his medical degree and specialist qualifications from the University of Helsinki.

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Sir Peter Gluckman is A*STAR IHDP’s Chief Scientific Officer and President of the International Science Council. He originally trained as a paediatrician with an interest in endocrinology, but very soon realised his calling in research – particularly in the fields of developmental endocrinology and neuroscience. Sir Peter previously served as Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Prime Minister.

With a strong interest in children’s growth and development and understanding how a baby's environment between conception and birth influences its childhood development and lifelong health, Sir Peter’s research has made significant contributions to the fields of perinatal physiology and biology, developmental neuroscience and neuroprotection, and paediatric and experimental endocrinology. His work has been instrumental in translating biomedical research discoveries into improvements in long-term health outcomes.

In addition to holding honorary chairs at the University of Southampton, University College London and the National University of Singapore, Sir Peter has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bergen in Norway, for extraordinary accomplishments regarding science advice and science diplomacy. He has also been recognised as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA). Among his notable accolades are New Zealand’s prestigious Rutherford Medal in 2001, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) award in Science Diplomacy in 2016, and his appointment as a Knight of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 for his contributions to medicine. 

Sir Peter received the prestigious President's Science and Technology Medal in 2021 and in 2024, he was invited by the New Zealand government to chair two new advisory groups – the Science System Advisory Group (SSAG) and the University Advisory Group (UAG) – aimed at transforming New Zealand's science and university sectors. 

He received his MBChB from the University of Otago and his MMedSc from the University of Auckland.

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Professor Chong Yap Seng is the Chief Clinical Officer of A*STAR IHDP and the Founding Director of the A*STAR-NUS òòò½ÍøCentre for Nutritional Sciences, Metabolic Disease, and Human Development. He is also a Senior Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology with the National University Health System (NUHS), and the Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore.

A clinician-scientist with special interest in foetal growth and early development, Professor Chong is the Lead Principal Investigator for Growing Up in òòò½ÍøTowards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) – a nationwide birth cohort study on pregnancies and early childhood development. Key discoveries on gestational diabetes and its impact on children has made systemic changes towards Singapore’s public health policy in a matter of months. Professor Chong was awarded the National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award by the Ministry of Health in 2017.

Professor Chong received his MBBS, MMed (Obstetrics & Gynaecology) and MD from the National University of Singapore.

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Currently a practising senior consultant obstetrician at the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore, Associate Professor Chan Shiao-Yng is also Deputy Chief Clinical Officer at A*STAR IHDP and a clinician-scientist at NUS. 

Before moving to òòò½Íøin 2014, Associate Professor Chan was a consultant obstetrician in the UK with special interest in the management of pregnant women with medical disorders. After completing her PhD in 2004, she was subsequently awarded a prestigious five-year Health Foundation Clinician Scientist Fellowship and grant funding from the Medical Research Council (UK) and other research charities to establish a basic science research group at the University of Birmingham, UK. 

Her research work at NUS now focuses on endocrine and metabolic dysfunction in pregnancy and their impact on maternal and child outcomes as well as on placental development and function. She’s also extensively involved in world-class birth cohort studies like GUSTO and S-PRESTO, and is the Lead Principal Investigator in òòò½Íøfor the multinational NiPPeR (Nutritional Intervention Preconception and during Pregnancy to maintain healthy glucosE levels and offspRing health) trial.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Cambridge, received her PhD from the University of Birmingham, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (UK).

Professor Neena Modi holds the positions of Distinguished Principal Scientist and Deputy Executive Director at A*STAR IHDP. She is also Professor of Neonatal Medicine and Vice-Dean (International Affairs) at the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London and Consultant with Neonatal Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.

A fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and president-elect of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, Prof Modi is a past president of the British Medical Association, Medical Women’s Federation, and the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She has also headed the research organisations, The Neonatal Society and Academic Paediatrics Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

Prof Modi leads a multidisciplinary neonatal research group tackling the care of sick and preterm newborn infants to improve life-long health. Her contributions have included national reports on children’s biomedical research and child health in the UK, and campaigning in relation to UK health services, environmental issues and child refugees. She led the establishment of a Child Health Research Collaboration and Children's Research Fellowship Fund. She has held by election, the three leading national children’s research positions in the UK, President of the Neonatal Society, President of the Academic Paediatrics Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Vice-President for Science and Research. She chaired the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee for five year, currently serves on a number of research committees and working groups, and is a trustee of the charities TheirWorld and Action Cerebral Palsy. 

She leads the UK National Neonatal Research Database and eNewborn, an International Neonatal Research Database, registries of real-world clinical data curated for research. Her work on real-world clinical data for patient benefit has been widely acclaimed. In 2018 she received the Royal College of Physicians of London, “Excellence in Patient Care Award for Innovation” and in 2022, the US Critical-Path Institute International Neonatal Consortium “Data Pioneer Award for contributions to health data research” and the Medical Women’s International Association award for “a physician who has made outstanding contributions to the cause of women in medicine”. She is an advocate for child health and well-being, and youth enfranchisement, and a campaigner for the retention of the National Health Service as a primarily publicly funded, publicly delivered healthcare system.

Prof Modi qualified from the University of Edinburgh, and undertook specialist training in neonatal medicine at University College Hospital London, and the University of Liverpool.

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Jean Yeung is Director of Social Sciences under the Human Development domain at A*STAR IHDP and a Professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. She is also the inaugural President of the Population Association of Singapore, and the Founding Director of the Centre for Family and Population Research at NUS. She was previously a Provost-Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Sociology Department. 

Yeung's research focuses on various aspects of family and population transitions in Asia including ageing, marriage, family values, and child development. She has led national studies on family and children’s well-being in the U.S., China, and Singapore, been on the editorial boards of several top-ranking international journals, and on numerous scientific review committees and advisory boards. She is the principal investigator for the òòò½ÍøLongitudinal Early Development Study (SG-LEADS), which examines human development in òòò½Íøby using innovative methods to understand factors that can promote Singaporean children’s early childhood development, and provide input that can help address these factors.

Her current research includes various family demographic issues in Asia and America. Her work appears in leading journals and is cited widely in academic publications and high-impact media such as BBC News and The Economist. Her recent publications include changing family values and behaviour, children's well-being, human capital, and ageing.

Yeung obtained her MA in Sociology from the Illinois State University, and her PhD in Sociology from the University of Alberta.

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