Appointment of new chairman for Health Promotion Board

       The Minister for Health has appointed Mr Wong Kim Yin as the Chairman of the Board of the Health Promotion Board (HPB) from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027. He will succeed Mr Philip Lee, who will retire from the Board on 31 March 2024.

New Chairman, Mr Wong Kim Yin

2.      Mr Wong Kim Yin is the Group President and Chief Executive Officer of Sembcorp Industries Ltd. He has been a member of the HPB Board since 1 October 2023.

3.      Mr Wong assumes the mantle of Chairman at HPB with three decades of strategic leadership and management experience under his belt. Besides actively contributing to the global energy transition through his role as Vice Chair, Asia of the World Energy Council, he presided over Singapore’s workforce development efforts in his previous stint as Chairman of the SkillsFuture Singapore Board. Mr Wong also serves on other boards, including the National Research Foundation, DSO National Laboratories, and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

4.      As Chairman of HPB, Mr Wong will provide effective leadership to the Board and management as the organisation furthers its health promotion efforts, in line with the Healthier SG national initiative. He will play a key role in shaping HPB’s strategies in disease prevention, strengthening healthy ecosystems collaboratively with healthcare clusters and other government agencies, and delivering more impactful health initiatives driven by precision public health capabilities. With his experience in business management, Mr Wong will also lend counsel and guidance to HPB in forging more successful partnerships and nurturing a future-ready, agile organisation.

Outgoing Chairman, Mr Philip Lee

5.      The Ministry of Health and HPB wish to express our appreciation to Mr Philip Lee for his contributions and leadership to HPB since 1 April 2016, first as a member of the Board and then as Chairman from 1 April 2017.

6.      Mr Lee was instrumental in HPB’s progress on many fronts. He oversaw the organisation’s multi-year efforts in supporting the national War on Diabetes and expansion of Singapore’s healthy living options island-wide. These efforts resulted in increased accessibility of healthier food and beverage choices that was accelerated by the roll-out of Nutri-Grade measures. HPB also expanded its suite of physical activity options and mental wellbeing resources. Under Mr Lee’s watch, HPB grew its strategic partnership network across the community, schools and workplaces, embedding these healthy living options into the everyday lives of Singaporeans.

7.      During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Lee navigated HPB through the challenging period. With his support, HPB persevered with its preventive health mandate to support Singaporeans’ health and wellbeing, while taking on pandemic-related functions to safeguard public health, including quarantine, testing and vaccination operations.

8.      Under Mr Lee’s stewardship, HPB scaled up its use of technology and behavioural insights towards more evidence-based, people-centred interventions. This culminated in advancements of the Healthy 365 mobile app which has supported many in adopting healthier lifestyles. HPB also fostered innovative ways to nudge Singaporeans towards healthier behaviours, through initiatives developed on gamification concepts and wearables such as the National Steps Challenge and LumiHealth, which garnered widespread participation.

9.      Mr Lee’s chairmanship also saw HPB take on an integral role under Healthier SG. To support this transformation of the healthcare sector, HPB enhanced its preventive health initiatives and partnerships, further expanding its health and social ecosystem to enable easier and wider access to healthy lifestyle programmes among residents.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
HEALTH PROMOTION BOARD
25 MARCH 2024