AOAC SEA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Group Quality Control and Quality Assurance Manager at GC Holdings Sdn Bhd
- Working Group Co - Chair
Amelia Cheng has just retired as the Group Quality Control and Quality Assurance Manager at GC Holdings Sdn Bhd in September 2021. During her 37 years of career, Amelia was proactive in the technical group services of the company, overseeing the QC & QA of the laboratories and the process of GC Feedmills in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, China and Thailand.
At the international level, Amelia joined AOAC International in 1989 and received the 25 years Member Service Award in 2014. She was also a member of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). At the national level, she has been an enthusiastic member of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM) since 1986 and actively participated in many of its activities. From 2012 to present, Amelia has been serving as a committee member in the IKM Southern Branch. She received the Citation Award in 2014 for distinctive contributions to the profession of Chemistry in Malaysia.
She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Pharmacology at Monash University, Victoria and Postgraduate Diploma in Food Technology at UNSW, Australia. Learning through nearly four decades of professional training and practices, Amelia is well-versed on several subjects. She was responsible for the scheduled Group Round Robin Tests; experienced in new laboratory set-up / layout design and also laboratory renovations; trained and mentored Country QA/QC Managers; conducted audits and provided technical advice; and ensured compliance with GMP and Food Safety Management System. Besides chemical analysis, Amelia also has laboratory skills in microbiological analysis, mycotoxin assay, microscopy of feedingstuff and NIR analysis (both NIR software and chemometrics); and attended the Advanced NIR Forum at Copenhagen in 2015 and Phuket in 2018.
With a professional career always dedicated to work and communities, Amelia is ever ready to share her expertise and technical know-how.
Job Titles:
- Director of Industrial Technology Development Institute
- Working Group Chair
Annabelle V. Briones is the Director of Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST). She is at the forefront of leading the Institute to make local industries globally competitive through research and development, transfer and commercialization of innovative and sustainable technologies, and appropriate technical services.
She earned her doctorate in Engineering from Keio University, Japan, and a Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines. In 2017, she was conferred as Scientist I of Scientific Career System by the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology and a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO), rank IV by the Philippine Career Executive Service Board (CESB).
She had represented the country in various international symposia and conferences. She has authored multiple publications and patents. One of her researches is the Philippine Mosquito Ovicidal/Larvicidal (OL) Trap system selected as finalists of the 2016 R&D 100 Awards (The Oscars of Invention) by R&D World Magazine.
She also received the award as Woman Leader of DOST in 2019 and a recipient of the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award (group category) in 2014. In 2020, the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology (PHILAAST) bestowed her with the Gregorio Zara Award for Applied Research, and this year, Asian Scientist Magazine recognized her accomplishments as one of the most outstanding scientists in the region in their 2021 edition of the Asian Scientist 100 list.
Job Titles:
- Quality Manager at the Center for Standardization
- Working Group Co - Chair
Mr. Putra is currently the Quality Manager at the Center for Standardization and Industrial Service Medan, an institution under the Indonesian Ministry of Industry. He is responsible in the application of quality management system in service standard of testing laboratory in his organization based on ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 17025:2017. Mr. Putra's work prioritizes quality improvement to optimization quality service in ensuring industrial products and environmental quality meet with national regulation by testing in laboratory and research.
He previously served as Senior Laboratory Analyst from 2018 to 2021 at the same institution.
Job Titles:
- Professor at the Sunway University
- Working Group Co - Chair
Dr Chai Lay Ching is Professor at the Sunway University. She is the Chair of the Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) that represents top young researchers in the country who are committed to contribute to the national ecosystem beyond their individual research interests. Part of her role includes engaging young academics in the country to rethink their role in shaping higher education for the future.
Dr Chai's research focuses on infectious microorganisms, food safety and microbiological risk assessment. She served as the Vice Chair of the Technical Working Group of Microbiology under the Food Analysis Committee (JKAM) chaired by the Department of Chemistry Malaysia from 2016-2020; and is listed as the Malaysian expert on microbial risk assessment in the ASEAN Risk Assessor Directory. Also, she leads numerous academia-industry projects, such as serving as key opinion leaders of 3M Asia Pacific, food safety research with Kikkoman Japan and other local food manufacturers. Her active contribution and involvement in microbiological safety research has won her the Malaspina International Award by the International Life Science Institute (ILSI) in 2017; and she is currently serving as the scientific advisor of ILSI South East Asia Region providing guidance and advice on food safety risk assessment.
Dr Chai is also involved in promoting biosafety and biosecurity in Malaysia. She was selected and provided a fellowship to participate in the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Global South Biosecurity Diplomacy Workshop in Switzerland in 2019. Her research and leadership in promoting research integrity, inclusivity and excellence has been recognised through multiple awards such as the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award in 2018, Marie Claire's Amazing Woman in Malaysia 2019, Prestige's 40 under 40 Malaysia 2019 and the Asian Women Entrepreneurs Leadership Award 2019.
Dr. Joanne Ho is currently the APAC Food & Environment Business Development Manager at Waters Corporation. She collaborates with global and regional teams, translates global business strategies into effective regional marketing plans, evaluates market opportunities and drives demand for analytical instruments and services in food and environment across APAC.
Prior to Waters, she was with Kemin Industries for 9 years. She started her career in 2010 as a Scientist, developing new products (mold inhibitors, acidifiers, antimicrobials, toxin binders) from ideation to scale up and through product launches. In 2013, she was the Customer Laboratory Service Manager where she manages the customer laboratory and drives the development of new testing methods and rapid test kits in APAC. In 2016, she joined the product management team taking care of the feed quality platform within the animal feed industry across Asia-Pacific. She travels extensively across SEA to train farmers and feedmillers on the importance to screen the quality of incoming raw materials and having proper sampling techniques. In 2019, she became the Deputy Head of Feed Quality Platform, taking care of both the feed safety and stability platform.
Joanne joined AOAC SEA Section in 2021 and has been an active member of the Capacity Building and Training of Young Scientists Working Groups. She is also the Sponsor Chair for 2022 & 2023 AOAC SEA Annual Conferences.
She has a Bachelor Degree in Chemistry from The National University of Singapore, and obtained her PhD in Chemistry from University of New South Wales in 2010. She is (co)author of more than 9 scientific publications.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Program Manager at the Nestlé Institute of Food
Erik Konings is Program Manager at the Nestlé Institute of Food Safety and Analytical Sciences in Lausanne, Switzerland where he provides leadership to global quality, laboratory and regulatory teams to engage in strategic local activities to drive alignment/harmonization of analytical methods and partners with government and non-government organizations in the development of standards for analytical methods.
He is active within AOAC INTERNATIONAL (Past-President), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (Chair ISO TC 34, Working Group 14 on Vitamins, carotenoids and other nutrients), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) (Chair CEN TC 275 Working group 9 on Vitamins and carotenoids), and the International Dairy Federation (IDF). He participates in the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS).
He studied higher professional laboratory education with majors in Analytical and Clinical chemistry holds an MSc degree in Epidemiology and a PhD in Health Sciences of Maastricht University, the Netherlands (2001). He is (co)author of more than 40 scientific publications.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Secretary ( 2024 - Present )
Being with the team since the beginning, Hong has helped the association grow from less than 50 members in June 2021 to over 700 ones in June 2023, with stronger footprints in Southeast Asian countries. The success of this lies in her ability to observe the best of everyone and work closely with the team to form a strong brand identity for AOAC SEA. She was/is AOAC SEA Capacity Building Working Group Chair (2020-2022), AOAC SEA Annual Conference Publicity Chair (2022 & 2023) and Strategic Engagement Manager (since 2022).
Hong obtained her B.Sc. in Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin on a full-ride scholarship, with Dr. Andrew Ellington as her undergraduate research supervisor. Her Master's/Ph.D. mentors are the top mass spectrometrists, Drs. Joseph Loo and Rachel Ogorzalek Loo, at University of California, Los Angeles. Hong did her second Master's degree in Public Policy Analysis at Fulbright University Vietnam, which aspires to be the Harvard of Vietnam, on a full-tuition scholarship. Hong joined different scientific associations in the U.S., got industry experience in the analytical testing field from working for Transmed Co. Ltd. in Vietnam, and has a full-time job at the Institute of Drug Quality Control Ho Chi Minh City, a government institution.
Job Titles:
- Principal Scientist at Waters Corporation
- Working Group Co - Chair
Huei Hong Lee is a Principal Scientist at Waters Corporation. She has over 7 years' experience in analytical instrumentation within the subject areas of analytical chemistry and material science. She drives research collaboration projects and facilitates stakeholders' engagement in food and environmental sector. Prior joining Waters Corporation, she was a senior application specialist who provide field technical support on analytical testing for the government, academics, and private industries. She participated in the regional collaborative project with IRRI on grain quality and evaluation methods, experienced in rice genetic diversity, bran nutrients, and bioprocessing. She has good knowledge in method validation, verification and measurement of uncertainty for ISO17025 accreditation.
She joined AOAC International since 2019 and participated in working group of Food Authenticity Method (FAM). She is also a member of SIFST and co-opted council member of MIFT.
Dr Lee earned her PhD in Food Chemistry, (co)authored for more than 10 scientific publications and intellectual property.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of the Duke - NUS Medical School
Jianhong Ching is an Assistant Professor of the Duke-NUS Medical School, where he acts as the Director of the Metabolomics Core Facility and Research Lab. His lab provides mass spectrometry analysis for researchers worldwide, assisting mainly in the interpretation of biological pathways of metabolic disorders. His research interests are on cellular nutritional imbalances of metabolic diseases and stable isotope tracing, and had taken part in the analysis of large-scale clinical cohorts for most major hospitals in Singapore. Jianhong is a Joint Scientist of the KK Women's and Children's Hospital and is also part of the Singapore Food Agency Novel Food Expert Working Group. As part of the Novel Food Expert Working Group, he provides advice to novel food regulatory framework from the angle of metabolomics and mass spectrometry analysis.
Jianhong joined the AOAC SEA Section in 2022. His interest in mentoring students led him to volunteer in the Training of Young Scientist (ToYS) Working Group. Jianhong also holds the position of the Vice President of the Singapore Society of Mass Spectrometry (SSMS).
Jianhong has a BSc (First Class Honours) in Life Sciences, followed by a PhD from NUS, focusing on chemical analysis of medicinal plants. He has presently (co)authored more than 40 scientific publications.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Working Group Chair
Jie Zhang is Manager - Analytical Governance & Toxicology, Global Food Safety at Mead Johnson Nutrition Asia Pacific (Reckitt), Singapore, where he drives development and harmonization of analytical methods to support the innovation projects. Prior to joining Mead Johnson Nutrition Asia Pacific, he was senior scientist and lead scientist in Nutritional industry Research and Development Center (Singapore), where he developed new analytical methods to support new nutritional product development and provided nutritional method training and transfer.
He is active within AOAC INTERNATIONAL. He joined AOAC International since 2016 and he was one of the past members of AOAC SPIFAN Expert Review Panel (both nutrition and contaminants).
He has a Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Technology. He holds an MSc degree in Environmental Science (contaminant analysis) and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry in National University of Singapore (2007). He is (co)author of more than 10 scientific publications
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Treasurer ( 2024 - Present )
- Working Group Chair
Jing holds a Ph.D. degree in Analytical Chemistry from the National University of Singapore and is currently working as the Analytical Team Lead at FMC, an agrichemical company, where she has been leading a group of scientists providing technical solutions and developing analytical strategies to support IP, brand protection, registration, process innovation and improvements. Prior to FMC, Jing has over 10 years of working experience in Food and Pharmaceutical analysis in both the private and public sectors.
Jing was one of the founding member of AOAC SEA and is AOAC SEA's Capacity Building Working Group Chair (since 2023). She has been a member of AOAC INTERNATIONAL (AOACI) since 2016 and played different roles including steering committee member of Analytical Solution Forum (2019-2021), member of ERP for bisphenol A (2017; best ERP of 2017-2018), and working group participant of human milk oligosaccharides (2019) and lactoferrin (2020).
Job Titles:
- Member of FSSAI Method Review Group
- Working Group Chair
Kumud Ashish Singh holds a master's degree in microbiology and is currently leading regulatory management for F&B & Environment Testing at Merck Life Science supporting advocacy & surveillance for APAC countries.
She has over 17.5 years of experience involving manufacturing & corporate roles in various FMCG companies. Prior to working with Merck, she was responsible for set up of greenfield lab project (1.4 MM USD) involving designing to operation (QMS) followed by Operational Excellence in laboratory for Mars International. Kumud also worked as Microbiologist Subject Matter Expert with Coca-Cola India & Pepsi Foods, where she was responsible for conducting capability enhancement programs for microbiologists like global microbiology training, troubleshooting along with microbiology risk assessment programs to curb microbial spoilage & low-cost proficiency testing programs for India & Southwest Asia region. She started her career as microbiologist at Colgate Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson.
Kumud is member of FSSAI Method Review Group since 2018 to 2020, member of AOAC India Chapter (since 2017), Secretary AOAC SEA from 2020 and current member of scientific council of CHIFSS which is a joint association between CII & Unilever. One of her notable advocacy projects was development of C-MAT lab as part of CSR project between Merck & FSSAI.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President - Elect
- Vice President of Quality
Lionel Tay currently serves as the Vice President of Quality and Regulatory for the Asia-Pacific Zone at McCormick & Company Inc. In this role, he oversees all quality and regulatory aspects across various sectors, including Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), QSRs, Food Services, Flavors, and food ingredients.
Prior to McCormick, Lionel was the Head of Quality for Syngenta Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. He has also undertaken management responsibilities as Site Head for Covance Asia Pacific Pte Ltd overseeing the Central Laboratory Services business for APAC. In addition, Lionel was a registered Principal Auditor with International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA).
Throughout his career, Lionel has gained extensive experience in laboratory management and science, spanning diverse industries such as clinical research, food sciences, agro-chemicals, and food manufacturing. His expertise extends to consulting for various organizations in the region, including public hospitals in Shanghai and Beijing. Notably, he co-authored Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines and technical manuals for the China State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) from 2008 to 2010.
Lionel holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and an Advanced Diploma in Quality Management. He furthered his education by pursuing an MBA with the University of Liverpool and recently completed the Strategic Thinking for CXOs program with the University of Cambridge.
Pinky is the Regulatory & Scientific Affairs (RSA) Lead of Nestlé Philippines. Prior to this role, she was the Regulatory & Scientific Affairs Lead for the R&D and Beverages Business unit in Nestlé Headquarters, Switzerland (2016-2018). She has been with Nestlé for more than 27 years, mainly spent in Factory Quality Assurance (1995-1997, Corporate Quality Management and Nestlé Quality Assurance Center (1998-2012), Technical Operations and R&D (2012 to present). Currently she's also handling Nestlé's government and industry affairs in her role as Regulatory & Scientific Affairs Head for the Philippine market (2018 to present). Pinky's serving the Philippine Association of Food Technologists (PAFT) as a Board Member for almost eight (8) years (2013-2016, 2019-2022) and previously held Board and Officer positions with Integrated Chemists of the Philippines and Philippine Federation of Chemistry Societies (2019-2021).
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager at the Abbott Nutrition Research & Development Pacific Asia Centre
- Working Group Chair
Qi Lin is Senior Manager at the Abbott Nutrition Research & Development Pacific Asia Centre, Singapore. She leads the Analytical Research function to provide analytical solutions to new nutritional product development, pre-clinical and clinical study, supply chain and commercial QA, regulatory and IP for countries in the region. She leads research on analytical science and food chemistry, and development of test methods for nutrients, contaminants, physical characterization, and bioanalysis.
She joined AOAC International since 2013 and has participated in AOAC SPIFAN program via summitting nutrient test method and joining working group.
She holds a PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA. She (co)authored more than 20 scientific publications and patents.
Stewart Jones has a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in chemistry from the University of Western Australia (UWA). During his career he has worked for a number of private and government analytical laboratories, with his last role being the Senior Manager - Laboratory Operations of the National Measurement Institute in WA (formerly the Australian Government Analytical Laboratories, AGAL).
Over the last 30 years Stewart has also managed several international projects and consultancies for the Australian Government and the World Health Organization, applying his knowledge of risk management to assist laboratories and food industries in many Asia Pacific countries.
He is currently the Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Food Analysis Network (APFAN) and is consulting to the Pacific Quality Infrastructure Initiative (PQII) under the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President
- Service Manager at BV - AQ Singapore
Xinping Hou is currently the analytical service manager at BV-AQ Singapore, where she provides technical consultation and develops analytical service strategies for the organization to support the industries on their innovation, process improvement and product quality control. Prior to BV-AQ, She had been working in other contract research and testing laboratories as technical manager and operation director for food and pharmaceutical product analysis.
She has been a member of AOAC International since 2016. She has participated AOAC SPIFAN program and led the setup of many AOAC methods in the laboratory.
She has been appointed by Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) as the technical auditor for food and pharmaceutical laboratory accreditation since 2003.
She has a bachelor and master's degree in analytical chemistry and got her PhD in Chemistry from National University of Singapore. She is (co)author of more than 10 scientific publications.