Speaker

Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Group Chairman and CEO, DEFTA Partners

vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference

Chair, GSK

Sir Jonathan Symonds has extensive international financial, life sciences and governance experience. In July 2021, Sir Symonds co-chaired with Professor Sir John Bell the preparation of the UK Life Science Vision, which sets out a strategy for UK life sciences in the post-Covid world and seeks to capitalise on many of the UK’s scientific successes through the pandemic.

In financial services, Sir Symonds served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc from April 2014, and as Deputy Group Chairman from August 2018, until his retirement from the Board in February 2020. He was previously Chairman of HSBC Bank plc from April 2014 to July 2018 and oversaw the formation of the ring-fence bank HSBC UK plc. He was also a partner and managing director at Goldman Sachs between July 2007 and September 2009. Sir Symonds was Chief Financial Officer of Novartis AG from September 2009 to January 2014 and Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca plc from October 1997 and July 2007, a period which included the negotiation and completion of the merger with Astra. As a CFO, Sir Symonds chaired the 100 Group of Finance Directors, co-chaired the HMRC business tax committee and co-founded the Centre for Business Taxation at the Said Business School. Prior to joining Zeneca in 1997, Sir Symonds was a Partner at KPMG, specialising in large scale business transformation in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries. His additional governance experience includes roles as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committees of Diageo plc and QinetiQ Group plc; Non-Executive Chair of Proteus Digital Health Inc; Non-Executive Director, Rubius Therapeutics Inc.

Ms. Cheong joined the Government in 2017 as Political Assistant to the Secretary for Innovation and Technology and was appointed as Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry in July, 2022.Before joining the Government, Ms. Cheong served as Assistant to Executive Director and Joint General Manager at a listed company, and had experience in operation and management of real estate development, cross-boundary retail, technology investment, business development and restructuring, digital transformation, investor relations, etc. In addition to profound knowledge in the business sector, Ms. Cheong has extensive public service experience including serving as a co-opted member of the Community Building Committee of the Wan Chai District Council, adviser to a think tank, etc.

Professor, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical UniversityWe are delighted to announce that Professor Chan Piu, Professor and Director at Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, will be attending the BIOHK2024 conference held in Hong Kong in September 2024.Professor Chan Piu is an immensely well-known figure in the neuroscience realm. His vast knowledge in neurodegenerative disorders and age-related disorders will be a focus of the BIOHK2024 conference. We sincerely welcome Professor Chan Piu to participate in BIOHK2024 and look forward to his speech at the upcoming conference.
The following briefly introduces Professor Chan’s achievements:
He is currently a Professor and Director in the Department of Geriatrics, Neurology, and Neurobiology and is well known for his current development of models for CNS diseases. Additionally, he has been studying familial and susceptibility genes and a variety of biomarkers for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, he is the Director of the National Centre of GCP Trials for Neurodegenerative Disorders and has been the PI for 6 registration clinical trials. He is also a frequent consultant for the State Food and Drug Administration of China. Professor Chan is a committee member for the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) “Task Force on the definition of Parkinson’s disease” and “Telemedicine Task Force”. Furthermore, he has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and served as editorial members of over 15 international and Chinese journals. Currently, Professor Chan is the Director of the Parkinson Disease Centre of Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders and Vice President of the Chinese Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Furthermore, he is vice President of the Chinese Association of Geriatrics, General Secretary of Society of Geriatrics of the Chinese Doctor’s Association, and a committee member of the Society of Geriatrics of the Chinese Association of Medical. He is the director of the Chinese Parkinson Study Group and deputy director of Committee on Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders of the Chinese Neurology Association. He has been the Deputy Director and Principal Investigator of Chinese National Human Genome Centre Beijing since 2001.

Ms Chan was appointed as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited in October 2023.  She is a barrister admitted by the High Court of Hong Kong.  She was at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority from 2010 to 2023 with roles including Chief Investment Officer (Private Markets).  She was an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong SAR Government from 2004 to 2010, covering areas including home affairs, transport and financial services.Ms Chan is the co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Responsible Investing, a Council member of Lingnan University and a Board member of Karen Leung Foundation dedicated to work relating to gynaecological cancers.Ms Chan received the Asia Industry Leadership Award of the 100 Women in Finance in 2016.  She was also on the global list of 40 under 40 named by the Private Equity International.Ms Chan is an advocate for diversity and ESG awareness in the finance industry, and has been a frequent speaker on relevant topics.