Professor Siew Ng is at the forefront of the epidemiology, genetics, pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Asia-Pacific and globally. She brought together over 20 countries and 30 centers in Asia-Pacific to study IBD, bringing substantial impact to public health. She was also one of the youngest academics elected to the International Organization for the Study of IBD - an elite group of top 50 IBD leaders globally. Recently, her work in the gut microbiota has transformed human health. she discovered novel microbiome signatures in stool and has since been pioneering non-invasive diagnostics using a novel multi-bacteria screening platform. This technology has been transformed to a low cost, easy-to-use and robust assay creating a paradigm shift in early disease screening and detection, especially for inflammatory gut disorders, autism spectrum disorder and colorectal cancer. In 2018, she established Asia’s First Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) Research Center which is now sole provider of FMT service to all Hong Kong public hospitals. She has published over 390 scientific papers in international journals including Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Microbiology, Cell Host & Microbes and Lancet, and filed over 150 patents in Hong Kong, Mainland China, USA, Europe, and South-east Asia for her microbiome innovations. In 2019, Prof Ng co-founded GenieBiome Limited, with a mission to transform novel microbiome discoveries into effective diagnostics and therapeutics.

Professor Chan Ka Leung, Francis, is a world-renowned clinician scientist in Gastroenterology and an entrepreneur. An author of over 860 full scientific articles in high impact international journals with h-index of 105 and the named inventor of over 125 patents, Professor Chan is the first in academic history who has published 8 first-author original research articles in two prestigious medical journals, namely The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. Professor Chan’s research on the prevention of NSAID- and aspirin-related GI bleeding has led to major revisions to clinical practice guidelines in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which does not only benefit numerous patients around the globe but also contributes to the medical field in different countries. In recent years, he has focused on the translational research of gut microbiota and co-founded a microbiota start-up company, GenieBiome Limited, in 2019 with the aim of bringing health and hope to our next generation through transforming groundbreaking research into clinical applications and helping transform Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub in Asia.