ABOUT Peiling Yap

Dr. Peiling Yap is a pharmacist and infectious-diseases epidemiologist by training, with more than 15 years of experience in the global and public health sectors across several settings worldwide. During her time at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, she investigated the impact of intestinal worms on physical fitness, psychosocial health, and nutrition in children, the efficacy of their treatments, and the effectiveness of health education targeting children in China and South Africa.

While working at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, she investigated psychosocial health and nutrition in children, and the effectiveness of health education targeting children in China and South Africa. At the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Singapore, she used mixed-methods to implement and evaluate public health interventions, such as mobile applications for community-based syndromic surveillance of acute respiratory infections and an HIV self-testing intervention. She also conducted implementation research training workshops for healthcare professionals and served as an adjunct assistant professor at the National University of Singapore. At the International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) in Switzerland, Dr. Yap co-steered the scientific and technical direction of the organization as its Chief Scientist. In particular, she convened and established a global scientific working group to develop a digitally-enabled, science-based global pandemic preparedness and response scheme, and led on other public health and community-based projects related to citizen science, participatory modelling, anti-microbial resistance, and maternal and child health.

Dr. Yap is currently the Chief Scientist of HealthAI – The Global Agency for Responsible AI in Health, a not-for-profit based in Geneva, with a mission to advance the development and adoption of responsible AI solutions in health through the collaborative implementation of regulatory mechanisms and global standards. Within the organization, she is responsible for knowledge synthesis and training curriculum development for regulators and policymakers to strengthen their capacity to regulate AI in health, leveraging globally-defined Responsible AI standards, processes, and tools. She is also leading the establishment of HealthAI’s Community of Practice, which aims to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration among diverse stakeholders on the implementation of regulatory mechanisms and global standards for Responsible AI in health.