Tao's journey - why did I start up Beyond?

 

 

July 2015

What does health mean to you? How do you achieve excellent health to enjoy life, given the conflicting information you are given everyday?

 

I am a mathematical modeller with 13 years of postgraduate experience in developing mathematical models to explain how things work in biology and to predict future events based on the past. I believe the society should benefit from advanced mathematical and statistical tools not only because they enable drug discovery and development, but also because they help people make informed choices of their health based on timely and relevant data.

 

I spent 6 years of my life researching on molecular mechanism underpinning cancer and developing novel anti-cancer treatments. I had some successes. I developed one of the first IT-infrastructure to support the life cycle of a cancer proteomics lab at NUS in Singapore, which helped us find evidence of a novel disease mechanism for colorectal cancer out of tens of thousands of data points. More recently, at AstraZeneca, I developed mathematical models to connect dots in the preclinical space and turn them into concrete dose selection and dose scheduling strategy for the development of novel cancer treatments including Tagrisso.

 

However, when I lost a loved one to cancer, I painfully realised just how little the healthcare system can do to prevent people from getting such terrible disease. In fact, no matter where you live, the healthcare system focuses primarily on treating illness, rather than helping people achieve and maintain excellent health.

 

This is similar to getting told by a policeman, “we don't protect people, we only investigate cases.”

 

Healthcare appears oxymoron. I was confused and frustrated. 

 

I decided to devote my time with an ambitious goal of turning more types of cancer into manageable long-term conditions within my life-time. Towards this goal, I started up Beyond Consulting Ltd to share my experience in quantitative systems pharmacology, PK/PD, pharmacometrics and clinical statistics with different academic and industrial partners who focus on rapidly advancing their cancer drug discovery and development projects. Indeed, I believe these experiences tested by successful industrial applications are extremely valuable for different organisation. With a not-just-for-profit attitude, Beyond hopes to achieve success in helping scientists design the right experiments and interpret data the right way so as to move forward quickly within budget. Having worked at a big pharma, I can feel the pressure everyone on the project team is facing. More importantly, I know how to help people achieve excellent results.

 

At the same time, I am studying if we can identify the root cause of chronic conditions that might turn into cancer, and if we can guide our life-style choices with predictive modeling tools. Eat well, move well, rest well and be free of sub-clinical conditions. All sounds simple but only few has achieved.

 

Health, as a basic human right everyone is entitled to, shouldn’t be kept as a secret. 

 

Contemporary science has made some very impressive achievements and I believe it is the right time for wellness to be on the agenda.

 

“Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”

 

Let’s go beyond.

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