WHO: Dr William Hwang, 39, a clinician scientist with SingHealth. He is also a consultant haematologist - a doctor who specialises in blood diseases - and a transplant physician who specialises in cord blood transplants.
On top of that, he is the medical and laboratory director of the Singapore Cord Blood Bank.
THEN: A graduate of the National University of Singapore's medical school in 1991, he started out as a doctor at the Singapore General Hospital.
In 2000, he left for a two-year training stint at the Fed Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, Washington, considered a leading centre for bone marrow transplant research.
NOW: Leads a SingHealth lab focusing on cord blood research. Cord blood is a rich source of immature stem cells that can become all sorts of blood cells. Cord blood transplants can save the lives of patients suffering from blood cancers and severe blood disorders.
GOAL: His three focus areas of research are: transplanting cord blood stem cells from more than one donor source, cultivating more new stem cells in the lab and transplanting these precious cells more efficiently.
In all these areas, the aim is to 'do more with less', as the main issue in cord blood transplants is that there are not enough stem cells.
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'For me, research is a way for me to discover new answers. It's like being Sherlock Holmes.'
DR HWANG