Malini Olivo (born 1961) is the Distinguished Principal Scientist of A*STAR Skin Research Labs (A*SRL) where she spearheads the Translational Biophotonics Laboratory. Concurrently, she is also an Adjunct Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU; Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, National University Health System, NUS, Singapore; and Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. In 2015, she was elected by the Optical Society of America for "pioneering contribution in Clinical Photodiagnostics in the area of clinical spectroscopy and imaging in early cancer detection and photo-therapeutics of cancer".
Education
She obtained a Bachelor of Science with Education degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1985 and a Doctorate degree in Biomedical Physics from the University of Malaya and University College London (UCL) in 1990, working on photodynamic therapy of cancer. Following her doctorate, she honed her expertise in medical biophotonics by doing her post-doctoral training from 1991 to 1995, collaborating with top-notch institutions such as UCL in the UK, McMaster University and the University of Toronto.
Career
She is currently a Senior Principal Investigator and Distinguished Principal Scientist in A*SRL, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). She was previously appointed as Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator at National Cancer Centre Singapore between 1995 and 2009. In 2007, she was also appointed as Head of Bio-optical Imaging at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) and also Adjunct Professor at Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore. In 2009, she was appointed as Stokes Professor of Biophotonics at the National University of Ireland, Galway and Adjunct Professor of Biophotonics in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Awards and recognition
She is recognised for her research in photomedicine by the International Biophotonics Community and regarded as a pioneer in the area of clinical applications of photomedicine in optical diagnostics and therapeutics both in Singapore and Ireland.
She received the SingHealth research excellence award for her contribution to scientific research excellence in the area of clinical biophotonics for diagnostics and therapeutics of cancer. She has won numerous awards in recognition of her contribution to biophotonics in Singapore, Ireland and the United States, including election as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Her research interest is in nano-biophotonics and its applications in translational medicine. She has authored more than 500 scientific papers, holds a H-index of 60, and has been granted over 60 patents. Her international standing in her field allows her to serve in numerous international scientific advisory boards in the area of Photonics in Medicine.
Research
Clinical Photodiagnostics in the area of clinical spectroscopy and imaging and phototherapeutics of cancer Biophotonics in Medicine and Biology NanoBiophotonics Nanomedicine
References
1961 births
Living people
Academics of the University of Galway
Alumni of University College London
Irish medical researchers
Alumni of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
University of Malaya alumni
Women in optics
Fellows of Optica (society) Place of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of the National University of Singapore