At Synapxe, the expertise, dedication, and creativity of our people drive Singapore’s healthcare transformation through HealthTech. Here are some of the stories about how our teams work behind the scenes to inspire tomorrow’s health.
Meet Shaikh Ismail, Director of Entity Technology Planning Office (ETPO), and Lead Engineer Kavin Murugesan - two professionals who each found their way into HealthTech through a shared passion to make a positive impact. Shaikh focuses on long-term technology planning to help Synapxe grow and adapt to the evolving needs of our healthcare landscape while Kavin brings a strong passion for data and AI to help transform healthcare through cutting-edge technology. Coming from different backgrounds, their journeys highlight the dynamic opportunities and meaningful impact within Singapore’s healthcare landscape.
Shaikh Ismail: Empowering communities and uplifting lives with technology
For Shaikh Ismail, technology is not just about systems – it’s about people.
As Director of Synapxe’s Entity Technology Planning Office (ETPO), Shaikh helps shape the future of Singapore’s public healthcare through long-term technology planning. His remit includes identifying the capabilities Synapxe needs to build, and where technology needs to be advanced to meet these needs. It is not just planning for today’s needs, it is to plan for the needs of tomorrow, ensuring that digital solutions are resilient, effective, and, most importantly, make a real difference to the community.
His belief that technology should be used as a force for positive change drove Shaikh’s move from the private tech consulting sector to Synapxe, as he felt a pull to do good for the community with tech.
“If we have been given the opportunities and skills, we should use them to uplift others,” he shared. “Technology has the power to empower communities and improve lives.” That belief led him to set up BYTE, a community initiative that helps seniors build digital confidence – teaching them to use devices like mobile phones so they can do their banking and access online services. This eventually extended to supporting children from vulnerable backgrounds through enrichment, where he and others would host a tech lab to educate them about science and technology. These initiatives helped participants gain independence, confidence, and a sense of belonging.
Finding new areas of interest in the healthcare landscape
In his HealthTech journey, Shaikh has become passionate about preventive healthcare. He realised that with Singapore’s ageing population, technology is a key enabler to help them take ownership of their health while supporting clinicians and caregivers who rely on digital solutions to deliver the necessary care.
Working in Synapxe, what really motivates him to continue making a meaningful impact in his life is the shared mindset of his colleagues in tackling day-to-day challenges together, along with the passion to innovate, care, and connect with the community.
"It's not just about developing a system and deploying it, it's about understanding the value it brings to the clinicians and residents in the process of delivering care."
Shaikh Ismail, Director of Entity Technology Planning Office
Kavin Murugesan: Pursuing passion and growing skillsets to manage complex healthcare data
For Lead Engineer Kavin Murugesan, a career in HealthTech at Synapxe offered an opportunity to take his lifelong passion for data to new heights by focusing on AI, a key area of innovation transforming Singapore’s healthcare landscape. His journey began as a young boy fascinated by computers. What began as simple curiosity soon grew into a deep drive to explore technology, leading him to pursue a degree in Computer Science. In the early days of his career, Kavin worked closely with the retail sector to make the checkout experience for consumers seamless and engaging. He then applied his knowledge in retail data to develop applications for a global bank, leveraging data to design bespoke promotions for customers in APAC and around the world. Building on his extensive retail experience, Kavin moved to a role at a Big Four auditing consultancy firm, where he used his knowledge of data and algorithms to detect fraud.
These strong foundations led Kavin to become highly skilled in coding, programming, data structures, visualisation, and analysis. It was this deep understanding of data and its structure that led him to his current role at Synapxe.
Stepping into the world of HealthTech
The healthcare industry appealed to Kavin because of the innovative approaches required to manage vast amounts of real-time, extensive healthcare data. Despite lacking prior healthcare experience, Kavin was confident that his extensive skillsets would enable him to contribute meaningfully to the sector. He understood the highly sensitive nature of the healthcare-related data, recognising it as one of the most confidential sectors that he has worked in to-date. His biggest learning curve? Getting to grips with the industry language and the multitude of acronyms used within the healthcare sector.
"It's not just about processing data- we're rethinking the way data can power public health in Singapore"
Murugesan Kavin Ganesh, Lead Engineer, Synapxe
His first few months working in HealthTech were exciting – from learning the ropes of generative AI and foundation models, to applying his data architecture and cloud transformation knowledge in a new domain. The need to advance the use of data to ensure it can be harnessed efficiently and optimised effectively to be future-ready fascinated Kavin. His recent project involved managing the shift from on-premise data centres to a unified cloud environment, Singapore’s first comprehensive cloud-based analytics platform for the entire public health sector. This opens collaborative opportunities and efficiencies to reap the benefits of data-driven insights and AI.
Advice for others entering AI and HealthTech
Kavin’s strong data skills have enabled him to adapt to advances in AI quickly. His advice to others looking to dive deeper into AI in their current roles? Build a strong foundation in data first. Understand the different types of data and learn how to model them in a way that works for end users. Beyond skillsets, Kavin also cautions that having the right mindset is key - an analytical and problem-solving mindset will ensure you can ask the right questions and translate a problem into a workable solution. His own experience in a new field also showed him just how much initiative and proactivity matter when learning how to operate in a new industry. From attending industry events, online courses, to using new tools, Kavin relishes the challenges presented to him and hopes to continue in his journey to make positive contributions to the future of health.
