
Pandemics, Globalization, and How To Improve Healthcare through Innovation and Digitalization with Noel Yeo, MD | Christoph Zindel
10/12/20 • 47 min
In an increasingly globalized world, viral spread has been difficult to avoid. Large numbers of people are moving constantly from place to place for business and leisure, and as economic prosperity grows, movement follows suit. While we can’t prevent pandemics from happening, we can learn how to manage them better. With experience comes innovation.
Today, Managing Board Member Christoph Zindel interviews Dr. Noel Yeo, the Senior Vice President of one of Asia’s largest integrated private healthcare groups, Parkway Hospitals in Singapore at Parkway Pantai. Dr. Yeo has an Executive Master of Business Administration, a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Law and Ethics, and an Executive Diploma in Directorship. He has been leading the group as their hospital facilities have battled the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.
In this episode, Dr. Yeo tells us what it’s been like working through the COVID-19 pandemic at his hospital in Singapore. Having dealt with the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak back in 2003, Dr. Yeo provides valuable insights from that experience. We’ll talk about what he’s learned, how hospitals can prepare for future outbreaks, and the innovations that have resulted from these experiences. Dr. Yeo also talks about the importance of digitalization, and why a more patient-centric model of healthcare that leans towards prevention is the way of the future.
Some Questions Asked:
- Having experienced another outbreak in 2003, was Singapore better prepared than other countries? (1:53)
- Are applications being used in Singapore to help with contact tracing? (7:27)
- How has the backlog of elective procedures been dealt with in Singapore? (16:50)
- How do you prepare for the next pandemic? (20:13)
- Do you expect the beds and resources used to remain beyond this pandemic waiting for the next one? (25:22)
- How are standard operating procedures dealt with, in such a large network? (29:53)
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The 3 point strategy used to confront SARS-CoV-2 (4:26)
- How SARS-CoV-2 spread among the population in Singapore (15:07)
- Plans for mass testing when the next wave hits (21:16)
- Predictions about future healthcare challenges in Asia and beyond (33:26)
- How we can use the abundance of data in healthcare to our advantage (37:22)
- One helpful innovation that is being used at Parkway Pantai (39:00)
Connect with Dr. Noel Yeo:
Connect with our Managing Board Member, Christoph Zindel:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In an increasingly globalized world, viral spread has been difficult to avoid. Large numbers of people are moving constantly from place to place for business and leisure, and as economic prosperity grows, movement follows suit. While we can’t prevent pandemics from happening, we can learn how to manage them better. With experience comes innovation.
Today, Managing Board Member Christoph Zindel interviews Dr. Noel Yeo, the Senior Vice President of one of Asia’s largest integrated private healthcare groups, Parkway Hospitals in Singapore at Parkway Pantai. Dr. Yeo has an Executive Master of Business Administration, a Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Law and Ethics, and an Executive Diploma in Directorship. He has been leading the group as their hospital facilities have battled the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.
In this episode, Dr. Yeo tells us what it’s been like working through the COVID-19 pandemic at his hospital in Singapore. Having dealt with the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak back in 2003, Dr. Yeo provides valuable insights from that experience. We’ll talk about what he’s learned, how hospitals can prepare for future outbreaks, and the innovations that have resulted from these experiences. Dr. Yeo also talks about the importance of digitalization, and why a more patient-centric model of healthcare that leans towards prevention is the way of the future.
Some Questions Asked:
- Having experienced another outbreak in 2003, was Singapore better prepared than other countries? (1:53)
- Are applications being used in Singapore to help with contact tracing? (7:27)
- How has the backlog of elective procedures been dealt with in Singapore? (16:50)
- How do you prepare for the next pandemic? (20:13)
- Do you expect the beds and resources used to remain beyond this pandemic waiting for the next one? (25:22)
- How are standard operating procedures dealt with, in such a large network? (29:53)
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The 3 point strategy used to confront SARS-CoV-2 (4:26)
- How SARS-CoV-2 spread among the population in Singapore (15:07)
- Plans for mass testing when the next wave hits (21:16)
- Predictions about future healthcare challenges in Asia and beyond (33:26)
- How we can use the abundance of data in healthcare to our advantage (37:22)
- One helpful innovation that is being used at Parkway Pantai (39:00)
Connect with Dr. Noel Yeo:
Connect with our Managing Board Member, Christoph Zindel:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode

Leadership in Times of Crisis with Zahi A Fayad, PhD | Christoph Zindel
When COVID-19 hit the United States back in January of 2020, New York was one of the first cities to really feel the pressure. Hospitals had to quickly adapt to a new set of working conditions as the virus spread rapidly. It was truly a race against time in an environment where the rules kept changing as we learned more and more about how COVID-19 was transmitted.
Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York is the largest teaching hospital in the United States with over 50,000 students and staff. Managing a global health crisis in this type of facility comes with a special set of challenges. A teaching hospital is a place where people are frequently experiencing things for the first time. They are looking for leadership in every respect because experience is still being acquired.
Today our Managing Board Member Christoph Zindel interviews Dr. Zahi Fayad, Professor of Radiology and Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As a researcher, he is one of the world leaders in the development and use of multimodality cardiovascular imaging.
As part of the leadership team at Mount Sinai, Dr. Zahi Fayad talks about the unique challenges that he faced from the perspective of a research hospital. It wasn’t only a challenge to manage the safety of individuals at such a large institution, but an additional dilemma concerning research funding loomed. Dr. Zahi Fayad gives us a glimpse into those early winter months of 2020 in New York.
Some Questions asked:
· Can you describe the development in New York during the past months and weeks? (1:27)
· How did you manage the health of the employees? (7:36)
· Will your staff continue working from home, and are there consequences to that? (14:26)
· Are there innovations in medical science that have been triggered or even accelerated by the pandemic? (17:02)
· How important is global collaboration during the pandemic? (27:43)
· What is needed to manage a crisis? (32:14)
What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
· What it felt like when the COVID-19 positive patients started being admitted (4:34)
· How the research hospital adapted when the crisis hit (8:29)
· How the hospital was supported financially as they shifted their research procedures (10:26)
· The future importance of “wearables” in medical care (21:48)
· How Mount Sinai first got into COVID-19 research, months before the virus began to spread (28:09)
Connect with Dr. Zahi Fayad:
Resources:
Bio- Icahn School of Medicine Mt. Sinai
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode

A Visionary for Change: Ophthalmology and Accessibility with Aravind Srinivasan MS, MBA | Christoph Zindel
Over half of the world's population lacks access to basic healthcare. Beginning to tackle this problem requires more than structural change in the way we provide care. A true sense of purpose to create and direct those changes is vital for the structural DNA of a healthcare system to be rewired.
Blindness was once a major problem for people all across India. The issue was accessibility to care in the early stages of ophthalmological complications. In 1976, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy opened the first Aravind Eye Hospital. The goal was to streamline care and make it more affordable while keeping the quality of care at a premium. Since its founding, the Aravind Eye Care System has expanded, serving more than 55 million patients across India. That legacy continues under the leadership of today’s guest.
In this episode, Managing Board Member Christoph Zindel interviews Dr. Aravind Srinivasan, Chief Medical Officer at Aravind Eye Hospital Chennai. He is a cataract surgeon and expert in ophthalmology at Aravind Eye Care System. His focus is on management, innovation, and mentoring, specializing in evaluating and interpreting the performance of each division of AECS.
Dr. Aravind Srinivasan shares the organizational mission, being that if treatment exists, then there’s no reason for people to suffer blindness needlessly. Through streamlining and standardizing their process of care, Aravind Eye Care System has helped countless people gain access to treatment. Today we’ll hear about the personal motivation that led to building the system, how it’s applied across India, and what it takes in terms of experience and personal drive in order to manage such a revolutionary system of healthcare.
Some Questions I Ask:
- Can you explain your system of healthcare? (3:36)
- How are you able to make care so affordable? (9:20)
- How have you increased accessibility to care in India? (13:21)
- Is telehealth contributing to accessibility during the Covid-19 pandemic? (17:55)
- What can other healthcare organizations learn from your model? (20:00)
- How do diversity and inclusion play a role in the building of your teams? (24:20)
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How the problem of accessibility was addressed (4:35)
- Why a sense of purpose often gets lost in the business of healthcare (7:50)
- How poverty created a cultural barrier to asking for care (13:50)
- A simple example of streamlining that helped shape AECS (20:22)
Connect with Aravind Srinivasan MS, MBA:
Connect with our Managing Board Member, Christoph Zindel:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/shaping-the-future-of-healthcare-397426/pandemics-globalization-and-how-to-improve-healthcare-through-innovati-55878219"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to pandemics, globalization, and how to improve healthcare through innovation and digitalization with noel yeo, md | christoph zindel on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy