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ASEAPS

ASEAPS

EVENTS

ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN PAIN SOCIETIES (ASEAPS)

The original 5 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, are chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). After a meeting of the chapter presidents of these countries at the World Congress of Pain in San Diego in 2002, a confederation of IASP chapters for the Southeast Asian region was formed, with the aim to improve pain service provision, education, and research. The new entity, called the Association of Southeast Asian Pain Societies (ASEAPS), was inaugurated at a meeting of the Pain Association of Singapore in 2004. Biennial regional conferences linked to existing national conferences were organised by ASEAPS members on a rotational basis, with the first ASEAPS congress being held in Manila, Philippines in 2006. In 2011, the Myanmar Society for the Study of Pain became the sixth member of ASEAPS.

Indonesian Pain Society

Brief History:

Indonesian Pain Society (IPS) is a Chapter of The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). IPS was founded in April 2002 in Makassar, which become a place of devotion for those who are engaged in the field of pain management, which is applied through various disciplines and professions in therapeutics. Pain management efforts must target causal, symptomatic, palliative and rehabilitative aspects, and this ultimately contributed to the establishment of this organization.

The main objectives of IPS are:

  1. To stimulate and encourage education and training in the field of pain
  2. To develop and encourage research on pain mechanisms and syndromes, to improve the management of acute, chronic and cancer pain
  3. To distribute new information in the field of pain through journals
  4. To inform the general public about the results and implications of the latest research on pain
  5. To encourage the establishment of IPS branches in Indonesia

There are currently 11 of IPS branches throughout Indonesia: Jogjakarta, Makassar, Jakarta, Medan, Padang, Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, Manado, Malang and Semarang. Our total membership is around 300 and comprises various fields/specialties including Neurology, Anesthesiology, Orthopedic, Acupuncture, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Medical Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Urology, Digestive Surgery, Pulmonology, Nutrition and General Practice.

Pain management has been running in each installation/service unit and discipline in hospital services in accordance with the competencies possessed by health workers, but with the development of medical knowledge and science. Optimal pain management requires more complex and multi-disciplinary treatment, especially in the management of chronic and cancer pain. Hence, we need an integrated, coordinated and holistic pain management service system to provide optimal results, efficiency in service financing and patient safety-oriented care.

Malaysian Association for the Study of Pain

Brief History:

The Malaysian Association for the Study of Pain (MASP) is a Chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). It was formed in 1993 by a group of enthusiastic doctors who felt that patients in pain were not being treated adequately, whether it was acute, chronic, or cancer pain and that there was a real need for education on better pain management in Malaysia. The main objectives of MASP are:

  1. To promote education and training in the field of pain
  2. To promote and facilitate the dissemination of new information in the field of pain
  3. To achieve liaison with similar bodies and other specialists in other regions
  4. To advise national agencies on standards relating to the use of drugs, appliances and other procedures relating to pain relief
  5. To encourage and promote friendship among members of the society

As the management of pain cuts across many disciplines, membership of MASP is open to any health care professional who is interested in pain management – doctors, nurses, clinical psychologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

Myanmar Society for the Study of Pain

Brief History:

Recognizing the enthusiasm and great effort of multidisciplinary professionals to improve the pain management and education in Myanmar, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) approved the Myanmar Society for the Study of Pain (MSSP) as the Myanmar Chapter to IASP in November, 2008. MSSP is the second largest society under the Myanmar Medical Association (MMA), comprising multidisciplinary medical professionals including anaesthesiologists, orthopaedic surgeons, physiatrists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, surgeons, psychiatrists, oncologists, nurses, physiotherapists, prosthetists, orthotists and social workers. Prof. Tin Myint (anaesthesiologist, and first president of MSSP), Prof. Myint Thaung (orthopaedic surgeon) and Prof. Khin Myo Hla (physiatrist) are the founding members of MSSP. MSSP is the 6th member of Association of Southeast Asia Pain Societies (ASEAPS). It is well recognized as a highly energetic society in the region, one that was quickly developed due to deep interests from inter-disciplinary medical professionals.

The vision of MSSP is “Improving quality care and management of pain in Myanmar” and the mission is “Always working together with strong commitment for our people”.

Objectives of MSSP are:

  1. To update knowledge about modern science and practice of pain
  2. To improve quality of pain management in clinical practice
  3. To develop clinical guidelines and protocols in respective specialties for pain management
  4. To encourage pain research with available resources
  5. To revive and develop Pain Treatment Centres and Pain Clinics with IASP guidance and support
  6. To train new generation doctors with training scholar program proposed by IASP, Thai Association for the Study of Pain (TASP), and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA)

 

Pain Society of the Philippines

Brief History:

In 1987, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) granted Philippines provisionary membership status. The society was then known as the IASP (Philippine Chapter). The first assembly was convened by Dr. Cenon R. Cruz with Dr. Benigno M. Sulit Jr., Dr. Erlinda T. Arambulo and Dr. Francis O. Javier. From December 1989, the Philippine Chapter was renamed the Pain Society of the Philippines (PSP). PSP was granted regular IASP membership status in April 1990.

In 2004, PSP, then led by Dr. Mayvelyn D. Gose, joined four more South-East Asian Pain Societies – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to form the Association of South-East Asian Pain Societies (ASEAPS). In 2009, the society established the Dr. Benigno M. Sulit Jr. Memorial Lecture in honor of one of the Philippine pioneers in pain management.

Committed to the study of pain, PSP, in collaboration with the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Center for Pain Medicine, held an Essential Pain Management (EPM) course in August 2014. The EPM has since remained a regular Continuing Medical Education (CME) program of the society.

PSP continues to grow the vision to make “Pain Relief a Basic Human Right for All”. In the midst of the pandemic, PSP has transitioned to remote teaching and learning, via web-based CME and pain management webinars. PSP remains steadfast in pursuit of its vision, the attainment of pain relief as a basic human right.

The Pain Association of Singapore

Brief History:

The Pain Association of Singapore (PAS) was founded by a multidisciplinary group of doctors, led by Dr. George Tay, an anaesthesiologist. Dr. Tong Hoo Ing, a neurologist, was the first PAS President. The association was registered on 30 Jul 1986 and became a chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) soon after. PAS was also a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Pain Societies (ASEAPS), together with the pain societies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. This confederation of pain societies was formed in 2004, with support from IASP, to promote collaboration among health care professionals in South-East Asia for the improvement of pain service provision, pain education and research. Prof. Dr. Cynthia Ruth Goh, a palliative medicine specialist and then PAS President, took an active role in the formation of ASEAPS and was its founding President.

Our mission is to acquire new knowledge to help, diagnose, research and increase awareness of pain management to the professionals and public.

Today, PAS continues to attract a wide spectrum of clinicians, nurses and allied health practitioners including anaesthesiologists, palliative medicine specialists, rehabilitation physicians, geriatricians, rheumatologists, surgeons, general practitioners, dentists, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, and many others. This diversity of membership reflects the growing recognition of the multidisciplinary nature of pain management.

Thai Association for the Study of Pain

Brief History:

The Thai Association for the Study of Pain (TASP) was founded in February 1989 at the first pain symposium at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok. The invited International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) past-president guest speakers, Prof. Michael J Cousins and Prof. John D Loeser, mooted the idea of forming a pain society to bring collaboration among multidisciplinary clinicians to improve pain management in the country. The Thai Pain Society was eventually inaugurated and later became a chapter of the IASP. Prof. Sira Bunyaratavej was the first president. Under the strong and distinguished leadership of Prof. Sira Bunyaratavej and Prof. Somsri Pausawasdi, the Thai Pain Society grew and held regular scientific activities and education on pain and pain management.

During the 6th World Congress on Pain in Adelaide, Australia, in April 1990, the inauguration of the Thai Association for the Study of Pain (TASP) was presided by Prof. Michael J Cousins and it was accepted as a new Chapter of IASP. Thai Association for the Study of Pain was registered and approved as an association on July 31st, 2002 and later as TASP on February 20th, 2008.

TASP is the center for the study of pain and pain management in Thailand. The mission is:

  1. To promote the education, management and researches in pain among health care providers
  2. To distribute pain knowledge and pain management strategies to the public
  3. To promote the rich culture of the Kingdom of Thailand

 

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About Me

Wee Tze Chao
Council Member

Dr Wee is a  Senior Consultant at Dept of Rehabilitation Medicine at Changi General Hospital and a Clinical Asst Professor at Duke NUS Medical School, Singapore. He completed his post-graduate medical training in both Singapore and Australia and is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and the Faculty of Pain Medicine (Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists) since 2014 and 2015 respectively. 

His area of interest is in musculoskeletal ultrasound, chronic pain, musculoskeletal medicine and rehabilitation. He believes in the holistic and multidisciplinary management of patients with chronic pain.

About Me

Ashutosh Joshi
Council Member
Dr Joshi is  pain service lead and Program Director for Pain Medicine fellowship at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. He is accredited by World Institute of Pain (WIP) and American Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA). He superspecialize in Ultrasound guided pain and musculoskeletal interventions. He routinely performs fluoroscopy guided pain relieving procedures like radiofrequency ablation of neuraxial and peripheral structures.
 
His research interest and publications are on the role of ultrasound guidance for spinal procedures, peripheral nerves and joint injections to relieve pain. 

About Me

Lim Lee Yen
Council Member

MBBS (Singapore), MRCP (UK), MMed (Int Med) Associate Consultant, Supportive Care & Palliative Medicine, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital

Dr. Lim Lee Yen is a palliative physician providing care for cancer and non-cancer patients. Her specialty interest involves working with multidisciplinary teams to manage total pain and other symptoms.

About Me

Nicholas Chua
Council Member

Dr. Nicholas Chua is the Medical Director and Senior Consultant, Pain Medicine and Anaesthesiology in Specialist Pain International Clinic, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore. He is the immediate past-President of the Pain Association of Singapore and is a long-standing FIPP Examination Board member. His subspeciality interest focuses on chronic neck pain and cervicogenic headache and he completed his Ph.D. on it with the Radboud University Medical Centre of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

About Me

Lester Jones
Council Member

Lester Jones is a Senior Lecturer at the Singapore Institute of Technology. He is an Australian physiotherapist with post-graduate training in psychology and pain. He was the first physiotherapist to receive MScMed(PainMgt) from the University of Sydney’s Pain Management and Research Institute. He was the inaugural Chair of the National Pain Group, Australian Physiotherapy Association, and is the Research Officer on the IASP Special Interest Group, Pain associated with Torture, Organised, Violence and War. His scholarly interests revolve around improving pain literacy in health professionals covering areas including education, clinical reasoning, pain in survivors of torture, pain associated with childbirth and breastfeeding, and pelvic pain. He recently completed his Ph.D. with the Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University, exploring the utility and suitability for the Pain and Movement Reasoning Model, a clinical reasoning tool that he co-designed. He is currently in his second term on the PAS Council.

About Me

Darren Leong
Council Member

Dr. Darren Leong is a Senior Staff Registrar with CGH’s Sport & Exercise Medicine department; and has experience in providing medical coverage for sports events and organizations, such as local football matches, basketball tournaments, ATP Challenger (Tennis) events, the F1 Singapore Grand Prix and mixed martial arts. He has covered endurance events like triathlons and duathlons and was the Chief Medical Officer of the 2009 OSIM Singapore Triathlon. In multi-sport or larger-scale events, he was involved in the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, the 2015 South East Asian Games, and the 2015 ASEAN Paralympics Games. Representing the country and serving our athletes culminated in Dr. Leong being appointed Chief Medical Officer for Team Singapore at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.

Close to his heart, he is active as Special Olympics Singapore’s Healthy Athletes medical doctor. Dr. Leong’s sporting interests lie in Tennis, Badminton, Wakeboarding, Ten-Pin Bowling, Floorball, Ultimate Frisbee, Sailing. He enjoys musical theatre and singing and has been in his church choir since young.

About Me

Prit Anand Singh
Honorary Secretary

Dr. Singh is a  Senior Consultant and Director of Chronic Pain Management Service at Dept of Anaesthesia and SICU at Changi General Hospital and a Clinical Asst Professor at Duke NUS Medical School, Singapore. He completed his post-graduate medical training from Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Pain Medicine, United Kingdom since 2012. He came to Singapore in 2017 and has been involved with PAS since 2018.

His area of interest is long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain. He believes in the holistic and multidisciplinary management of chronic pain. Currently, he is working on setting up a transitional pain service, which would be the first one in Singapore. He has published widely and has been invited to present nationally and internationally on various topics related to the management of pain, regional anesthesia, and simulation.

In his free time, he likes to go for long walks, and occasionally cook fusion cuisine and mix complimentary cocktails.

About Me

Yang Su Yin
Council Member

Dr. Yang Su-Yin was awarded her Ph.D. in Academic Studies (Health Psychology) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, and accepted as a Chartered Health Psychologist by the British Psychological Society (BPS). She is currently practicing as a psychologist; specializing in pain management. Dr. Yang as a special research interest in healthcare innovations and is part of the co-learning faculty for the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI). She has published articles in both health magazines and international journals and has peer-reviewed articles for journal publication. Out of work, Dr. Yang is a self-proclaimed Foodie with a love for all things handmade and a medium-bodied, single roast of decadence!

About Me

Wong Su Ren
Council Member

Wong Su Ren is an Assistant Professor at the Health and Social Sciences Cluster at Singapore Institute of Technology and a Principal Occupational Therapist at the National University Hospital. She pioneered the occupational therapy pain management service in NUH 2008 and continues to enjoy helping her patients get back to doing what the need to do and love to do through focusing on lifestyle modification and self-management.  She is also a certified life coach and passionate about research, mentoring, and education.

About Me

Poonam Pal
Council Member

Dr Poonam Pal is working as physiotherapist in the private sector. She has worked in various public organisations including restructured hospitals in Singapore before moving to private practice. She has vast experience in musculoskeletal physiotherapy at the Accident & Emergency department and outpatient clinics. Her areas of expertise are in the assessment and management of spinal conditions and has a special interest in the assessment and management of chronic pain. Besides clinical practice she enjoys mentoring and teaching junior colleagues. In her free time, she enjoys leisure walks and practicing yoga.

About Me

Wendy Ng
Council Member

Wendy is a musculoskeletal physiotherapist with extensive experience managing a wide spectrum of adult, adolescent, and pediatric musculoskeletal pain conditions. She practices at Singapore Sport and Exercise Medicine Centre@ Novena with a focus on chronic and complex musculoskeletal pain. She is a Ph.D. candidate and Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship recipient with Curtin University and has published in international peer-reviewed journals. Her research interest is in improving understanding of the biopsychosocial nature of musculoskeletal pain and translating pain research into clinical practice. Outside of work, she is a mum to a preschooler boy and an avid runner.

About Me

Ho Kok Yuen
Council Member

Dr. Ho Kok Yuen practices at The Pain Clinic in Mt Alvernia Hospital. He is a consultant in anaesthesiology and pain medicine. He graduated from the National University of Singapore and completed his pain management fellowship at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina, USA. He is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) with the World Institute of Pain (WIP) and also serves as an examiner for the FIPP examinations.

About Me

Jessica
Honorary Treasurer

Jessica is an advanced practice nurses specialising in pain management. She has more than ten years of clinical experience in managing patients with various painful conditions. She has strong interest in clinical practice, education, and evidenced based practice.

About Me

Angela Yeo
Vice President

Dr. Angela Yeo is a Senior Consultant Anaesthetist and Pain Medicine Specialist in the Department of Paediatric Anaesthesia, KKH. She is also the Clinical Director of the Children’s Pain Service and is passionate about improving paediatric pain in Singapore and in the region. She sits on the Council of the Pain in Childhood Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and is inaugurating the Asian Society of Paediatric Anaesthetists (ASPA) Paediatric Pain Special Interest Group in Nov 2021.

Her interests are in paediatric pain – acute, chronic, oncopalliative and procedural. In her free time, she enjoys playing board games and watching movies with her family and occasionally contemplates going to the gym.

About Me

Ong Say Yang
President

Dr Ong Say Yang is a consultant anaesthesiologist. He underwent a one-year fellowship in chronic pain management in Adelaide in 2018. His clinical interests are in pain management, regional and obstetric anaesthesia. He divides his clinical time between the National University Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.

When not providing pain relief or putting patients to sleep, he enjoys striking a few chords on his guitar or chasing the wind in his running shoes.

About Me

Ong Say Yang
President

Dr. Ong Say Yang is a consultant anaesthesiologist. He underwent a one-year fellowship in chronic pain management in Adelaide in 2018. His clinical interests are in pain management, regional and obstetric anaesthesia. He divides his clinical time between the National University Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.

When not providing pain relief or putting patients to sleep, he enjoys striking a few chords on his guitar or chasing the wind in his running shoes.