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Director, Preparedness and Resilience Planning Division, Communicable Diseases Agency

Yoke Cheng leads the Preparedness and Resilience Planning Division at the Communicable Diseases Agency, where she develops and implements strategies for responding to communicable disease outbreaks. With over two decades of experience in public health, strategic planning, and crisis management, she contributes to Singapore’s national preparedness strategies.

Specializing in CBRE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Explosive) threats and counterterrorism, Yoke Cheng was part of the pioneer team that established DSO National Laboratories’ biological defence capability. She led multiple bilateral research collaborations with defence research institutions and played a crucial role in setting up Singapore’s first BSL-3 plus laboratory for high-risk pathogen research. As Program Manager for Bio-surveillance and Services, she managed ISO-accredited testing laboratories for disease outbreak investigations and surveillance.

At the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), Yoke Cheng served as Program Manager for the CBRE Program Office and Head of Capability Development (Counter Terrorism). In these positions, she supported capability development for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). She also participated in front-end studies, harnessing new technologies to co-create operational concepts in CBRE and counter-terrorism.

In her current position, Yoke Cheng collaborates with whole-of-government stakeholders to ensure Singapore preparedness and response plans effectively mitigate public health risks and remain aligned with the latest developments in the field.

Yoke Cheng holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.