Article

Building trust in healthcare AI: Real-world lessons from APAC leaders

So Hyun Kang, Robin Mann, Adam Chee, Ernest Lo, Julian Sham
Published on 29 Oct, 2026 | 3 min read
Building trust in healthcare ai illustration

Key takeaways

  • Artificial intelligence is no longer a future prospect—it is actively redefining clinical and operational care delivery across the APAC region
  • Implementing AI requires navigating a highly fragmented legal and regulatory landscape, demanding robust, localized validation frameworks
  • Building systemic trust in AI depends on moving beyond theoretical accuracy to proving workflow safety and measurable value

APAC leadership perspectives: An expert panel on building trust in healthcare AI

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APAC leadership perspectives: An expert panel on building trust in healthcare AI
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Artificial intelligence has emerged as a critical lever for healthcare systems facing escalating challenges, from workforce shortages and rising costs to disparities in care access. As AI transitions from theoretical research into active clinical settings, successful deployment requires navigating a complex hurdle: Establishing trust among clinicians, patients, and regulators.

In a recent Healthcare Transformers expert panel, leading voices from across the Asia-Pacific region came together to discuss what this means and how to establish trust in AI within this landscape. Dr. Julian Sham, APAC Clinical Digital Transformation Chapter Lead, Roche Information Solutions, facilitated the discussion between Prof. Robin Mann, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Monash Health, Australia, Prof. So Hyun Kang, Medical Doctor / Surgeon, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, South Korea, Prof. Adam Chee, Director, AI Development Office (AIDO), SingHealth, Singapore, and Dr. Ernest Lo, Senior Medical Director, Roche Information Solutions, US. The panel drew on their own experience at leading hospitals and health systems across the region to provide real-world examples of AI use and the challenges they face with implementation. The discussion bypassed theoretical hype, focusing entirely on practical, on-the-ground perspectives from executives and clinicians actively managing clinical validation, workflow integration, and regulatory rigor.

Addressing systemic challenges with AI

The APAC region presents a highly fragmented healthcare landscape, meaning AI solutions cannot simply be uniformly deployed. Each panelist highlighted specific, urgent systemic pressures driving their AI adoption:

  • Managing exponential demand: At Monash Health in Australia, Professor Robin Mann, Chief Digital and Information Officer, is utilizing AI to meet a projected doubling of patient demand over the next decade.
  • Overcoming workforce constraints: For Professor Adam Chee, Director of the AI Development Office at SingHealth, Singapore, technology adoption is not just about innovation—it is a mandatory response to severe manpower constraints where traditional labor scaling is not an option.
  • Reducing cognitive overload: Dr. Ernest Lo, a US-based oncologist and Senior Medical Director at Roche Information Solutions, noted that physicians often spend 50% of their time parsing fragmented Electronic Health Records (EHR) just to find the 1% of data necessary for clinical decision-making.

The "trust equation" and clinical validation

While enthusiasm for AI’s potential is high, clinical adoption stalls without proven, calibrated trust. Professor So Hyun Kang, a surgeon at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, emphasized that physicians demand robust clinical evidence before altering treatment protocols. She highlighted the necessity of "explainable AI" (XAI)—tools that do not just deliver a conclusion, but transparently show the clinician exactly how that conclusion was reached.

However, AI models trained on Western populations may not directly translate to Asian demographics. Professor Chee approaches external AI solutions with rigorous scrutiny, asking not just "Does it work?" but "Does it work here, on our population?".

Bridging the regulatory gap

The pace of AI innovation is drastically outstripping the speed of global regulatory bodies. Into this vacuum, healthcare organizations must establish their own rigorous governance.

The panel explored how they are securing patient data and monitoring systems for unexpected risks. To combat the lack of universal standards, Dr. Lo highlighted how industry leaders are now partnering with specific global academic centers of excellence to establish new clinical benchmarks for medical AI.

Discover the "silver bullet" use cases

AI use cases range from complex genomic analysis to routine administrative support. But what is the single most effective application of AI in a hospital today? During the panel, Dr. Julian Sham challenged each expert to reveal the one "silver bullet" AI use case they believe delivers the most immediate, tangible value to clinicians.

Their answers—ranging from an unexpected operational bottleneck to a critical patient-facing intervention—might reshape where you invest your digital health resources.

Watch the on-demand webinar: APAC leadership perspectives: An expert panel on building trust in healthcare AI to hear their answers and learn how to deploy AI safely and confidently in your organization.

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Contributors

Headshot of So Hyun Kang

So Hyun Kang, Professor

Medical Doctor / Surgeon, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital

Prof. So Hyun Kang, M.D., M.S., is a surgeon and researcher currently serving as Clinical Assistant Professor of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.

She earned her M.D. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University, where she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Surgery. Dr. Kang completed her surgical residency and specialized clinical fellowship training at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, along with international clinical experience as a General Practitioner at Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital in the UAE.

Her clinical and academic focus centers on upper gastrointestinal surgery, clinical care innovation, and healthcare research.

Headshot of Robin Mann

Robin Mann, Professor

Chief Digital and Information Officer at Monash Health

Prof. Robin Mann has over 20 years of leadership experience and a proven track-record of achieving success in digital health, innovation, and integration of care.

Robin began his career practicing medicine in Wales, UK, and moved on to establish the Health Informatics Unit at the Royal College of Physicians in London. He then returned to Wales as a Deputy Program Manager for the national ‘Informing Health Care’ program and later transitioned to Head of Clinical Design for the NHS Wales Informatics Service. Since relocating to Australia in 2011, Robin has held senior consulting roles at Fujitsu, KPMG, and Boston Consulting Group. He also was also the National Chief of Innovation at Calvary.

Robin holds a Master of Health Informatics from University College London, a Bachelor of Medicine, and a Bachelor of Materials Engineering from the University of Wales. He is Adjunct Professor of Practice at the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and the Faculty of IT at Monash University.

Headshot of Adam Chee

Adam Chee, Professor

Director, AI Development Office (AIDO), SingHealth

Prof. Adam Chee brings deep expertise across healthcare, technology, innovation, and business transformation, with experience spanning clinical information systems, strategic consulting, standards development, AI-enabled health, and health systems transformation. 

Prof Chee has worked across the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, supporting the adoption of evidence-based, technology-enabled healthcare solutions. 

He also serves in multiple regional and international leadership roles, including HL7 Singapore, HL7 Asia, ISO TC215, WHO, APEC, and universities in the region.

headshot of Ernest Lo

Ernest Lo, MD

Clinician, Senior Medical Director Roche Information Solutions

Dr. Ernest Lo is involved in both product development and clinical strategy for the Clinical Insights portfolio at Roche. His focus has been on understanding how to create digital products and services that provide the most value for customers—from patients and providers to healthcare systems and payers. He has worked extensively on the oncology digital portfolio, which includes navify® Tumor Board, Clinical Hub, Guidelines, Clinical Trial Match, Publication Search, Cohort Creator, and Analytics. More recently, his efforts have focused on using LLMs to help summarize clinical data and validate this technology for routine patient cancer care.

Trained as an economist, Dr. Lo worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan before going to medical school at UC Davis. He is board-certified in hematology/oncology and continues part-time clinical practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Headshot of Julian Sham

Julian Sham, PhD

APAC Clinical Digital Transformation Chapter Lead, Roche Information Solutions

Dr. Julian Sham has over 36 years of experience in healthcare, including more than 10 years as a practicing hospital doctor. 

He is passionate about how healthcare delivery can be augmented through AI, Cloud, Health, and Life Sciences technologies, improving clinical engagement and stakeholder understanding to accelerate clinical solution design life cycles and improved clinical outcomes.

For the past 26 years, he has focused on healthcare and life sciences technology and change

management, managing large-scale health projects involving IT implementations and clinical

transformation internationally for both public sector and private organizations.

His prior roles include the APAC Health Leader for an International Cloud Services Provider, supporting global customers in COVID-19 response, and as the APAC and MEA Clinical Lead for a multinational consulting firm. 

He currently serves as the Vice Chair for Health Level Seven Singapore (HL7 Singapore); as an Industry Advisor to Co11ab, a BioMedTech incubator, and as a member of the National Mirror Working Group ISO TC 215 in the CoRE-SDO Technical Committee for Healthcare and Health Informatics in Singapore.

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