Obituary – Professor Peter Wong Tsun Hon
Professor Peter Wong Tsun Hon, a past President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Neurochemistry (APSN), passed away in Singapore on 2 March 2021. He was 67.
After completing his basic pharmacology degree with honours (1976) and doctorate degree (1979) at University of London King’s College, United Kingdom, Peter went to University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada for his postdoctoral training. He started his academic career in Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, rising from lecturer to full professor. He was the acting Head of Department (HOD) in Pharmacology from 2000 to 2003 and HOD from 2007 to 2014. He was a notable pharmacology educator, teaching across the different disciples of health care professions from medical, dental, nursing to pharmacy and also in life sciences.
Peter’s contributions to neurochemistry research were substantial.
He did work in stroke and neurodegenerative disorders, evident from the large number of publications in these areas. He was also an entrepreneur with a start-up discovering novel analgesics. He was also the associate editor of several journals, such as Neurochemistry International and Journal of Pharmacological Sciences. His important involvement in both APSN and International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN), bringing neurochemistry to prominence in Singapore and the Asia Pacific. He was on the council of the very first APSN meeting in Nagoya in 1992 representing Singapore. He continued in his own quiet way to have a significant influence on the society, hosting the Singapore APSN Conference in 2006 where major changes were made to the way in which the APSN operated. He was President of the APSN from 2010-2014 and presided over the 12th Meeting of APSN in Taiwan in 2014. Most recently, he was Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 16th Meeting of the APSN to be held in Singapore in 2020 that had to be postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, he will not be there and he will be deeply missed by colleagues and friends.
