Malini Olivo

Malini Olivo (born 1961) is a Professor of Biophotonics at the National University of Ireland, Galway and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In 2015, she was elected to the Optical Society of America for pioneering contribution in Clinical Photodiagnostics in the area of clinical spectroscopy and imaging in early cancer detection and phototherapeutics of cancer.

She obtained a Bachelor of Science with Education degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1985 and a Doctorate degree in Biomedical Physics from the University of Malaya and University College London in 1990 working on photodynamic therapy of cancer. She then engaged in post-doctoral research in medical biophotonics in the laboratory of Professor Brian Wilson, University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, in Toronto, Canada.

She was appointed as Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator at National Cancer Centre Singapore between 1995-2009. In 2007, she was also appointed as Head of Bio-optical Imaging at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) and also Adjunct Professor at Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore. In 2009, she was appointed as Stokes Professor of Biophotonics at the National University of Ireland, Galway and Adjunct Professor of Biophotonics in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

She is well recognized for her ground breaking research in photomedicine by the International Biophotonics Community and regarded as a pioneer in the area of clinical applications of photomedicine in optical diagnostics and therapeutics both in Singapore and Ireland. She received the SingHealth research excellence award for her contribution to scientific research excellence in the area of clinical biophotonics for diagnostics and therapeutics of cancer. She has won numerous awards in recognition of her contribution to biophotonics in Singapore, Ireland and the United States. Her research interest is in nano-biophotonics and its applications in translational medicine. She has published over 300 scientific papers. Her international standing in her field allows her to serve in numerous international scientific advisory boards in the area of Photonics in Medicine.