Asia Health & Medlab Asia Rebrands to WHX and WHX Labs in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The global event organisation leader Informa Markets revealed a major rebranding of its healthcare exhibitions portfolio which resulted in the formation of WHX (World Health Expo). WHX rebrands its healthcare events across Southeast Asia to WHX Kuala Lumpur, WHX Labs Kuala Lumpur, WHX Bangkok and WHX Labs Bangkok. Through this strategic shift WHX becomes a worldwide platform that drives innovation and collaboration and advances progress in healthcare and medical laboratory sectors.
WHX Kuala Lumpur and WHX Labs Kuala Lumpur will take place from July 16 through 18, 2025, at The Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) in Kuala Lumpur has established a new standard for industry engagement. Through strategic partnerships with Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and Association of Malaysian Medical Industries (AMMI) alongside other prominent healthcare and laboratory associations this event has solidified its position as a key event in Southeast Asia's healthcare field.
The WHX rebrand signifies Informa Markets' new direction in healthcare events worldwide and for Southeast Asia while demonstrating a progressive strategy to strengthen industry connections and promote knowledge sharing and innovative medical device and laboratory technology showcase.
'After successfully serving Southeast Asia for 11 years, the transformation of Asia Health & Medlab Asia into WHX and WHX Labs in both Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok represents an exciting new beginning.' said Ms. Rungphech (Rose) Chitanuwat, Regional Portfolio Director, ASEAN at Informa Markets. 'This transformation demonstrates our dedication to progressing the healthcare and medical device sectors along with medical laboratories throughout Southeast Asia and the broader Asian region. Through the powerful foundation established by Asia Health & Medlab Asia this fresh identity strengthens our promise to develop Southeast Asia's leading platform where healthcare experts join industry stakeholders, industry leaders and healthcare professionals to connect and innovate the region's future healthcare landscape.'
Informa Markets has developed a single comprehensive event through WHX Kuala Lumpur and WHX Labs Kuala Lumpur to unite healthcare professionals with industry leaders and stakeholders who advance technology and discussions in healthcare and medical device sectors. Through this integrated platform attendees will experience direct access to new developments in medical equipment, diagnostics, digital health solutions and medical laboratory science which enables them to explore leading-edge innovations that transform healthcare delivery.
Nicha Chamchumrus, Senior Event Manager of WHX Kuala Lumpur and WHX Lab Kuala Lumpur, added: 'WHX Kuala Lumpur and WHX Lab Kuala Lumpur will display world-class medical devices and medical laboratory technologies alongside creating essential partnerships that will propel healthcare innovations throughout Southeast Asia. Our conference program is undergoing extensive improvements to establish a strong platform for analyzing key industry challenges and opportunities. The conference will offer attendees in-depth explorations of essential subjects while featuring extensive interactive sessions and a diverse array of expert speakers to encourage meaningful discussions and develop practical solutions for Southeast Asia's healthcare future.'
WHX Kuala Lumpur alongside WHX Labs Kuala Lumpur will establish a vital platform to create partnerships and tackle industry challenges while facilitating important discussions about healthcare delivery for Southeast Asia's swiftly changing healthcare sector.
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Business Wire
2 hours ago
- Business Wire
Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences Announce Strategic Partnership to Transform Biobank Assets into high quality AI Products
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With access to over 300,000 patient samples across oncology, cardiology, autoimmune, inflammation, neurology, and other diseases, Sapien operates at a scale matched by few biobanks worldwide. This includes more than 85,000 cancer patients, increasingly paired with digitized histopathology images, genomic profiles, and structured longitudinal clinical data, making it one of the top 10 biobanks globally and the largest integrated resource for Asian patient data. 'At Sapien, we believe that deeply characterized patient data especially from underrepresented populations like those in India can catalyze more inclusive and effective diagnostics and therapies worldwide,' said Dr. Jugnu Jain, CEO and Co-founder of Sapien Biosciences. 'This partnership with Elucidata enables us to convert our rich biological and clinical datasets into interoperable, AI-ready formats, unlocking their potential for translational research, patient stratification, and precision drug development.' The first phase of the collaboration will focus on building AI models that infer genomic and transcriptomic insights from digital pathology images. By using NGS-annotated slides from Sapien's cancer biobank, the project will enable the generation of synthetic multi-modal datasets essential for next-generation diagnostic tools and tissue-sparing research strategies. This is particularly valuable for rare cancers and limited biopsy specimens. 'Sapien's scale, sample quality, and data depth make it a critical partner in our mission to democratize access to high quality, AI-ready biomedical data,' said Dr. Abhishek Jha, CEO and Co-founder of Elucidata. 'By applying our Polly platform to Sapien's datasets, we can bridge the gap between fragmented sample collections and next-gen AI models that accelerate target discovery and biomarker validation.' In addition to oncology, the partnership will explore multi-disease use cases across Sapien's biobank, including cardiovascular, autoimmune, and neurological disorders, building synthetic clinicogenomic datasets that support pharma R&D and companion diagnostic development. 'This partnership between Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences brings together Sapien's extensive, high-quality biobank resources and Elucidata's expertise in AI-powered data integration. By making rich biospecimens and clinical datasets AI-ready, this collaboration has the potential to accelerate global innovation and help reduce the complexity of human biology for research and patient care,' said Dr. Navjot Singh, advisor of and healthcare leader with 22 years of expertise in strategy, technology, and innovation, most recently as a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. Elucidata recently ranked 7th in the Broad Institute's Autoimmune Disease Machine Learning Challenge and recently won the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Research Data Commons AI Data Readiness Challenge, highlighting its leadership in data-centric AI for life sciences. About Elucidata Elucidata is a data-first AI company that accelerates life sciences R&D by converting fragmented biomedical datasets into harmonized, AI-ready assets. Its proprietary Polly platform integrates EHRs, genomics, imaging, and clinical trial data for seamless downstream analysis and model development. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices across the U.S. and India, Elucidata supports over 70 pharma and diagnostics clients, and has contributed to 16 drug programs progressing toward FDA approvals. Recognized by the National Cancer Institute and Fast Company for its innovation in biotech, Elucidata is enabling a new era of data-driven discovery. Visit for more information. About Sapien Biosciences Founded in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, Sapien Biosciences is India's premier multi-disease biobank and a leader in Indian real-world evidence (RWE) for personalized medicine. With access to more than 300,000 patients' samples including 2 million pathology samples, Sapien offers FFPE tissues, blood, and liquid biopsy samples along with annotated histopathology slides and longitudinal clinical data. Its resources support a broad range of applications from AI/ML modeling and multi-omics research to drug screening in patient tumor-derived cells and biomarker discovery. Sapien has published over 10 peer-reviewed studies using Indian patient data and collaborates with leading diagnostic and pharma companies to reduce the representation gap in global omics datasets. Learn more at
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Either there will be safer streets in Newport Beach or I'll be dead,' says father of young DUI victim
Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 4. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county. On the last Sunday of May there was a somber assemblage near the Balboa Fun Zone to mark the first anniversary of the death of a 14-year-old girl mowed down in a DUI crash on the evening of Saturday, May 25, 2024. Rosenda Elizabeth Smiley, 'Rose' to all who knew her, had been enjoying a day in Newport Beach with friends after making the trip there that Memorial Day weekend from her dad's home, about 20 miles away from Big Bear Lake. They were in a crosswalk about a block from the Fun Zone when a dark sedan knocked Rose down. By the time first responders made it to her side she had succumbed to her injuries. Joseph Alcazar, 30, of Fontana, the man behind the wheel of the car, remained at the scene, where he was interviewed by police officers and arrested. Four days later he was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of driving under the influence and causing injuries, along with a misdemeanor count of child abuse and endangerment, the latter charge filed because Alcazar's own 8-year-old daughter was in his car that night, the Daily Pilot reported. His blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was .16, prosecutors alleged in the complaint, twice the legal limit. In no time, a makeshift memorial filled with flowers took shape on a curb near where Rose's death occurred, and a vigil was organized to mourn yet another innocent victim of a DUI crash. The teen's mother and father — Glori Smiley and Fillmore Smiley — though divorced, were united not only in their grief, but also in their determination to stop such accidents from ever happening again in Newport Beach. With the support of Glori and his partner Lori, Fillmore Smiley has been lobbying city officials to install elevated and blinking crosswalks at some of Newport's heavily trafficked intersections and possibly implementing portions of a 'Vision Zero' policy adopted in Sweden 30 years ago that cut traffic-related deaths in half, reporters Sara Cardine and Eric Licas related in this Daily Pilot story about the anniversary vigil. He's not yet been successful with those pleas, he said. Smiley, a recovering addict himself with 21 years of sobriety who earned his doctorate and counsels others battling addition, is also asking Southland pols to introduce into the state Legislature 'Rosenda's Law.' It's a proposed bill that would impose tougher penalties for repeat DUI offenders and even passengers who knowingly get in a car with a drunk driver. According to The Pilot, Rosenda's Law 'suggests treatment for initial offenders and mandatory drug court for a second DUI. A third conviction would incur a 16-month minimum sentence and a fourth offense would call for five to 10 years. Anything after that would come with a life sentence.' The passengers who willingly climbed into a vehicle driven by someone under the influence could be charged with a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge that would be erased after a series of educational classes, Smiley explained. Few legislators he's spoken to have wanted to take on introducing the proposed law, except for Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale). On May 27, the state Assembly declared May 25, 2025 'Rosenda's Day,' via a resolution introduced by Lackey. Smiley traveled to Sacramento for the occasion. 'In the past year, Rose's family members and friends, clad in pink T-shirts, bearing a rose and a picture of the teen with the words 'JusticeForRose,' have packed every courtroom hearing ahead of Alcazar's impending trial for murder, felony DUI and child endangerment,' according to the story. Smiley has also formed the group 'Rosenda's Gift' to help the families of other victims secure remembrances such as memorial plaques and benches, tributes he considers 'cathartic.' As to striking out — so far, anyway — with Newport Beach officials in his lobbying efforts for pedestrians to be made safer from the threat of DUI drivers, Smiley is determined to keep going. 'If I can't get Newport Beach to work with me and do the right thing, maybe I can do something at the state level and get some things implemented,' Smiley told The Pilot. 'I'm going to keep at it — either there will be safer streets in Newport Beach or I'll be dead.' • Much to the surprise of Mayor Pat Burns and others in the know about Huntington Beach's stand with President Trump against illegal immigration, Surf City was the only Orange County municipality on this list of sanctuary cities that was released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security, accusing them of 'defying federal immigration law.' Curiously Santa Ana, an actual sanctuary city, did not. The list was taken down sometime Sunday, the Daily Pilot reports. Burns called the city's inclusion on it either a misprint or a serious mistake and notified the DHS of its error. National Sheriffs' Assn. President Sheriff Kieran Donahue called the list 'arbitrary' and created without any input, criteria of compliance or method of objecting to the designation, The Pilot reported. Before the list was removed from the DHS website, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem defended it Sunday morning on a Fox News program. 'Some of the cities have pushed back,' she said. 'They think because they don't have one law or another on the books that they don't qualify, but they do qualify. They are giving sanctuary to criminals.' • The coastal rail linking Orange and San Diego counties is expected to resume service next month after closing in April when the California Coastal Commission approved emergency construction because sections of the rail were reported to be unstable. Service from Dana Point in south Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County — is set to resume June 7, the Los Angeles Times reports. • Civic leaders turned out last week to cheer the wrecking ball when Anaheim demolished yet another seedy motel along Beach Boulevard, the former Rainbow Inn, to make way for much-needed town homes and affordable housing units. 'We want to clean up this area in west Anaheim,' Rep. Lou Correa said at a press conference in front of the motel, according to this TimesOC story on the demolition. 'This is what good government is all about. It's about listening to our locals, to our constituents, responding to their needs and moving forward.' • Some 4,000 people attended the California Democratic Party annual conclave at the Anaheim Convention Center over the weekend. Speakers on Saturday included possible 2028 presidential hopefuls Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. • Dismayed that his fellow state legislators are not taking up his battle to allow licensed manicurists to work as self-employed contractors without taking a rigorous test now required by law — even though licensed barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians and electrologists can continue the practice without it — Republican Assemblyman Tri Ta announced Monday he was filing a federal discrimination lawsuit. Ta noted that 82% of manicurists in California are Vietnamese, with 85% of those being women. 'This lawsuit seeks only one thing — to make sure that all professionals in the beauty industry are treated equally and to eliminate the obvious discrimination against the Vietnamese community,' the complaint reads. • The Mission Viejo City Council last week moved forward with the adoption of an updated state map that identifies homes in 'very high' or 'high' wildfire hazard zones. The approval was made with some reluctance, according to TimesOC, as residents raised the specter of how much their already-high homeowners insurance would be raised as a result. 'Mission Viejo is one of 16 Orange County cities with very high wildfire hazard areas,' reporter Gabriel San Román explains. 'Adoption of the Cal Fire map is mandatory and cities do not have the authority to change the risk designations, though they can offer feedback to scale an area's hazards upward.' • A 657-unit mixed-use development to be built on the former site of a Boomers family amusement center in Fountain Valley is on the table. If it gains all the necessary approvals, the Magnolia street project will help the city meet its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment, under which Fountain Valley must add 4,839 residential units by 2029. • Orange Coast College students in the aquarium science program on Friday released 200 tagged white seabass into the ocean at Bayside Beach, near the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol Division office. The college coordinated with the nonprofit Get Inspired, which works with O.C. schools to nurture white seabass, green abalone, Pismo clams and other species before releasing them into the ocean. Before Friday's release, students spent a few months caring for the fish on campus, said Mary Blasius, instructor and aquarium coordinator for the Orange Coast College Dennis Kelly Aquarium. • In hopes of reducing air pollution, the Buena Park City Council plans to hold a study session where it will learn about the possibility of banning delivery trucks from idling while making their rounds. The session was proposed by Councilmember Susan Sonne, according to this TimesOC article. 'Pollution is certainly a big concern here, because in my district, there's a number of commercial areas that back up against homes,' she said. 'There's also a noise consideration, and I've had residents who've reported large commercial trucks that have idled, not just for a few minutes, but for hours in the middle of the night.' • Costa Mesa police on Tuesday were searching for leads in a homicide case, with the suspect still at large, after a 20-year-old woman who was found shot on a Lukup Lane sidewalk Monday night died from her injuries. The victim was identified as Monserrat Colorado, of Huntington Beach. • Four male suspects from Riverside, including one juvenile, were arrested Sunday night after a man was shot during an altercation near a bar at Oceanfront and 23rd Street on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. • Orange County Superior Court Judge Judge Gary Paer began hearing the case early this week of 45-year-old Nolan Pascal Pillay, who was charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances in the deaths of his mother and brother on Jan. 31, 2017 at their Irvine home. On Tuesday, Pillay, who on Monday waived the right to a jury, was ruled insane when the crime occurred by Paer and is facing an indefinite commitment to a state mental hospital. • A 14-year-old armed with flare gun who allegedly shot and killed a 29-year-old man in Huntington Beach on the night May 23 was taken into custody, according to police. The victim, who died later at a hospital, was identified by the Orange County Coroner Division as Jose Manuel Nares of Huntington Beach. Police are seeking security camera footage and additional information. • The trial started last week in the murder case against Antonio Calizto Navarrete, a 45-year-old convicted drunk driver accused of killing Isadora Stabel, 20, on Aug. 22, 2020 in Irvine. Calitzto Navareete is charged with second-degree murder, hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and driving under the influence of alcohol in excess of the legal limit of .08% causing injury, all felonies. • Having put in a lot of work after losing 15-3 its first game of the season to Woodbridge, the Estancia High School baseball team on Saturday captured its second CIF championship. Senior Jake Humphries, the only remaining player from the program's first CIF title team in 2022, hit a bases-loaded triple to deep right field in the bottom of the seventh inning to score three and help Estancia earn a 4-3 victory over Pasadena Marshall. • For the first time in three long decades, the Marina High School softball team is basking in the glow of having won the CIF title. Avi Valbuena and Eva Mazzotti each drove in four runs, as Marina beat Westlake 8-1 on Friday at Deanna Manning Stadium. • Four Newport Harbor High School Sailors made a splash when they helped Team USA Cadet win women's water polo gold at the recent Pan Am Aquatics Championship in Medellin, Colombia. • Someone who purchased a Powerball lottery ticket at a supermarket in Orange for the May 28 drawing is $1.23-million richer, according to California Lottery officials, having picked five of the six winning numbers. The entire jackpot in the very next Powerball draw, held Saturday night, is worth $204.5 million and is going to someone who purchased the lucky ticket at a 7-Eleven in Arleta, a San Fernando Valley neighborhood. • Watermark Laguna Niguel senior living community recently debuted a unique exhibit titled 'Feeling Our Age,' featuring portraits of older women 60 years or older painted by artist Kathleen Cosgrove. What makes the project especially compelling is that each one of those artworks is accompanied by a personal essay written by the portrait's subject sharing her own experience while aging. • Byblos Cafe served Mediterranean cuisine and was a favorite in the Orange Circle for 36 years when its owners, Adel and Zalfa Mahshi, decided they were ready to retire and hand the business over to their son, Tim. There was one obstacle: Tim Mahshi fell ill. So the couple spoke to a regular customer and the owner of a neighboring restaurant, JT Reed of Bosscat Kitchen and he offered to become a partner, to collaborate and mentor Tim Mahshi so the family could keep it. The two new partners transformed Byblos Cafe into the quick service Baba G, which recently opened its doors. My colleague Sarah Mosqueda tells the whole story in this feature article. • Bowers Museum has opened its latest exhibit, 'World of the Terracotta Warriors: New Archaeological Discoveries in Shaanxi in the 21st Century.' The museum is the first in North America to host the new traveling exhibit, which features more than 110 recently unearthed treasures, according to this TimesOC story. It will be on view through Oct. 16. Bowers Museum is located at 2002 N. Main St. Santa Ana. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For tickets visit • 'Feed me!' The annual announcement of this event always brings to my mind the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors' and its man-eating plant, Audrey II: The day of the Carnivorous Plant Show and Sale at Sherman Library & Gardens is almost upon us. Presented by the Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, the judged show will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 14. The Sherman is located at 2647 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Admission is $5. • Orange County Museum of Art on June 21 will open 'California Biennial 2025: Desperate, Scared, But Social,' a new exhibit featuring artworks that span generations, from early works from established California artists to contemporary collaborations between artists and their children. The exhibit took its title from the 1995 album by Orange County riot grrrl band Emily's Sassy Lime. OCMA is located at 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is free. Until next Wednesday,Carol We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Vietnam Ends Two-Child Policy to Tackle Falling Birth Rates
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Vietnam has abolished its long-standing two-child policy to tackle concerns about declining birth and fertility rates. The National Assembly Standing Committee approved a new regulation lifting the restriction, permitting couples to freely choose the timing, number, and spacing of their children on Tuesday, state media reports. Why It Matters The fertility rate in Vietnam, Southeast Asia's third-most-populous nation, has fallen to 1.91 births per woman in 2024, according to the Vietnam General Statistics Office. This is well below the replacement threshold of 2.1 needed to maintain the population size. Vietnam's Two-Child Policy: Origins and Purpose Vietnam introduced its two-child policy in 1988 to curb rapid population growth, when the average woman had more than four children. The law restricted most families to one or two children, with exceptions in special cases. Enforcement was stricter for Communist Party members, who faced penalties including warnings, reduced bonuses, or dismissal from positions for violations. What To Know Vietnam's decision to scrap its two-child policy followed a steady decrease in birth rates since 2022, when the fertility rate dropped to 2.01 and declined again to 1.93 in 2023. Health officials have expressed concern that the nation's population of nearly 100 million may begin to contract by mid-century. Authorities have also cited gender imbalances and the ongoing shift toward a "super-aged society," with projections that over 20 percent of Vietnamese will be age 65 or older by 2049. Under the new regulation, all families—regardless of Party membership—can now choose freely how many children to have and when. Vietnam's policy shift aligns with recent moves in other Asian countries also experiencing plunging fertility rates and rapid aging. A billboard campaigning for each family to have two children in an effort to improve the birth rate stands along the street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jan. 14, 2024. A billboard campaigning for each family to have two children in an effort to improve the birth rate stands along the street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jan. 14, 2024. AP China saw a slight uptick in its birth rate in 2024, attributed mainly to cultural factors such as the Year of the Dragon, despite wide-ranging pro-natal measures and the end of restrictive family policies. Meanwhile, the country's overall population has continued to shrink for the third consecutive year. Japan, facing a decades-long population decline and with nearly 30 percent of its population over age 65, is preparing to make childbirth free as early as April 2026. The Japanese government proposes that public health insurance cover all delivery costs nationwide, attempting to alleviate financial burdens on families. What People Are Saying The United Nations Population Fund says: "Vietnam is in the period of population aging. The process of population aging is progressing rapidly, caused by mortality and fertility declines, and life expectancy at birth increase and that transition from an 'aging' to an 'aged' population will occur within just 20 years." What Happens Next The Vietnamese Ministry of Health is expected to submit a new population law to the National Assembly in 2025, aimed at sustaining fertility rates near replacement level while monitoring the ongoing demographic transition and the effects of the relaxed family planning rules.
