Ezekiel Yeo

Head of Data, Innovation & Research · HCA Hospice

Ezekiel Yeo

Yeo Zhi Zheng publishes as ZZ Yeo Singapore

I turn frontline problems in home hospice care into evidence, data systems and better services.

Get in touch View résumé

01 · About

Between the ground and the system

I lead the Data, Innovation & Research department at HCA Hospice, Singapore’s largest home hospice provider. I joined in 2017 to build its research function from the ground up, and today I direct a five-person team supporting research and quality improvement across the medical and allied health teams.

I trained in psychology and philosophy at NTU, public health at NUS and health economic evaluation at Duke-NUS. I do my best work where research, operations and building meet. Outside the day job I build local-first apps for iPhone and Mac.

Methods I’ve published with

  • Group-based trajectory modelling
  • Realist evaluation
  • Time-motion study
  • Open-label trial
  • Retrospective cohort
  • Quality improvement
  • Phenomenological interviews
  • Systematic review

How a project usually runs

  1. Notice

    Start with a frontline hunch, like nurses swamped by after-hours calls.

  2. Study

    Turn it into evidence with the method that fits the question.

  3. Redesign

    Change the workflow with the people who run it.

  4. Measure

    Check the change held, then publish what we learned.

02 · What I do

Four areas of work

  • Health services research and evaluation

    Realist evaluation, trajectory modelling, cohort studies and qualitative work on how community care is delivered.

  • Health economics and real-world evidence

    Utilisation and cost analysis, with formal training in economic modelling and health technology assessment.

  • Data and research leadership

    Running a department, its budget and its people, and building research capability in a clinical organisation.

  • Quality improvement

    Redesigning workflows on the ground, then measuring whether the change held.

03 · Experience

From part-time researcher to department head

  1. Jun 2023 – Present

    Head, Data, Innovation & Research

    HCA Hospice

    • Direct the department and a five-person team, including manpower and budget planning.
    • Oversee research and quality improvement output for HCA's medical and allied health teams.
    • Guide clinical staff through organisation-wide quality improvement, such as a call-management redesign to protect home visits for 30 nurses receiving up to 135 calls a day.
    • Built longitudinal analyses of healthcare utilisation to inform resource allocation and step-down care.
    • A key architect of Singapore's national framework for compassionate discharge.
    • Mentor junior researchers and run the journal club, research workshops and education programmes.

  2. Jan 2020 – May 2023

    Senior Research and Bereavement Executive

    HCA Hospice

    • Advised clinical teams on study methodology and analysis across HCA's research portfolio.
    • Supported more than 15 published projects and more than 15 conference posters and presentations.
    • Developed HCA's bereavement risk assessment and ongoing bereavement support programmes.

  3. Jan 2017 – Dec 2019

    Research and Bereavement Executive

    HCA Hospice

    • Joined to build HCA's research capability from the ground up (part-time from January 2017, full-time from August 2017).
    • Set up the research pipeline, ethics submissions and participant referral processes.

  4. Jan 2014 – Dec 2016

    Research Assistant

    Department of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University

    • Data collection, cognitive testing and data management across multiple sites in Singapore.
    • URECA President Scholar Researcher; Silver Award, URECA Poster Presentation Competition (2014).

04 · Research

Selected papers

All 23 publications

05 · Education

Training and credentials

  • 2025 · conferred January 2026

    Graduate Certificate in Health Economic Evaluation

    Duke-NUS Medical School

    Distinction (GPA 4.75/5.00). Health economic modelling (A+), advanced health technology assessment methods, health econometrics.

  • Aug 2020 – Aug 2022 · conferred September 2022

    Master of Public Health

    Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore

    Highest Distinction (GPA 4.50/5.00). Specialisation in health policy and services. Practicum thesis (A) — a realist evaluation of integrating step-down care into community paediatric palliative care.

  • 2013 – 2017

    BA (Hons) Psychology, second major in Philosophy

    Nanyang Technological University

    Second Upper Class Honours. Specialised in research and statistics.

Certifications

  • CITI Good Clinical Practice
  • Responsible Conduct of Research (Basic)
  • Beyond D&I — DIELP Certification (Open 2026)

Tools

  • Stata
  • SPSS
  • Quirkos
  • Excel modelling
  • Swift
  • SwiftUI
  • SwiftData
  • AppKit
  • Git

Languages

  • English (full professional)
  • Mandarin Chinese (native)
  • Malay (limited working)

06 · Beyond the day job

Things I build and write

Apps

All apps

Local-first tools for iPhone and Mac, built in Swift and shipped to the App Store.

Writing

All essays

Short essays on research without a research budget, timing, tools and translation.

Contact

Let’s talk

If you work in community care, health economics, real-world evidence or health technology, I’d welcome a conversation.