About Prof. TEH Pei Lee

Profile

Professor TEH Pei Lee is the Head of Department of Management at the School of Business and the Director of Gerontechnology Laboratory at Monash University Malaysia. She is passionate to drive research on how technology transforms business processes and organisations, and on a huge spectrum of impacts on people’s lives and society at large. She has taken strong initiative to develop the area of gerontechnology in Malaysia. She founded the Gerontechnology Laboratory in Monash University Malaysia in 2016, the first of its kind in Malaysia. Under her leadership, the Gerontechnology Laboratory successfully hosted the first and only Gerontechnology Symposium (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) and Gerontechnology Challenge (2018) in Asia, brought together academia, industry, government and NGOs to speak about the amalgamation of geriatrics and technology. The Gerontechnology Laboratory was chosen to be a highlight of the AACSB ICAM “2019 Innovations That Inspire” challenge. Her research profile is interdisciplinary. Her work appears in top-tier journals and her research has received the backing of local and international public and private institutions, with grants of more than RM10 million. She is also an Associate Editor for three journals namely, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Gerontechnology Journal, and International Journal of Electronic Business.

Abstract:

Title: Gerontechnology and COVID-19: A Look Back and Look Ahead

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives including caring for the older population. Our health care, economic and social welfare systems are under severe strain, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. Building better health care and eldercare system are never easy but we need to protect the most vulnerable group – the older adults in institutions and in the community.

The talk starts off with the reflection about changes that have occurred in the early pandemic, from experts in academia, business, and government. The pandemic has prompted several collaborations among researchers, businesses, policymakers, healthcare professionals and volunteers to contribute to the capacity of the aged care sector by improving the detection, prevention, response, and control of the disease among high-risk older populations, especially the older adults living alone. With this understanding, the talk further discusses how we should move forward to work cohesively to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 and improve the quality of life of the aged and their caregivers through gerontechnology.

 
There are tremendous opportunities in every pandemic if we are willing to innovate and learn. Our fervent hope is that we can all keep this societal issue at the front and centre on our radars, how we can and should be proactive in our efforts to translate knowledge into action and to deliberate on strategies for the future of ageing and society in a post COVID-19 world.