Dr Chong (BSc (HONS) Biochemistry, PhD (Microbial Ecology) is an Associate Professor and the Deputy Head of School (Research) at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia. Dr Chong is an experienced researcher in environmental microbial ecology and the human gut microbiome. He strongly advocates for microbiome health in Malaysia and has participated in public talks and microbiome bioinformatics training workshops. 

Dr Chong has taken various roles in education and research. At IMU, he was appointed the program director of MSc Molecular Medicine. The course is a mixed-mode 1.5-year program that consists of 12 months of coursework and 6 months of research. He was instrumental in obtaining accreditation from the Malaysia Qualifications Agency to allow the program to be offered under the open distance learning mode. In addition, he also established collaboration with the Queen Mary’s University of London (QMUL), UK, to recognise the credits from MSc Molecular Medicine. This allows the MSc Molecular Medicine students to obtain a second degree in MSc Genomic Medicine, QMUL through unit top-up.

Dr Chong is the Deputy Head of School – Research for the School of Pharmacy (SOP), Monash University Malaysia. Dr Chong is responsible for overseeing the research at the school and working with the University and Faculty to chart the School's research directions. 

Dr Chong Chun Wie started his research career on the Polar soil bacterial community and their responses to the climate, environments and anthropogenic impact. Due to the nature of the research, he has gathered extensive experience in conducting field studies in environmentally challenging ecosystems. The knowledge and understanding of microbial ecology were further transferred to the study of human and animal's gut systems. For instance, his group is actively involved in researching the impact of diet, lifestyle, and ethnicity on gut microbial composition. In addition, he also studies the gut microbial composition of farm animals, term/preterm neonates and the link between gut health with communicable and non-communicable diseases (e.g. Parkinson's Disease, Diabetes, Oral Cancer etc). 

Dr Chong's group is currently studying the effect of diets (e.g. fibre, dextrins, protein) on diseases such as DGBIs and obesity using a systems biology approach. His team is also exploring the use of advanced multivariate and machine learning techniques in deciphering the advance interaction between microbial composition, metabolites productions and immune responses.  

Dr Chong is currently the head of the MUM Microbiome Research Centre. He is also the co-lead of the 1000MYMicrobiome Project.