“I have had the privilege of being mentored by some of the best surgeons, both in locally and internationally. I have seen first-hand how patients come to the brink of death and where critical decisions make the difference between life and death – and where technical proficiency directly impacts outcomes. I believe that anything worth doing is hard, and indeed Hepato-pancreatobiliary surgery is a specialty like no other—defined by technical complexity and constant challenge. The diseases I manage are uncommon, and many were once regarded as uniformly fatal. Today, however, with advances in surgical techniques and systemic therapies, together with close multidisciplinary collaboration with our oncologists and radiologists, we can offer patients a realistic prospect of long-term survival, and in select cases, the possibility of cure.”
Dr Tan graduated from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore in 2012 and began his General Surgery Residency training at the National University Hospital in 2013. He obtained his Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2014 and Master of Medicine (Surgery) in 2018. During his residency, he concurrently completed and attained his Masters in Clinical Investigation at the National University of Singapore in 2018 and served as Chief Resident in his final year. Following the completion of his residency, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (General Surgery) and was accredited as a Specialist in General Surgery by the Specialist Accreditation Board in 2021. He then joined the Division of Hepato-pancreatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation at the National University Hospital. In 2024/25, Dr Tan was the only candidate accepted into the International Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the world renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA. This was a clinical hands-on fellowship in all aspects of surgical oncology - including the multidisciplinary management of Hepatopancreatobiliary malignancies and soft tissue sarcomas. He was also actively involved in clinical research in his time there and that continues till today.
Dr Tan is a part of the Hepato-pancreatobiliary service at the National University Hospital but also heads the Hepato-pancreatobiliary service at Alexandra Hospital. As part of his clinical work, he manages both benign general surgical conditions and malignant Hepatopancreatobiliary/surgical oncology conditions and is a part of the liver transplantation team at the National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT).
Outside of his clinical work, Dr Tan is also heavily involved and passionate about research - a specific area of interest is in colorectal cancer which has spread to the liver. His work is focuses on how and why this occurs, and if there are potential therapeutic targets in this mechanistic pathway.
