Dr Tan Yu-Meng graduated from the Charing Cross & Westiminster Medical School (now the Imperial College of Medicine) at the University of London with First Class Honors and Distinction in his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1994. He went on to train in general surgery at Singapore General Hospital under his mentor Professor Soo Khee Chee and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh in 1999. During his surgical training, he received multiple awards including the Young Surgeons Award at the Asian Surgical Congress in 2001.
With his interest in gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary-pancreatic (GI-HPB) surgery and the treatment of cancer, he joined the department of surgical oncology at the National Cancer Centre in 2003 as a consultant. He underwent further training in advanced HPB surgery and liver transplantation at the world reknown Liver Unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Subsequently he furthered his skills in living donor liver transplantation under the guidance of Professor K Tanaka in Japan.
Dr Tan was a founding member of the liver transplant team at Singapore General Hospital in 2005. He subsequently was appointed Deputy Head and Senior Consultant of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre, Singapore as well as the Surgical Director of the Liver Transplantation Programme at SGH in 2007. During this time, he led the team to perform the first successful split liver transplant at SGH and the first combined Heart- Liver Transplantation in Asia in 2009.
His surgical interest also lies in the management of peritoneal surface malignancies and he led a multidisciplinary team from NCC to Washington Cancer Institute to adopt the techniques and protocols of peritonectomy and HIPEC (Sugarbaker procedure) from Dr Paul Sugarbaker in 2009. Dr Tan continues to be one of few surgeons in Asia who perform specialized surgery for peritoneal malignancies in Asia.
During his surgical career, Dr Tan has been a strong proponent of academic surgery having published over 90 articles in leading surgical journals including the highest rated surgical journal the ‘Annals of Surgery’ as lead and corresponding author on a wide range of topics in surgical diseases. He was also examiner of the Royal college of Edinburgh and Yong Loo Lin School of medicine.
Dr Tan left for private practice in May 2010 to pursue a more holistic and patient centric approach to surgical care and also to have a better work life balance for his family. He continues to contribute to public care as an active visiting consultant at the national cancer centre. In 2012, he has embarked on an exciting new venture as founder and chief surgeon of a new surgical group practice called ‘FeM Surgery’ at Parkway Hospitals. This is a multidisciplinary practice where his philosophy of team based approach comprising medical and allied health professionals for the best patient care will be adopted. He will lead the Gallstone Liver Centre @ FeM and the Cancer Surgery & Peritonectomy Centre @ FeM where patients with cancer and gallstones, liver and gastrointestinal diseases can obtain the best possible care.
