Education Qualifications: MBBS, MMed (Family Med), FCFP(S), MCI (NUS), FAMS
Dr Ngiap Chuan Tan was appointed as the Director of Research in SHP in October 2012, after serving as Clinic Director of SHP-Pasir Ris from 2002. He graduated with both the Master in Family Medicine and Master in Clinical Investigations (NUS) and is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Singapore. Dr Tan is a sub-editor of the journal “Proceedings of the Singapore Healthcare” and serves as a reviewer for various local and international medical journals and grant applications.
Dr Tan focuses on person-centered care and ageing related research. He is also passionate in the development of mobile applications, serious games and virtual reality in primary healthcare setting. He has published over 80 articles in local and international medical journals such as SMJ, ERJ, npj PCRM, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Medicine, Family Practice, JMIR, JAMDA and JAMA.
Dr Tan is a facilitator for the in-house research training and runs basic and qualitative research workshops regularly for the multidisciplinary staff in SHP and FM ACP. He coaches medical students and novice primary care researchers via platforms such as Research Master Hour and Research Consultation Clinics in SHP and FM ACP. He also mentors the SHP and FM ACP Fellowship trainees in the College of Family Physicians of Singapore.
Dr Tan has secured research grants from public and private funding agencies such as Singapore National Medical Research Council, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation, Abbott Laboratories and others to support his fields of research. He also collaborates with local academic institutions, including Institute of Technical Education, Polytechnics, local universities, SingHealth institutions and other ACP. A/P Tan is a key member of the SingHealth consortium which has recently been awarded the AI-SG Grant, leveraging on artificial intelligence to develop predictive risk model and to enhance evidence-based person-centered care.
Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships:
- Senior Consultant, SingHealth Polyclinics
- Faculty member, Family Medicine Fellowship Programme, College of Family Physicians Singapore (CFPS) (2014 – Present)
Awards:
- NMRC Clinician Innovator Award 2019
- National Day Long Service Award 2018 (Pingat Bakti)
- SingHealth Publish! Award 2015 for Best Paper in Family Medicine (2016)
- SingHealth Excellence Award (Clinician) (2012)
- Humanity Award - Healthcare (2006)
Leadership positions / roles in Education:
- Adjunct Associate Professor, FM Clerkship, Duke-NUS Medical School
- Physician faculty, SingHealth Family Medicine Residency
- Co-mentor to FM fellowship trainees and medical undergraduates from Duke-NUS, NUS YLLSoM and NTU LKSoM for research electives
- Facilitator for Basic Research and Qualitative Research workshops in SingHealth Polyclinics
- Examiner, GDFM (College of Family Physicians Singapore) and MMed (FM) NUS examinations
Research Interests:
- Health service research focusing on aged and chronic disease management
- Innovations in primary care
Selected Publications:
Sean Ing Loon Chua, Tan Ngiap Chuan, Wong Wei Teen, John Carson Allen Jr , Joanne Quah Hui Min, Rahul Malhotra ; Truls Østbye. Virtual Reality for Screening of Cognitive Function in Older Persons: Comparative Study. J Med Internet Res 2019;21(7):e14821)
Eui Whan Moon, Ngiap Chuan Tan, John Carson Allen, Tazeen Hasan Jafar. The Use of Wireless, Smartphone App–Assisted Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Among Hypertensive Patients in Singapore: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2019;7(5):e13153
David Koot, Paul Soo Chye Goh, Robyn Su May Lim, Yubing Tian, Teng Yan Yau, Ngiap Chuan Tan, Eric Andrew Finkelstein. A Mobile Lifestyle Management Program (GlycoLeap) for People With Type 2 Diabetes: Single-Arm Feasibility Study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019;7(5):e12965)
Li Feng Zheng, Yi Ling Eileen Koh, Usha Sankari and Ngiap Chuan Tan. Asthma care based on Chronic Care Model in an aging Asian community. npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine.(2019) 29:16
Foon Yin Fung , Yi Ling Eileen Koh, Rahul Malhotra, Truls Ostbye, Ping Yein Lee, Sazlina Shariff Ghazali and Ngiap Chuan Tan. Prevalence of and factors associated with sarcopenia among multi-ethnic ambulatory older Asians with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a primary care setting. BMC Geriatrics (2019) 19:122.
Tan NC, Koong AYL, Ng LP, Hu PL, Koh EYL, Tan KT, Moey PKS, Tan MX, Wong CS, Tan TY, Ho HJA, Chen MI. Accuracy of urinary symptoms and urine microscopy in diagnosing urinary tract infection in women. Fam Pract. 2019 Jul 31;36(4):417-424.
Tan NC, Chew RQ, Subramanian RC, Sankari U, Koh YLE, Cho LW. Patients on levothyroxine replacement in the community: association between hypothyroidism symptoms, co-morbidities and their quality of life. Fam Pract. May 2019, 269–275.
Malhotra R, Bautista MAC, Tan NC, Tang WE, Tay SCS, Tan ASL, Pouliot A, Saffari SE, Lye CC, Vaillancourt R. Bilingual Text With or Without Pictograms Improves Elderly Singaporeans’ Understanding of Prescription Medication Labels. Gerontologist. 2019 Mar 14; 59(2): 378-390.
Ng G, Tan SW, Tan NC. Health outcomes of patients with chronic disease managed with a healthcare kiosk in primary care: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2018 Mar 23;8(3):e020265.
Jafar TH, Tan NC, Allen JC, Finkelstein EA, Goh P, Moey P, Quah JHM, Hwang SW, Bahadin J, Thiagarajah AG, Chan J, Kang G, Koong A. Management of hypertension and multiple risk factors to enhance cardiovascular health in Singapore: The SingHypertension cluster randomized trial. BMC Trials. 2018 Mar 14;19(1):180.
Tan NC, Mohtar ZBM, Koh YLE, Sankari U, Tay HCD, Yu S, Tan BWW. An exhaled carbon monoxide self-monitoring device linked to social media to support smoking cessation: A proof of concept pilot study. Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare. 2018. 27(3): 187-192.
Lew QLJ, Allen JC, Nguyen F, Tan NC, Jafar TH. Factors Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease and Their Clinical Utility in Primary Care Clinics in a Multi-Ethnic Southeast Asian Population. Nephron. 2018;138(3):202-213.
Price DB, Buhl R, Chan A, Freeman D, Gardener E, Godley C, Gruffydd-Jones K, McGarvey L, Ohta K, Ryan D, Syk J, Tan NC, Tan T, Thomas M, Yang S, Konduru PR, Ngantcha M, d'Alcontres MS, Lapperre TS. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide as a predictor of response to inhaled corticosteroids in patients with non-specific respiratory symptoms and insignificant bronchodilator reversibility: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2018 Jan;6(1):29-39.
Ngoh SHA, Lim HWL, Koh YLE, Tan NC. Test-retest reliability of the Mandarin versions of the Hypertension Self-Care Profile instrument. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Nov;96(45):e8568.
Ting DSW, Cheung CY, Lim G, Tan GSW, Quang ND, Gan A, Hamzah H, Garcia-Franco R, San Yeo IY, Lee SY, Wong EYM, Sabanayagam C, Baskaran M, Ibrahim F, Tan NC, Finkelstein EA, Lamoureux EL, Wong IY, Bressler NM, Sivaprasad S, Varma R, Jonas JB, He MG, Cheng CY, Cheung GCM, Aung T, Hsu W, Lee ML, Wong TY. Development and Validation of a Deep Learning System for Diabetic Retinopathy and Related Eye Diseases Using Retinal Images From Multiethnic Populations With Diabetes. JAMA. 2017 Dec 12;318(22):2211-2223.
Lee CS, Tan JHM, Sankari U, Koh YLE, Tan NC. Assessing oral medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with polytherapy in a developed Asian community: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2017 Sep 14;7(9):e016317.
Seow KC, Mohamed Yusoff D, Koh YLE, Tan NC. What is the test-retest reliability of the Malay version of the Hypertension Self-Care Profile self efficacy assessment tool? A validation study in primary care. BMJ Open. 2017 Sep 6;7(9):e016152.
Tan NC, Yip WF, Kallakuri S, Sankari U, Koh YLE. Factors associated with impaired color vision without retinopathy amongst people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study. BMC Endocr Disord. 2017 Jun 2;17(1):29.
Nguyen HV, Nadkarni NV, Sankari U, Mital S, Lye WK, Tan NC. Association between asthma control and asthma cost: Results from a longitudinal study in a primary care setting. Respirology. 2017 Apr;22(3):454-459.
Quah JHM, Wang P, Ng RRG, Luo N, Tan NC. Health-related quality of life of older Asian patients with multimorbidity in primary care in a developed nation. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2017 Oct;17(10):1429-1437.