Bio
Dr Gavin Tan is a Senior consultant in the Surgical Retinal Department of the Singapore National Eye Centre and Changi General Hospital. He is also visiting Senior Consultant for the Ophthalmology service at the KK women and children’s hospital providing the pediatric retina service. In addition, he is a clinician scientist at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Dr Gavin Tan is a trained surgical and medical vitreoretinal specialist with a clinical interest in diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, intraocular tumours, retinal detachments and pediatric vitreoretinal diseases. He set up the first ocular plaque brachytherapy service in Singapore in conjunction with the National Cancer Centre Singapore. He is also a highly experienced cataract surgeon with expertise in complicated and dislocated cataracts; and intraocular lens fixation.
Dr Gavin Tan graduated with a Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) with Distinction in Biochemistry and Medicine from the National University of Singapore in 2003. He was awarded multiple Dean’s List Awards and the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) Medal for academic excellence. After his ophthalmology residency training at SNEC, where he served as Chief Resident, he went on to complete a two-year Fellowship in Vitreo-Retinal Diseases and Surgery at SNEC in 2014. During this time, he obtained his post-graduate qualifications in Ophthalmology, including a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh (FRCSEd) and Fellowship of the Academy of Medicine Singapore (FAMS) in 2012. Under the Singhealth scholarship, Dr Gavin Tan pursued further overseas training in the field of Vitero-Retinal diseases. At the Byer Eye Institute at Stanford University, USA, he mentored with world-renowned Retinal specialists in Pediatric Vitero-Retinal diseases and the use of novel lasers for Retinal diseases. At the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), he honed his expertise in advanced retinal imaging, management of intraocular tumours, and the use of human stem cell derived RPE in the treatment of Retinal diseases.
Dr Tan has devoted a substantial amount of time and effort to his area of interest: vitreoretinal diseases and in particular diabetic retinopathy. As a clinician, he has worked towards developing the paediatric retina and ocular oncology service including working to setup the first ocular plaque brachytherapy service in Singapore. He leads the SNEC ocular reading centre which is a major part of the national diabetic retinopathy program and has put effort into improving screening and imaging for diabetic retinopathy. Being passionate about eye research, Dr Gavin Tan was awarded multiple grants to study Diabetic Retinopathy. His goal is to eliminate diabetic visual impairment and blindness by developing new methods in screening, diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy with the goal of transforming clinical care and improving patient outcomes. Dr Tan has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has presented over 20 papers in local and overseas meetings. He has also been awarded various competitive grants for his work including SNEC HREF grants, the NMRC NIG grant, SHF transition project grant ,the Duke-NUS Khoo mentored research award and the NMRC transition award. Dealing with a systemic disease, he has multiple research collaborations with the endocrine, renal and family medicine departments aimed at improving the understanding of this microvascular complications in diabetes. He served as the service chief for ophthalmology and subsequently the lead for diabetic complications at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Diabetes Centre. Gavin is also interested in cell replacement therapy and is currently working with collaborators on the development of pluripotent stem cell derived cell replacement therapy for macular diseases at SERI.
Gavin is passionate about education and has been involved in numerous education activities over the years. These include mentoring medical students from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and organising continuing medical education programs family physicians, optometrists and other allied health professionals. He is constantly seeking teaching opportunities to impart knowledge to ophthalmology residents, and has mentored residents in clinical and surgical situations as well as in conducting research. He has also been involved in the various courses organised by the SNEC vitreo-retinal department both locally and overseas.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Fellow, Royal Coll of Surgeons, Edinburgh
Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Master of Medicine
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
National University of Singapore, Singapore
NUS Appointment(s)
Senior Clinical Lecturer
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS,
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