Desmond Mao

Dr Desmond Mao

Dr Mao is a dynamic Prehospital Emergency Physician delivering patient-centered care in the Emergency Department (ED) and shaping emergency medical systems (EMS) through direct policy and research work. He spends half his time seeing patients and managing ED ground operations with the rest divided between EMS policy and research. 

His current job scope places him in a unique position to be both strategic and operational where needed. At a strategic level, he has a good grasp of the workings of the healthcare system and at the operational level, he can identify gaps in clinical care. With his proven ability to communicate the strategic intent of the system to my teams, he galvanises and leads both clinical and admin teams to successfully close those gaps. He has successfully pioneered several ED, interdepartmental and inter-ministry collaborative initiatives, building new innovations that have enabled his hospital to contribute to the national care improvement agenda. 

Being at the cutting edge of clinical care, he is an accomplished health services researcher and has conducted studies in both prehospital and ED settings, publishing more than 30 papers in local and international journals such as Singapore Medical Journal and Resuscitation.