Sub-specialty:

• Treatment of Pituitary Tumors
  
  

Medical Conditions Treated:

• Degenerative cervical and lumbar spine conditions
• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis
• Spinal deformities
• Spinal tumors
• Pituitary tumors
  
  

Languages:

English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew

Education:

MBBS (Singapore), FRCSEd (Gen Surg) (Edinburgh), FRCS (Gen Surg) (Glasgow), FRCS (Neurosurgery) (Edinburgh)

Professional Profile:

Dr James Tan has been practicing neurology surgery since 1989. He earned his MBBS degree from the National University of Singapore and later received his Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1995. He then completed his neurosurgical training at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore.

In 1997, Dr Tan was awarded a Ministry of Health HMDP Scholarship to attend a two-year specialist training programme in London, UK at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Charing Cross Hospital. He completed his training and obtained his specialist Neurosurgical Fellowship in Neurosurgery from the Intercollegiate Board of UK in 1999.

After returning to Singapore, Dr Tan established and directed the Spine Programme at NNI, where he developed a particular interest in spinal disorders. He was the first surgeon in Asia to successfully use artificial cervical discs implants in spinal surgery and has performed over 500 such cervical spinal operations.

Dr Tan furthered his sub-specialist training in spinal surgery at the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2003, where he developed an interest in minimally invasive spinal procedures and spinal injections for the treatment of neck and back pain. He is one of the first surgeons in Singapore to use facet and medial branch injections in the treatment of neck and back pain.

Dr Tan is an active speaker and instructor at conferences in Singapore and Asia and is a member of the AO Spine (East Asia) Committee. He is also a part-time lecturer at Nanyang Polytechnic and a visiting consultant to the Department of Neurosurgery at the National Neuroscience Institute. Dr Tan’s main surgical interest is in the treatment of degenerative spinal disorders of the cervical and lumbar spine. Additionally, he performs minimally invasive endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary tumors.