Dr Colum Patrick Nolan

Dr Colum Nolan is a neurosurgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore.

His subspecialty is in spine surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery. His clinical interests include degenerative and complex spinal disorders, cervical spine surgery, spinal tumours, spinal trauma, and endoscopy.

He was the former spine director at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and was instrumental in growing the combined NNI-Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) spine service. He also started and headed the neurosurgery service at Sengkang General Hospital. He is currently a visiting consultant at NNI and the National University Hospital.

Dr Nolan graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He underwent comprehensive neurosurgery training in Ireland and at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. He then further pursued his interest in complex spine surgery and gained extensive experience as a spinal fellow at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK. He gained experience in the management of degenerative spine disorders (disc herniations, spinal stenosis, spinal cord compression, spondylolisthesis and spinal deformity/scoliosis) as well as complex spinal tumours and fractures. He also developed his skills in minimally invasive spine surgery.

Besides his expertise in minimally invasive spine surgery, he is also experienced in intradural tumour surgery, complex cervical spine surgery and spinal navigation technology. He has been practising medicine for more than 20 years.

Dr Nolan has authored publications in numerous international peer-reviewed journals and has presented at many local, regional and international conferences and meetings. He has also served as a reviewer for international journals and international meetings. He was a member of the medical council, professional development committee and peer-review learning quality assurance committee at NNI, and a clinical physician faculty member for the integrated neurosurgery training programme. He was also a member of the trauma committees at TTSH and Sengkang General Hospital and served on several workgroups with the Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Health.

He was an adjunct assistant professor at Duke-NUS Medical School.

He is active in local, regional and international societies including the Singapore Spine Society, Asia Pacific Spine Society, AO Spine, North American Spine Society, Society of British Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He is an executive committee member of the Singapore Spine Society.

Dr Nolan is a recipient of the Singapore Health Quality Service Award.