Dr Heywood Rebecca Louise

Dr Rebecca Heywood is an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon at Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore.

She treats all ENT conditions in adults and children. Her specialties are in otology/hearing implants and disorders of the ear, hearing, balance, facial nerve and skull base.

She was the former director of the JurongHealth Hearing Implant Fund at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH). She also was a consultant in otolaryngology/otology, neurotology and hearing implants at Sengkang General Hospital and the National University Health System.

After graduating from the University of Manchester, Dr Heywood pursued ENT training in London, working at various institutions such as the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, the Royal Marsden Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital and the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. She gained further experience in ear surgery at the House Institute, Los Angeles, USA and the Causse Clinic, Béziers, France. She also underwent subspecialty fellowship training in otology and skull base surgery at the Ear Science Institute Australia and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia.

She co-founded the hearing implant programmes at NTFGH and Sengkang General Hospital. She has performed more than 4,000 operations since 1998 and has more than 18 years working as an ENT surgeon in the UK, Australia and Singapore.

She is an adjunct senior research fellow at the University of Western Australia and Ear Science Institute Australia, and previously was the clinical assistant professor at SingHealth Duke-NUS’ surgery academic clinical programme.

Dr Heywood was awarded grant funding to investigate the link between hearing loss and dementia in the ageing population in Singapore, leading a research team in Singapore, Australia and the USA. She is also involved in clinical research in cochlear implantation and other auditory implants.

She was the organising chairman of the World Hearing Day Research Symposium in Singapore in 2017. She has held expert faculty positions teaching otology and skull base courses locally and internationally.

She is a recipient of the Singapore Health Quality Service Award (Gold) and the SingHealth Award for Service Excellence (Silver). She established a multidisciplinary implant team to drive optimal service provision, resulting in the adult cochlear implant programme team winning the JurongHealth Campus Service Quality Patient Experience Award.