Dr Tan Wah Siew

Dr Tan Wah Siew is a general and colorectal surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore.

Her subspecialty interests are in minimally invasive colorectal surgery, proctology, colorectal cancer, advanced rectal cancer requiring pelvic lymph node dissections and pelvic exenterations, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

She spent a year training in Leeds, UK, gaining hands-on experience in robotic and laparoscopic colorectal surgery, complex pelvic surgeries and pelvic exenterations.

Prior to setting up her own private practice, Dr Tan was a senior consultant surgeon at the department of colorectal surgery at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Dr Tan performed the inaugural robotic lateral pelvic lymph node dissection for a patient with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiation, as well as the inaugural robotic pelvic exenteration for locally advanced rectal cancer in SGH. She has since gone on to perform numerous minimally invasive lateral pelvic lymph node dissections, using both laparoscopic and robotic techniques.

She was one of the earliest Singaporean female surgeons to be trained in robotic colorectal surgery, and has performed several minimally invasive (both laparoscopic and robotic) lateral pelvic lymph node dissections for patients with advanced rectal cancer, as well as complete mesocolic excision surgery for colon cancer.

To date, she has performed more than 500 major colorectal resection surgeries for both colorectal cancer and benign colorectal conditions.

At SGH, Dr Tan was also a member and one of the surgeons in the multidisciplinary IBD team. She performed many life-saving surgeries for patients with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

In addition, she has a special interest in proctology, offering the range of surgical options for the treatment of haemorrhoids, anal fistulas and anal fissures.

She has conducted laparoscopic and endoscopic skills training courses for international and local delegates as well as surgical residents, and has also been involved in the teaching of nurses at Nanyang Polytechnic.

She has published widely in multiple peer-reviewed journals, particularly on minimally invasive colorectal surgery. She has been a reviewer for numerous local and international journals, including the Singapore Medical Journal, British Journal of Surgery, Colorectal Disease and International Journal of Colorectal Disease.

She has been a member of the Society of Colorectal Surgeons, Singapore (SCRS) since 2011, and was a member of its executive committee from 2014 to 2015. She is also a member of the Robotic Surgery Society of Singapore.

Dr Tan is a recipient of several awards, including a Service with a Heart Award in 2017, and a Singapore Health Quality Service Award (Silver) in 2020.