Dr Tan Yung Khan

Dr Tan Yung Khan is a urologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore.

He provides specialised care in prostate and kidney cancers, kidney stone and bladder diseases, and men’s health issues. He has experience in robotic and minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures.

He is the former director of endourology and minimally invasive surgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). He continues to be a visiting consultant at the hospital.

Dr Tan graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2000 and completed his postgraduate surgical degrees at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2006 and a master’s degree in surgery at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2007. After completing his specialist urology training at TTSH in 2010, Dr Tan was awarded the National Medical Research Council fellowship to train at the University Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US. The training focused on minimally invasive surgery, the development of novel microparticles in the treatment of kidney stone diseases and research on new ways to ablate kidney cancers.

He also received the Health Manpower Development Plan award and was accepted into the endourology society fellowship programme at Columbia Medical Center, where he continued to develop his skills in endourology and minimally invasive urologic surgery.

Dr Tan was the earliest doctor to use several medical technologies including GreenLight vaporisation of the prostate, UroNav fusion biopsy of the prostate, and supine percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for the removal of large kidney stones using minimally invasive surgery. He introduced Rezum and UroLift the prostate at some private hospitals, and at TTSH, he introduced the endoscopic combined intrarenal surgery for the removal of complex kidney stones using minimally invasive surgery.

He was also an adjunct assistant professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and senior lecturer at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is the current vice-president of the Singapore Urological Association.

Dr Tan has a strong interest in research and has published more than 20 original research articles and book chapters. He received the award for best paper at the engineering and urology society meeting, which was part of the American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in 2011. His recent project involves developing a robotic system for PCNL, which makes the surgical procedure more accurate and safer.

Dr Tan has a keen interest in humanitarian relief work. He has received the Courage Award for managing SARS patients in the 2003, the Healthcare for Humanity Award in 2006 and the Ministry of Health Award in 2007 for medical relief work during the aftermath of the tsunami in Banda Aceh and the Merapi eruption and earthquake in Indonesia.