Dr Teo Ching Ching Melissa

Dr Melissa Teo is a general surgeon and surgical oncologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore.

She has expertise in cancer of the colon and rectal, lower gastrointestinal cancers and surgical oncology, and has treated complex abdominal, pelvic and peritoneal cases in Southeast Asia.

She has experience in the management of peritoneal disease (Cytoreductive Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (CRS HIPEC)) in Southeast Asia and is the president of the Asian Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Group (ASPMG).

She is a senior consultant and the former head of the division of the surgical oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS). She started and headed NCCS’ Centre of Peritoneal and Pelvic Disease and remains a visiting consultant of the division of surgical oncology at NCCS.

Dr Teo completed her general surgical training in Singapore and was awarded the Health Manpower Development Plan scholarships by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for 2 fellowships in surgical oncology and colorectal surgery, where she built on her expertise in complex abdominal and pelvic surgery.

At NCCS, she co-chaired the sarcoma and melanoma workgroup and was a member of the gastrointestinal tract workgroup for the NCCS cancer service line. She was the chairperson for faculty affairs and professional development in the surgery academic clinical programme and was also the chairperson for the new NCCS building committee. She was also the director of strategic initiatives in the oncology academic clinical programme.

At the same time, she pursued clinical excellence, as well as clinical research and teaching. She was the principal investigator of more than 43 institutional review boards and has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and 6 book chapters.

She has performed an average of 400 surgeries a year and has performed more than 10,000 gastroscopies and colonoscopies. She has been practising medicine for more than 20 years.

She is a member of the Singapore Society of Oncology. She also sits on the Singapore Cancer Network sarcoma guideline committee, and was a member of the MOH technology advisory committee. She continues to be an adjunct professor at DUKE-NUS Medical School.

Dr Teo is the recipient of numerous awards, including the SingHealth Service Excellence Award, Outstanding Faculty Award – Residency in SingHealth Excels (RiSE) Award in 2018 and Outstanding Faculty for Surgery – Duke-NUS Medical School in 2016.