Dr Wong Te Ching Mark

Dr Mark Wong is a general surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.

His special interests are in minimally invasive (laparoscopic and robotic) surgery for both cancer and benign bowel disorders.

Dr Wong was the longest-serving director of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) pelvic floor disorders service. There, he led a multidisciplinary team of specialists of colorectal surgeons, gynaecologists and urologists to provide holistic care for patients with pelvic floor disorders, including incontinence, chronic constipation and organ prolapse. In 2016, he was appointed the first director of the SGH gastrointestinal function unit, where he led a team of gastroenterologists and surgeons to evaluate patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders.

He graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1999 and obtained his fellowship diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2004. He proceeded to complete his advanced surgical training at SGH. He completed the joint specialty fellowship in general surgery examination in 2008, where he was awarded the College of Surgeons Gold medal as the top candidate. He was admitted as a fellow to the Academy of Medicine in surgery in the same year.

Dr Wong was awarded the Health Manpower Development Plan (HMDP) scholarship in 2009 to pursue fellowship training in minimally invasive colorectal surgery at the University Hospital of Nantes in France. This was followed by a second HMDP scholarship in 2014 to train in pelvic floor and functional colorectal disorders at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark.

He was a senior consultant at SGH's department of colorectal surgery and visiting consultant in the division of surgical oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore and KK Women’s and Children's Hospital.

Dr Wong pioneered robotic and laparoscopic techniques in pelvic floor surgery at SGH where he performed the first robotic rectopexy procedures for rectal prolapse and a successful sacral neuromodulation implant for faecal incontinence. He is well-versed in laparoscopic and robotic surgery for both cancer and benign disorders, proctology, advanced therapeutic endoscopy and functional bowel disorders such as constipation and incontinence. He has been practising medicine for more than 20 years.

He has worked with colorectal surgeons throughout Europe, US and Asia, gaining a global perspective in treating patients. He is an opinion leader in the field of minimally invasive (laparoscopic and robotic) colorectal surgery and pelvic floor surgery, having been invited to lecture at numerous local, regional and international colorectal conferences. He has also mentored and trained international fellows in colorectal surgery from Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam.

He was appointed adjunct assistant professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and senior clinical lecturer at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He was core faculty of the SingHealth general surgery residency programme and has been instrumental in maintaining standards in surgical education. He served as honorary secretary of the Society of Colorectal Surgeons of Singapore. He is currently a member of the European Society of Coloproctology, the Society of Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Society of Asia, the Society of Colorectal Surgeons of Singapore and the Singapore Continence Society.

He has authored several book chapters and numerous publications in international peer-reviewed colorectal journals. He continues to be an expert reviewer for international colorectal journals including the Colorectal Disease and Techniques in coloproctology.

Dr Wong is the recipient of numerous awards including the SGH CEO Service Award, the Heart of Gold, and the Service with a Heart awards. He was also the first surgeon in SGH to receive the prestigious SingHealth scholarship to pursue an Executive Masters in Business Administration, which he completed with top honours in 2017.