​Lee Seng Teik & Lee Hoo Leng Professorship in Plastic Surgery & Regenerative ​Medicine

Clinical Professor Tan Bien Keem

Academic Medicine Mindset

Professor Tan advocates a multi-disciplinary approach to work and he believes that it is the only way to advance clinical practice in today’s subspecialised environment. He regards research and teaching as a natural extension of clinical practice as they are interrelated and fuel each other. As an Academic Medicine leader, Prof Tan sees it his mission to uphold the three pillars of medicine – clinical work, research and education.

Professor Tan was the Head of the Plastic Surgery Department from 2013 to 2018. He is currently Senior Consultant in the Plastic Surgery Department, the Deputy Director, Cell & Tissue Transplant, SingHealth Transplant, Program Director, Skin Bank, Singapore General Hospital and Academic Deputy Chair of the Musculoskeletal Sciences Academic Clinical Programme.

He was the former President of the Wound Healing Society, Singapore, and former Vice-President of Singapore Reconstructive Microsurgery Society. He presently helms the Lymphedema Society of Singapore as President. He is a member of the liver transplant team.

Establishing Connections and Pushing the Barrier

In his quest to bring Plastic Surgery in Singapore to new heights, Professor Tan has been building connections with some of the biggest names in the field and helping his colleagues access knowhow beyond local hospital walls.

On each visit to Duke Health, Professor Tan made it a point to expand his professional network and foster meaningful collaborations. Since 2015, experts including Profs Scott Levin MD (he led the world’s first paediatric double-hand transplant), Bruce Klitzman PhD (renowned researcher in bioengineering), Michael Zenn MD (an authority on reconstructive microsurgery flaps) and more have taken turns to share their knowledge and participate in procedures with the SingHealth clinical teams. In exchange, Professor Tan was invited to present the latest advances from Singapore and to conduct teaching sessions for residents at Duke Health.

When the AM-ETHOS Academic Mentor Development Fellowship was offered, Professor Tan took the opportunity to contact Associate Professor of Surgery at Duke Health, Linda Cendales for her expertise on Vascularised Composite Allotransplantation (VCA). Well versed in the pathology of rejection in VCA, A/Prof Cendales was able to advise on clinical issues and best practices for setting up a VCA programme in Singapore – one that will "push the transplant barrier", because skin-bearing transplants such as the hand and face are the most challenging with risks of rejection. Professor Tan and his team are also working with Professor Kuo Yur-Ren (renowned Asian expert on hand transplant and immunology) from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital on transplantation of skin-bearing organs.

In relation to Regenerative Medicine, he currently leads a clinical trial as a Principal Investigator using an advanced tissue engineered product for wound healing applications. It consists of marine-based collagen specially designed to treat extensive partial thickness burns. It was jointly developed by SGH Plastic Surgery and a leading materials manufacturing company.. In addition, Professor Tan is actively involved in skin cellular therapy. He is currently the Principal Investigator of a Lee Foundation grant which aims to formulate a new GMP-grade cell culture medium for the robust expansion of cultured skin cells to treat highly severe burn cases.