RELIABLE, EFFECTIVE COLORECTAL CARE

Adj Associate Professor Dean Koh graduated from the medical school at the National University of Singapore and obtained his fellowship diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1999. He proceeded to complete his advanced surgical training in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National University Hospital, acquiring the Joint Specialty Fellowship in General Surgery from RCSE in 2003. He was admitted as a fellow to the Academy of Medicine (Surgery) in the same year.

Dr Koh was then awarded the Human Manpower Development Programme scholarship from the Ministry of Health in 2003 and proceeded on to successfully match in the US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accredited residency in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Ferguson Clinic/ Michigan State University Programme. This fellowship allowed him to complete the formal fellowship training certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery encompassing a broad range of colon and anorectal procedures for cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and functional colorectal conditions. With the impact of the COST study in the United States in those years, he also received formal training in laparoscopic colon and rectal procedures. This remains his main interest in his practice here in Singapore. He is trained in functional anorectal work and is competent in endoanal and endorectal ultrasonography. He has been performing robotic assisted laparoscopic colorectal resections since 2008 and is a listed colorectal surgeon on the da Vinci surgeon locator. As recognition of his expertise in the field of minimally invasive colorectal surgery, Dr Koh has been appointed Visiting Professor at the Institut de Recherge contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif – European Institute of TeleSurgery (IRCAD-EITS) in Strasbourg, France and the Institut de Recherge contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif – ShowChwan Health Care System Asian Institute of TeleSurgery (IRCAD-AITS) in Taiwan since 2014. He is on the faculty there teaching the Advanced Laparoscopic Colorectal and the Robotic Colorectal courses.

With his vast experience in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, he assumed the position of Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery in the Division of Colorectal Surgery in NUH. Having also completed the ACGME residency programme in the United States, he was also made the Fellowship Programme Director for colorectal surgery in the division of Colorectal Surgery. He has been involved in the training of fellows from all across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. He continues to maintain links with these surgeons from the region in both academic and clinical matters.

As an Adjunct Associate Professor of Surgery in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Dr Koh was significantly involved in both the undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He was the Director of undergraduate surgery in the Department of Surgery in the medical school in the NUS and has been instrumental in maintaining standards in surgical education. He continues to return to the medical school in NUS to teach undergraduates despite being fully engaged in his private practice.

Adj Associate Professor Koh has authored numerous publications and book chapters spanning a wide range of colon and anorectal conditions. His key publications involve laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgery, anal fistula surgery and fecal incontinence surgery. He is also an invited reviewer for the Singapore Medical Journal, Annals Academy of Medicine Singapore, the British Journal of Surgery, the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, and Yonsei Medical Journal. He is an Editorial Board member for the journal Robotic Surgery: Research and Reviews. He is currently a fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, a member of the Society of Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Society of Asia and the Singapore Society of Oncology and the past President of the Society of Colorectal Surgeons of Singapore.