New director for the National University Heart Centre, Singapore
Published: 23 Jun 2021
Professor Tan Huay Cheem will be relinquishing his role as Director of the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) on 1 July 2021. For the last 12 years, Prof Tan has charted the growth of the centre in many ways. He has strengthened manpower training and development of clinical programmes, instituted structured training programmes for trainees, nurtured a research ecosystem, and cultivated young clinician scientists.
Under his leadership, the centre has achieved numerous clinical breakthroughs. He converted the primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) programme for patients with acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attack into a 24/7 service in 2001. In 2017, he inaugurated the Western STEMI network in the Western region of Singapore, achieving the shortest door-to-balloon time for patients transfer to NUH and lowest STEMI mortality rates in Singapore.
The Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) also achieved peaks of excellence such as the Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Programme and the Aortic Centre. The mobile Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) service also played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing care to the most severely ill COVID-19 patients.
With the support of Prof Tan, the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) has also established its presence as an international thought leader, performing cutting-edge cardiovascular research across basic science, clinical research and trials, epidemiology and health services research with a strong focus on heart failure research.
A highly respected interventional cardiologist, Prof Tan has shaped the transformation of the interventional cardiology service with more than 50 overseas cardiologists from around the world that have completed their interventional cardiology fellowships at NUHCS. The centre is also recognised as the place where original research work in device innovation and clinical trials thrive.
Taking over the baton will be Associate Professor James Yip. An accomplished cardiologist and clinician-scientist, Assoc Prof Yip helped developed the structural heart disease program in NUH and NUHS from 2003-2017. He has also led many international trials in pulmonary hypertension as Principal Investigator.
He also played an instrumental role in developing the undergraduate ultrasound training module in the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and is a core tutor and program evaluation member of the NUHS senior residency program in cardiology. He has been conferred the NUH University Medical Cluster Outstanding Tutor Award 6 times since 2010 in recognition of his contributions to undergraduate medical teaching.
A champion for the innovative use of IT for quality and process improvement in the healthcare sector, Assoc Prof Yip introduced the bespoke Cardiology Information System. Not only has it improved the quality of cardiology reports but also received the merit prize at the 2004 National Infocomm Awards and is in use today in four public hospitals. In collaboration with Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Assoc Prof Yip also developed the Closed Loop Medication Management Systems (CLMMS) to reduce human error, enhance patient safety and improve operational efficiency in inpatient medication management and administration. This work was awarded Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in the Public Sector at the National Infocomm Awards in 2010.
A man of many hats, Assoc Prof Yip also serves as the Head of Academic Informatics Office (AIO) and has served as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) of NUH in 2006 as well as NUHS Group Chief Medical Informatics Officer (GCMIO) since 2017.
