Mr Tan is both a lecturer and alumnus at Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (NUS Nursing), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He is an experienced registered nurse with a demonstrated history of working in acute care and long-term care. Before joining academia, he was a nurse manager for a nursing home, with responsibilities including ensuring care in compliance with nursing standards stipulated by regulatory bodies, leading and managing the care team in providing resident-centred care and keeping abreast of the current nursing practices. His short stint in the community care sector helped him develop an interest in educating the next generation of care professionals to reimagine the future of aged care in Singapore.

He is a proponent of lifelong learning and was awarded the Ngee Ann Kongsi Graduate Scholarship to obtain his Master of Science in Applied Gerontology from Nanyang Technological University.