Prior to starting the James Tan Centre For Urology & Robotic Surgery, Dr James Tan was Head of Urology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Lead Surgeon(Urology) at TTSH’s Centre for Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery.
He had his clinical fellowship (HMDP) in Genito-Urinary Cancer Surgery at the London Health Sciences Centre, Canada from 2000 to 2001. He won the 2002 Academy of Medicine Traveling Fellowship to Taiwan for Laparoscopic Urology training. He had further training and fellowships in Cleveland Clinic (Laparoscopic Urology), Detroit (Robotic Prostatectomy) and France (Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy).
Dr Tan is a Urologist with wide experience in managing benign and malignant conditions of the adrenal gland, kidney, bladder and prostate. His subspecialty expertise is in genito-urinary cancer surgery, robotic & advanced laparoscopic management of urological problems. He is the first in Singapore to perform laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (2002),retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy, laparoscopic transposition of retrocaval ureter and laparoscopic repair of vesico-vaginal fistula. His other areas of expertise is in minimally invasive and endoscopic management of urinary stones and prostate diseases.
Dr Tan is a life member of the Singapore Urological Association and has been the EXCO & Honorary Treasurer of the Singapore Urological Association. He was Chairman, Scientific Committee for Urology Fair 2005. He was involved in organizing Singapore’s Prostate Awareness Week for 2004 & 2005. He is a member of MOH Clinical Guideline Committee for Kidney Cancer as well as member of Chapter of Urology Subspecialty Committees for Urologic Cancers, Endourology and Laparoscopy. He is a MOH gazetted Kidney Transplant Surgeon. He is also member of the American Urological Association and the European Urology Association.
Dr Tan is very much involved in surgical education and research. He was a Clinical Lecturer with the National University of Singapore. Through numerous surgical demonstrations, teleconferences and workshops, he has helped in the training of many trainees and fellows in Singapore and the region. He has also done live surgery demonstrations in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand.
He was also Deputy Director of TTSH’s Clinical Research Unit. He was the Principal Investigator of studies on Prostate Cancer Screening Programme, Computerized Online Genito-Urinary Cancer Database, Empirical Antibiotic Therapy for Abnormally Raised PSA, Erectile Dysfunction and Varicocele, He has published at least 15 peer- reviewed indexed journal articles and more than 100 conference articles and award-winning videos.
