Dr. Melissa TEO

Biography

Dr. Melissa Teo is a General Surgeon and Surgical Oncologist at Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Singhealth Service Excellence Award, Outstanding Faculty Award – Residency in SingHealth Excels (RiSE) award in 2018 and Outstanding Faculty for Surgery – DukeNUS Medical School in 2016.

Prior to leaving to set up her own practice, she was the Head of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), the country’s specialty centre for the diagnosis, research and treatment of cancer. At NCCS, she co-chaired the Sarcoma and Melanoma workgroup and was a member of the Gastrointestinal Tract workgroup for NCCS Cancer Service Line. She was the Vice-Chair for faculty affairs and professional development in ACP surgery was also the Chairperson for the new NCCS Building committee and Director of Strategic Initiatives of Oncology Academic Clinical Programme.

She is a strong advocate for improving cancer care in Singapore, and is a member of the Singapore Society of Oncology. She also sits on the Singapore Cancer Network Sarcoma Guideline Committee, and was a member of the Ministry of Health Technology Advisory Committee. She continues to be an adjunct professor at DUKE-NUS Medical School.

She completed her General Surgical training in Singapore and was awarded the MOH Health Manpower Development Programme scholarships for two Fellowships in Surgical Oncology and Colorectal Surgery, where she built on her expertise in Complex Abdominal and Pelvic Surgery. She returned to Singapore thereafter where she was rapidly promoted to Senior Consultant and Head of the Division. Whilst in the public institution, she held many leadership positions and pursued clinical excellence, as well as clinical research and teaching. She was the principal investigator of more than 43 institutional review boards has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and 6 book chapters.

Her mission as a surgical oncologist is to improve cancer care in Singapore and the region, through increased patient awareness of the disease, and its management, contributing to the setting of guidelines and pushing the frontiers for cancer management in her areas of expertise and education of the next generation of surgical residents, clinical fellows and medical students. Since leaving to set up her own practice, Dr. Teo has continued to provide patient-centric care to all her patients, believing that surgical excellence, and access to a multidisciplinary team of dedicated doctors and nurses would enable her patients to attain the best possible outcome. She and her team are committed to caring for her patients in a holistic manner, dedicating themselves to improving her patients’ outcomes.