Consultant Ear Nose Throat Surgeon
MBBS(S’pore) . FRCS(Glasg) . FAMS(ENT)
Dr Leong is a Consultant Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon and Director of Sinus and Allergy Services in ASCENT Ear Nose Throat Specialist Group.
He is internationally recognized for his surgical expertise and academic contribution to the field Nasal Allergy, Rhinology and Nasopharyngeal Cancer (NPC) screening using the Narrow Band Imaging.
He is one of only a handful of ENT doctors that are specially trained in both medical and surgical treatments of nasal conditions ranging from allergy to sinusitis in both children and adults. He is also specialized in performing revision endoscopic sinus surgery in patients that had failed previous nasal surgeries.
He is also a pioneer in Sublingual immunotherapy in Singapore which is offered mostly to the Paediatric ENT population. Dr Leong is visiting consultant in the Department of Otolaryngology, Singapore General Hospital and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Over the years in these two hospitals, he has acquired special interest in the both adult and Paediatric ENT conditions including tonsils, adenoids, ears ,thyroid, throat, salivary glands and sleep conditions.
Dr Leong also directs internationally acclaimed courses that teaches ENT Allergy including Food allergy, asthma and eczema and their impact on all ENT diseases.
Dr Leong obtained his medical degree from the National University of Singapore in 1994. He completed his Fellowship examinations in Otolaryngology from the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow 2000.
He was awarded the Fellowship of the American Rhinologic Society (ARS) in 2007. The ARS is the world’s largest physician organization whose mission focuses upon the medical and surgical treatment of patients with diseases of the nose and paranasal sinuses.
In 2005, Dr Leong received the Singhealth Health Manpower Development Programme award from the Ministry of Health to be trained in Rhinology and Allergy. He was the first Singaporean doctor to be accepted into this prestigious one-year hands-on fellowship programme at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA.
The fellowship director was Professor Martin J. Citardi, and Co-Director Professor Pete Batra, both of whom are international authorities in Rhinology. Professor Citardi is currently the chairman of the department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck surgery, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, USA.
Since his return to the Singapore General Hospital in 2005, Dr Leong has pioneered the usage of Image-guided surgery in ENT, especially in functional endoscopic sinus surgeries (FESS) and minimally invasive endoscopic surgeries of sinonasal and skull base tumours. He was in the evaluation committee for the setting up of the Khoo Teck Puat Neuro-Navigation Integrated Operating Suites, which is the world’s first state-of-the-art digitally-integrated neuroscience centre.
ACADEMIC & RESEARCH PURSUIT
Dr Leong always had a keen interest in both basic and clinical science research and was awarded the Singapore Cancer Society Overseas Fellowship in 1999.
He researched on the effects of Radiation on Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFR) expression in Squamous Cell Carcinoma under the tutelage of Professor Randal Weber and Professor Ruth Muschel from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA from 1999 to 2000. He was the first ENT resident in the Singapore Otolaryngology residency programme to be granted this unique research opportunity as part of the residency programme.
Dr Leong’s academic achievements were affirmed by being the only Singaporean ENT doctor to have won prizes at the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology Annual Meeting, 2003 (Poster, 3rd place) and the American Rhinologic Society, 2005 (Poster, 1st place). (Pg 49) Dr Leong had also published extensively in both local and international peer reviewed journals.
He had also authored in book chapters of Head and Neck Surgery and Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America. He is the principal investigator for over 9 research projects and was awarded the prestigious Health Services Development Programme grant (over $700,000) in 2006 from the Ministry of Health to study the use of Computed Tomography/Magnetic resonance imaging (CTMR) fusion scans in minimally invasive endoscopic skull base surgery.
He was also the lead investigator in the study of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma screening using Narrow Band Imaging. Other research areas include the skin prick tests and immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis. Dr Leong is also an appointed reviewer for both the Singapore Medical Journal and Respirology.
Dr Leong also has a strong passion for teaching. He is a Clinical Lecturer with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore. He is not only involved in the teaching of both local undergraduate and postgraduate medical students but also travels extensively locally and internationally to places like Brunei, Bangladesh, Malaysia, USA and Vietnam to conduct workshop and conferences in both Allergy, FESS surgery and Minimally invasive endoscopic surgery of the anterior skull base. He was the co-director with Prof DS Sethi at the prestigious 12th SGH Annual FESS Course which is the only international FESS course in Singapore.
He was also the Director of the 1st SGH Otolaryngic Allergy Course (30 June 2007) and Course Director of the 1st International Basic Allergy Course (28-30 July 2010). Other courses that he was invited as a tutor and speaker included the National Neuroscience Institute Aesculap, Neurosurgical Approaches Course, 1st Allergy Partners in Care Symposium and the The Relieva Balloon SinuplastyTM Course.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Member of the Singapore Medical Association
- Member of the Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Singapore
- Journal Reviewer for Laryngoscope, Respirology and Singapore Medical Journal
CLINIC
Ascent Ear Nose Throat Specialist Group
3 Mount Elizabeth, #09-03 Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore 228510
ASCENT Ear Nose Throat SG East
319 Joo Chiat Place, #05-04 Parkway East Medical Centre, Singapore 427989
ASCENT Ear Nose Throat SG Alvernia
820 Thomson Road, #08-63 Mount Alvernia Medical Centre D, Singapore 574623