SBOSS Speakers

Associate Professor Benita Tan is the chief of Breast Service and Senior Consultant in the Department of General Surgery in Sengkang General Hospital, and the current Chairman of the Division of Ambulatory and Outpatient Services at Sengkang General Hospital. A/Prof Tan is also a Senior Consultant at the Department of Breast Surgery, Singapore General Hospital and Division of Surgical Oncology in National Cancer Centre, Singapore. A/Prof Benita holds concurrent appointments of Associate Professor in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, and Associate Professor with the Duke-NUS Medical School. She is currently serving various administrative positions in SingHealth and Sengkang General Hospital such as Member of the Academic Medicine Council for Surgery ACP, Office of Academic & Clinical Development, Academic Development Department, Duke-NUS and various others. A/Prof Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in the National University of Singapore in 1995. She trained as a general surgeon, completed her Membership examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1999 and obtained Master of Medicine (Surgery), National University of Singapore a year after in 2000. She continued to pursue the advanced specialty training in General Surgery and was accredited as a specialist in General surgery in 2003, with the Fellowship Examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (General Surgery), before sub-specializing in breast surgery in particular breast cancer surgery. She attained her Doctor of Philosophy, at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore in 2013. A/Prof Tan sees, manage, and provide treatment recommendations and surgical expertise for a range of breast diseases, both benign and malignant. Experienced in a wide range of breast procedures, she performs breast biopsies including vacuum assisted biopsies (VAB) and breast cancer surgeries, from breast conserving cancer surgery to mastectomies including skin-sparing, nipple sparing and endoscopic mastectomy for breast reconstruction. She works with a multi-disciplinary team including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, breast cancer nurses, occupational therapists to provide our breast cancer patients a holistic and individualised care plan that they deserve. Besides clinical excellence, A/Prof Tan enjoys teaching and shares her clinical experiences with students from the Yong Loo Lin, School of Medicine, Duke NUS Graduate Medical School, residents from the General Surgery and Family Medicine programmes as well as trainees in the Resident Nursing programme. She is also involved in a wide range of breast cancer research both clinical and translational locally and internationally, and has numerous publications in peer reviewed international journals.

Dr Lim Geok Hoon Head and Senior Consultant at Breast Department, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor with Duke-NUS Medical School. She is trained in oncoplastic breast surgery and believes that a good cosmetic breast result is as paramount as a safe oncological outcome. She has several publications with most of her works focusing specifically on the surgical oncoplastic techniques most applicable to Asian women. She also has a special interest in genetic breast cancer, which is why she pursued a year- long fellowship in the United Kingdom on breast cancer genetics and oncoplastic surgery. She founded the Singapore Breast Oncoplastic Surgery Symposium (SBOSS) in 2015 and developed the world first virtual simulator for teaching oncoplastic surgery. She also pioneered the minimal scar mastectomy technique.

Dr Lester Leong is a Senior Consultant with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at the Singapore General Hospital and an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the Radiological Sciences Academic Clinical Program, SingHealth Services, Duke-NUS Medical School. He completed his specialty traineeship in Diagnostic Radiology in Singapore. His subspecialty interest is breast imaging and he underwent a fellowship in breast imaging under the auspices of the SingHealth's Human Resource Development Program Scholarship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America in 2010. He did another fellowship in breast imaging at the St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, UK. He has special research interests in breast cancer screening, breast MRI imaging, ultrasound breast elastography, and imaging evaluation of axillary nodes. Dr Leong was previously Chairman of the Chapter of Diagnostic Radiologists, College of Radiologists, Singapore and is also Past Chair of the Breast Imaging Subsection of the Singapore Radiological Society.

Dr. Oreste Gentilini has been the Head of the Breast Surgery Department since 2015 and the Coordinator of the Breast Diseases Department at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan. In addition, he collaborates with the Casa di Cura La Madonnina Clinic. He is a Project Manager for breast and axillary lymph node preservation, including after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and an Expert in familial/hereditary tumors and preventive procedures for “risk reduction” in women with high genetic risk. He personally performed more than 5,000 breast surgeries. He is the Coordinator and Leader of the international multicenter SOUND study in the field of axillary staging in women with early breast carcinoma.

Prof. P.G. Roy is an Associate Professor at University of Oxford and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals in UK. She is passionate about holistic care for patients undergoing cancer treatment and has established a high-quality breast oncoplastic unit in Oxford with active engagement in clinical trials and research and training. She is the founder course director for internationally renowned ABS-OOPS course.

Dr Kong Tze Yean ​MB Bch (U of Dublin, Ireland), MRCS (RCS, Ireland), FRCS (Plastic Surgery) (RCS, Ireland) Specialty: Breast Surgery, Plastic, Reconstructive ＆ Aesthetic Surgery Sub-specialties: Vascular Anomalies

Dr Veronique Tan is a general surgeon with sub-specialty interest in breast surgery. She trained in Breast Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore and completed her Singhealth HMDP Fellowship in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery – a subspecialty that incorporates breast surgical oncology with plastic surgical techniques for partial and postmastectomy breast reconstruction in breast cancer surgery, at the Nottingham Breast Institute, UK. She aims to contribute to the multidisciplinary care for each patient with breast cancer – to offer surgical expertise in breast surgical oncology and breast remodelling / reconstruction, such that every patient may have surgical options individualised for her. Active in research and teaching, Dr Tan holds a Masters of Science (Research) and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students from the NUS and Duke-NUS medical schools. She has presented at numerous international and local conferences, and also published scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her clinical research interests currently include the surgical management of the breast and axilla in the era of neoadjuvant systemic for breast cancer and breast cancer in young women. Dr Tan’s practice covers the diagnosis and surgical treatment of symptomatic and screen-detected breast cancer and breast reconstruction.

Dr. Visnu Lohsirwat, is a leading clinician and researcher in Breast cancer surgery and Breast reconstruction in Thailand. His in-depth research and surgical procedures are Breast reconstruction (with either implant or autologous tissue), Breast aesthetic surgery and adipose progenitor cell study.

A/Prof Ong Yee Siang graduated from University of Cambridge, UK in 1996. He completed his housemanship and training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Singapore before he embarked on 1 year fellowship in Reconstructive Microsurgery in Duke University, USA. His clinical interests are mainly in Reconstructive Microsurgery, in particular, Breast and Head and Neck reconstruction. He is also the Program Director for SingHealth Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Residency, being responsible for training of Residents in the specialty.

Dr Zhiyan Yan is a consultant surgeon at the Breast Centre, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor with Duke-NUS Medical school. She was awarded the Ministry of Health Human Manpower Development Programme (HMDP) where she completed further subspecialty training in the field of oncoplastic breast surgery at the Royal Marsden Hospital. She believes a good aesthetic outcome is as important as a good oncological outcome in breast cancer treatment. Besides her interest in oncoplastic and breast reconstruction surgery, Dr Yan also has a strong interest of breast cancer in young women and phyllodes tumours of the breast. In recognition of her dedication to the care of her patients, she was awarded the Singapore Health Quality Award Gold category in 2019 and the Singapore Health Quality Award Star Category in 2020.