Dr. James Tan is a Senior Urologist whose expertise lies in minimally invasive procedures and robotic-assisted surgeries. He has extensive experience in robotic and laparoscopic surgery for prostate, kidney and bladder conditions as well as complex urologic conditions. In 2002, he became the first specialist in Singapore to perform a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and subsequently, the laparoscopic retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy, laparoscopic transposition of retrocaval ureter, laparoscopic repair of vesicovaginal fistula and robotic ureteral reimplantation. Since 2004, Dr. Tan has performed and assisted in numerous robotic radical prostatectomies.
Prior to private practice, Dr. Tan was Head of Urology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and the Lead Surgeon (Urology) at TTSH's Centre for Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery. Dr. Tan is also a Visiting Consultant at the National University Hospital as well as a gazetted Renal Transplant Surgeon in the Ministry of Health Transplant Team.
Dr. Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1990 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1995. That year, Dr. Tan obtained his Master of Medicine (Surgery) from NUS. In 1999, he completed his specialist training in Urology at National University Hospital and Singapore General Hospital and was subsequently admitted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore (Urology) in 2000.
Dr. Tan received the Health Manpower Development Plan scholarship from the Ministry of Health to pursue an overseas clinical fellowship in Genito-Urinary Cancer Surgery from 2000 to 2001. He trained under Uro-Oncologist Dr. Joseph Chin at the London Health Sciences Centre in Canada. In 2002, he was awarded the Academy of Medicine Traveling Fellowship to Chi Mei Foundation Medical Center in Taiwan for a specialized training in Laparoscopic Urology. To add on to his clinical expertise, Dr. Tan embarked on additional training to hone his skills in Laparoscopic Urology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA (2001), Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy at the Albert Chevalier-Henri Mondor Hospital, France (2002) and Robotic Prostatectomy at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, USA (2003).
Aside from clinical work, Dr. Tan is a Life member of the Singapore Urological Association (SUA) and had previously held various positions in its Executive Committee. He was also the Vice President of the College of Surgeons at the Singapore Academy of Medicine as well as a member of the American Urological Association, European Urological Association and Asian Urological Association.
