Dr. Edgar Tay is a cardiologist and interventional cardiologist. He was formerly Senior Consultant and Director of the Structural Heart Disease Programme at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS). He is also Assistant Professor at the Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. At NUHCS, he started the following programs: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), Mitraclip Mitral Valve Repair, Percutaneous Pulmonary Valve Implantation, and Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty for Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension. He was awarded the National Medical Excellence Team Award in 2011.
Dr. Tay graduated with MBBS from the National University of Singapore and was admitted as Member of the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom). He completed Advanced Specialist Training (Cardiology) at NUHCS. Dr. Tay was then awarded the prestigious two-year Ministry of Health scholarship to pursue further structural heart disease training. He spent one year at the world-renowned Royal Brompton Hospital in London in adult congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. Following this, he underwent further training in interventional cardiology focusing on TAVI at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
Dr. Tay actively teaches and was Associate Programme Director for the Cardiology Senior Residency Programme at NUHCS and Member of the Cardiology Resident Advisory Committee. He has mentored and trained several postdoctoral students and fellows and helped proctor several overseas physicians in their transcatheter heart valve programs. He was also invited to present on cardiac treatment techniques via satellite transmission to international sites in United States, Europe, and Asia.
During his time in public service, Dr. Tay was also Director of Clinical Services (Cardiology) at Alexandra Hospital which is part of the National University Health System. He served as Department Patient Safety Officer at National University Hospital and pioneered several safety initiatives. He also participated in humanitarian outreach programs to help patients overseas with heart valve disease and was conferred the Fung Foundation Fellowship.
Dr. Tay has also served in cardiology leadership including as a member of the executive council of the Singapore Cardiac Society, and the chapter of cardiology of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore. He is Governor of the Singapore chapter of the American College of Cardiology.
His specialty interests are general cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology, heart valve disease, pulmonary hypertension, adult congenital heart disease, mitral valve intervention, structural heart intervention, and TAVI.
While it is true that you should eat a diet low in saturated and trans fat if you have heart disease, other fats such as unsaturated fats in olive oil and nuts are actually beneficial. In fact, eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, twice a week can lower the risk of heart disease.
Learn more about ways to maintain your heart health here.
