Dr. Colum Nolan is the Medical Director at Oxford Spine and Neurosurgery Centre. He is an experienced Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon with a subspecialty in Spine Surgery.
Dr. Colum Nolan graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2001 and underwent Basic Surgical Training in Dublin, Ireland. He was exposed to Neurosurgery during his internship and decided at an early stage to pursue this as a specialty. He underwent comprehensive neurosurgery training in Ireland and also at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia where he did an intra-residency fellowship at Senior Registrar level from 2012 to 2013. He then further pursued his interest in complex spine surgery and gained extensive experience as a spinal fellow at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK from 2013 to 2014 which also involved rotating to the Orthopaedic Spine Unit at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
He gained a wide variety of experience in the management of degenerative spine disorders (disc herniations, spinal stenosis, spinal cord compression, spondylolisthesis and spinal deformity/scoliosis) as well as complex spinal tumours and fractures and developed his skills in minimally invasive spine surgery.
Prior to commencing private practice, he worked at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) in Singapore since 2014. He was Head of Service and Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon at NNI. He was based at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Sengkang General Hospital campuses. He was Director of the Spine and Spinal Disorders Programme at NNI and was also the Head of the Neurosurgery Service at Sengkang General Hospital.
Dr. Nolan’s clinical interests include degenerative and complex spinal disorders, cervical spine surgery, spinal tumours, spinal trauma and endoscopy. He has particular expertise in minimally invasive spine surgery, intradural tumour surgery, complex cervical spine surgery and the use of spinal navigation technology.
Dr. Nolan has a keen interest in teaching and research. He is still a Visiting Consultant at NNI. He has authored publications in numerous international peer-reviewed journals and has presented at multiple local, regional and international conferences and meetings. He has also served as a reviewer for international journals and international meetings. In addition to his role as Spine Director at NNI and Head of Service at Sengkang General Hospital, he has held several other leadership roles. He was Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School.
He was a member of the Medical Council, Professional Development Committee and Peer Review Learning Quality Assurance Committee at NNI and a Clinical Physician Faculty Member for the Integrated Neurosurgery training programme. He was also a member of the Trauma Committees at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Sengkang General Hospital. He received a GOLD award in the 2022 Singapore Health Quality Service Awards. He has also served on several workgroups with the Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Health.
Outside of medicine Dr. Nolan enjoys travelling, reading, exploring new cultures and cuisines and he keeps active with pursuits such as running and HIIT workouts.
His specialty interests are in Degenerative and Complex Spinal Disorders, Cervical Spine Surgery, Spinal Tumours, and Spinal Trauma & Endoscopy.
