Doctor's Profile

Website
http://www.oncocare.sg

Clinic

OncoCare Cancer Centre

Address

Mount Alvernia Hospital
820 Thomson Road
Medical Centre D #08-53
Singapore 574623

Clinic Hours

8.30am to 5.30pm (Mon – Fri)
8.30am to 12.30pm (Sat)

About

Before joining OncoCare Cancer Centre at Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore, Dr. Akhil Chopra was a Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins Singapore, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Adjunct Associate Professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.

Dr. Chopra completed his medical school training from Delhi University, India in 2001. He is American Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. He completed his fellowship training in Hematology and Medical Oncology from Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, USA.

Dr. Chopra’s interests include thoracic and head and neck oncology, urologic oncology, malignant hematology including Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and gastrointestinal oncology including hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). As a senior specialist in cancer medicine, he has a wide experience seeing cancer patients from various countries such as India, United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries, USA, European countries as well as Asian nations including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia with help of interpreters.

He has published with his colleagues experience in treating lung cancer patients with malignant pleural effusion whereby the role for talc pleurodesis was investigated. These patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung were treated with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) such as Erlotinib (Tarceva) and Gefitinib (Iressa). His publication also relates to liver toxicity of such medications in non-small cell lung cancer. Dr Chopra has also analyzed with his collaborators, first line treatment of advanced kidney cancer (clear cell carcinoma) using bevacizumab with interferon, sunitinib, pazopanib and interferon. In collaboration with his colleagues, Dr Chopra recently published a comparison of two new hormonal agents in treatment of prostate cancer, namely enzalutamide and abiraterone in The Prostate journal.

He was actively involved as principal and co-investigator in several industry sponsored as well as investigator-initiated trials in different tumor types. Dr. Chopra has a special interest in use of immunotherapy to treat cancers and has been a principal investigator for several clinical trials using immunotherapy agents in multiple tumor types. Dr Chopra is one of the authors in a clinical trial involving multiple regional cancer centers in liver cancer (hepatocellular cancer). This trial published in the reputable journal, Lancet, involves the early use of nivolumab, a programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor, in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with or without chronic viral hepatitis (CheckMate 040 trial).

Besides his clinical and research work, he has been involved in teaching medicals students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine as well as medical residents and students from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore in USA. Dr Chopra was the Program Director for the National Health Care Group Medical Oncology training program from its inception in 2012 till April 2017. His work as a clinician and researcher has been covered by national media including the Straits Times and Channel News Asia.

On a personal note – Dr Chopra is married with 2 young girls. His hobbies include a passion for aviation and playing golf.

Dr. Chopra is fluent in English and Hindi and can understand spoken Punjabi.

Medical Profile:

• Graduated from Delhi in 2001
• American Board Certified, Internal Medicine
• American Board Certified, Medical Oncology
• American Board Certified, Hematology
• Fellowship Training at Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, USA
• Special Interest in thoracic and head and neck oncology, urologic oncology, malignant hematology including Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and gastrointestinal oncology including hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).