Doctor's Profile
Dr David Tan Boon Harn
Radiation Oncology
Clinic
Asian Alliance Radiation & Oncology
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
Dr. David Tan is a Consultant Radiation Oncologist at Asian American Radiation & Oncology. His clinical expertise is in the management of gynaecological, gastrointestinal, hepato-biliary and lung cancers, and in the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). He is also trained in brachytherapy for gynaecological cancers.
Dr. Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2005 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), and commenced training in Radiation Oncology in 2007. In 2011, Dr. Tan was awarded a Health and Manpower Development Award by the Singapore Ministry of Health to undergo a Fellowship in Advanced Oncology in the UK. There, at the Mount Vernon Cancer Cancer in Middlesex, he obtained advanced training in general oncology and further subspecialized in the above tumour sites. He also trained under renowned experts in stereotactic radiosurgery and brachytherapy. Dr. Tan subsequently obtained the FRCR in Clinical Oncology in 2013 and was admitted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (FAMS) in Radiation Oncology in 2014.
Prior to joining AARO, Dr. Tan worked as Consultant Radiation Oncologist at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS). During his 10 years of service in the public sector, he pioneered the Liver and Pancreas SBRT programs, and oversaw their development from protocol development to patient enrolment and subsequently to treatment of increasingly complex cases such as multiple liver metastases and portal vein thrombosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). He was a strong advocate of advanced radiotherapy techniques and frequently organized talks and multi-disciplinary discussions to update his peers and surgical & medical oncology colleagues on their applications and benefits.
Dr. Tan is the Singapore National Project Coordinator for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Regional Project 6085, which aims to Enhance Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Frequent Cancers in the Asia-Pacific Region. After establishing Singapore as one of the regional training hubs in Asia-Pacific, Dr. Tan conducted the first regional training course of the project in NCCS in 2016, which was attended by participants from 17 member states. He is also council member of the Federation of Asian Organizations for Radiation Oncology (FARO), which is a non-profit scientific organization comprising national radiation oncology societies in Asia to improve the level of radiotherapy in the region.
On the local front, Dr. Tan serves as an executive committee member in the Singapore Radiological Society (SRS) where he holds the office of honorary treasurer, and is also a fellow in the Academy of Medicine. As an active member of the radiation oncology subsection of the SRS, Dr. Tan organizes annual scientific dinner-symposiums for the local oncology community to update them on the latest advances in radiotherapy in common tumor sites such as liver, lung and gynecological tumors, as well as on latest technologies such as proton therapy. Dr. Tan also held position as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School where he hosted and supervised medical students for clinical attachments at NCCS, and was clinical lecturer at the Nanyang Polytechnic School of Radiation Therapy where he gave lectures to budding radiation therapists.
Dr. Tan is actively involved in clinical research and has published in major oncology journals on a wide range of topics including SBRT, brachytherapy, gastrointestinal and gynaecological cancers. He was invited to be guest editor for a focused issue entitled “Advances in Stereotactic Radiosurgery” in the Chinese Clinical Oncology journal in 2017, where with his co-editors he formulated content and collaborated with international experts to publish the latest updates in stereotactic radiotherapy treatments. He frequently contributes as a reviewer in surgical, oncology and radiotherapy journals. Dr. Tan is a member of the following international oncology societies: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) and the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS).