Dr Seow-Choen
graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1981
and obtained his higher surgical qualifications in 1987. He
subsequently sub-specialized in colorectal surgery in 1989 where he
worked with the world class surgeons of St Marks’ Hospital in London.
At that time, there were no specialized departments of colorectal
surgery in this part of the world. Dr
Seow-Choen returned to Singapore after training intent
on turning Singapore into a surgical colorectal powerhouse. In his
first year, he helped establish the first colorectal surgery department
in Asia which offered patients the latest surgical techniques at the Singapore
General Hospital.
Fifteen years later, Dr Seow-Choen has firmly established his
name in the field of colorectal surgery. Dr
Seow-Choen is extremely well known and travels
extensively around the world lecturing and operating. In 1993 he was
awarded the first American Society of Colon and Rectum Surgeons
International Travelling Fellowship. In 1994, he was invited as the W
Wallace Green lecturer for the St Luke’s Hospital Foundation in
Kansas to lecture on the treatment of Rectal Cancer and the use of
the Colonic pouch. In 1999, he was also the first Asian to be invited as
the ESR Hughes Lecturer for the Royal Australian College of
Surgeons and in 2004 he was the first Asian to be the Rupert B
Turnbull Memorial Lecturer for the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA.
Further honors came in 2005 where he was again the first Asian to be
invited as the Philip Gordon lecturer for the Canadian Colorectal
Society.
Dr Seow-Choen
was conferred Honorary Life Member of the Colorectal Surgical Society
of Australia (1999) and Honorary Member of the Section of Colon and
Rectal Surgery, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1999). He was
made a Member of Honor in 2008 by the Israel Society of Colon and Rectal
Surgeons.
Prof
Seow-Choen's distinguished achievements can be seen by
his appointments to the Editorial Boards of many prestigious journals
including, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum (USA), Colorectal Disease
(European), British Journal of Surgery (UK), Techniques in
Coloproctology (Italian-co-editor), Indian Journal of Coloproctology
(Indian), Digestive Surgery (Germany), Chinese Journal of
Coloproctology (Zhongguo gangchangbing zazhi) PRC-dy chairman, Journal
of Surgical Oncology (USA) "the BMC journal" and the World Journal of
Gastroenterology. He has published 33 chapters in surgical textbooks
and more than 253 original articles in peer reviewed surgical journals.
Besides his very busy professional life, Dr Seow-Choen had also taken an
interest in the development of colorectal surgery in the whole of Asia.
He is frequently invited to lecture and to demonstrate surgery all
around over the world and Asia including USA, Germany, Italy, United
Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indian,
Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysian and Indonesia. He
is frequently consulted by surgeons from all over the world with regards
to difficult cases as to the best method of handling these. It is no
surprise therefore he was the founding and current President of the
Asian Federation of Coloproctology (2005 - 2007) and the President of
the Society of Colorectal Surgeons of Singapore (2005 - 2007). His
achievements in the field of Coloproctology was recognized by the
conferment on him of the Excellence for Singapore Award in 2000. He is
the founding and current President of the Eurasian (European-Asian)
Colorectal Technology Association. This association aims to bring Asian
and Europe closer together and learn from each other in matters relating
to colorectal surgery.
Dr Seow-Choen
believes that he had accomplished a lot in making a name for Singapore
as a leading medical care provider in part because of the better way in
which he doing is surgery and because it is making an impact around
the colorectal world.
“Surgery is not just science. Surgery is an art.
One can learn about science from courses, conferences and book. In art,
one has to have talent first and then seek out a master who can bring
that skill to perfection.”
- Prof Seow-Choen
