Eye & Retina Surgeons

Professor Donald Tan is Partner and Senior Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Eye & Retina Surgeons (ERS), Camden Medical Centre, and heads the Eye & Cornea Surgeons division of ERS.

A founding doctor of the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Professor Tan went on to helm SNEC as Medical Director of SNEC from 2008 to 2014. He was the Director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute from 2000 to 2008, and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore from 2001 where he continues to be a fully tenured Professor.

Professor Tan is a global leader in the field of corneal and external diseases, with major contributions to the development of new techniques in corneal transplantation and corneal refractive surgery. He was among the first in Asia to introduce the new forms of corneal transplantation, such as Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK), Descemets Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK), and Descemets Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK), and developed new surgical instrumentation for these operations which have transformed the success of corneal transplants, including the Tan EndoGlide surgical device for DSAEK surgery. Recognizing the need to provide donor corneas of the highest quality for Singapore, he has led the Singapore Eye Bank as Medical Director since 1993, which continues to track over 4,000 corneal transplants performed in Singapore. In the field of ocular surface disease, Professor Tan also pioneered the conjunctival autograft procedure for pterygium, ocular surface stem cell transplantation, and artificial cornea surgery in the form of the “tooth-in-eye” OOKP (osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis) procedure for the most severe end-stage corneal diseases. In the field of refractive surgery, he recently introduced the ReLEx SMILE procedure as an alternative to LASIK surgery for the treatment of myopia and astigmatism. Professor Tan also developed low-dose atropine eyedrops used for myopia control in children, which have now been shown to reduce myopia progression by 60% in young children with myopia.

Professor Tan is regarded internationally and regionally for his surgical techniques and expertise as well as for his radical innovations; constantly forging new frontiers in cornea transplantation and refractive surgery. In 2014, Professor Tan was named as the 3rd most influential ophthalmologist on the UK-based Ophthalmologist’s Power List.

Professor Tan has trained 32 corneal transplant surgeons over the last 2 decades, which includes corneal surgeons from 13 countries, and 13 local corneal surgeons. He continues to hold advanced corneal transplantation courses in SNEC, and has trained over 70 surgeons globally to perform the newer forms of corneal lamellar transplants.

As a clinician scientist, Professor Tan is the lead investigator of 2 back-to-back S$25 million National Research Foundation Translational Clinical Research Flagship Grants to develop new therapies in cornea, refractive surgery and glaucoma, which has spawned 2 spin-off companies in ocular drug delivery and new ocular antibiotics, and continues to develop new forms of corneal surgery.

The immediate past Chairman of the Singapore Eye Research Institute, as well as the immediate past Chairman of the National Medical Research Council, Professor Tan has published over 350 peer-reviewed scientific articles, contributed 18 book chapters, and holds 12 patents in the fields of corneal, refractive surgery and myopia.

Professor Tan is the recipient of over 20 local and international awards. Local awards include the Minister for Health 2006 Award for Outstanding Performance in Public Health, the National Outstanding Clinician Scientist National Medical Excellence Award in 2008, the President’s Science Award in 2009, the SingHealth Excellence Distinguished (Visionary) Leader Award, and the NUS Medical Faculty Research Excellence Award in 2011. International awards include the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement 2009 Award, the Saudi Ophthalmology Society 2009 Gold Medal, the Australia and New Zealand Corneal Society 2011 Doug Coster Award, the Canadian Society of Ophthalmology 2011 W. Bruce Jackson Award, the Refractive Online & SICCSO 2012 Medal, the EuCornea 2012 Medal, the Portland Oregon Arthur Devers 2012 Lecture, the 2012 Albrecht von Graefe Innovator’s Lecture, the Intraocular Implant & Refractive Surgery of India 2013 Gold Medal, the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmology Oliver H. Dabezies Jr Lecture, the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmology Richard L. Lindstrom MD 2015 Lecture, and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery 2015 Binkhorst Lecture.

Professor Tan is the founding and current President of the Asia Cornea Society, which he formed in 2007, and the founding and current chair of the Association of Eye Banks of Asia (AEBA). In 2012, Professor Tan became the first international President of the Cornea Society, and is currently its immediate Past President. Professor Tan is the Adjunct Professor in Ophthalmology at the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Academic Clinical Program of Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, Professor of Ophthalmology of the Department of Ophthalmology NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor (Honorary) at the Nanyang Technological University.

Professor Tan practices general ophthalmology, cataract surgery and subspecializes in corneal surgery, focusing on the newer forms of corneal transplantation such as Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK), Descemets Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK), and Descemets Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK). He also focuses on Artificial Cornea surgery with the Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis and the Boston Keratoprosthesis, and laser vision correction surgery with LASIK and ReLEx SMILE, and myopia control therapy using low dose atropine eyedrops in children.