Prof Jimmy So graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1991. He received his surgical training in National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore, specialising in Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Bariatric Surgery, Therapeutic Endoscopy and Minimally Invasive Surgery. He undertook fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA and was appointed as visiting consultant surgeon in Esophageal and Gastric Surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, UK.
Prof So has published more than 300 peer reviewed scientific papers (H Index of 62, Total citations > 14000 according to Google Scholar in May 2025) and received over S$30 million research grants for his research. He published his research in medical journals such as Lancet, Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Genetics, Gastroenterology, Gut, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Surgery, BJS and JAMA Surgery.
In 2020, he received the Peritoneal Prize by International Society for the Study of Peritoneum and Pleura (ISSPP) which recognised the world's top researcher in the field of peritoneal carcinomatosis. He delivered the Yaya Cohen Memorial Lecture by College of Surgeons, Singapore in 2018 and was conferred the Research Excellence Award by National University of Singapore in 2022. He has delivered over 150 invited lectures internationally and has been invited regularly to speak at the International Gastric Cancer Congress, the Annual Scientific Meetings of Japanese Gastric Cancer Association and the Korean International Gastric Cancer Week.
Prof So has also presented his research at the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), International Society for Diseases of Esophagus (ISDE) and the World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery. He was the founding president of the Asia-Pacific Gastro-oesophageal Cancer Congress in 2006. Currently, he serves as Vice-President at ISSPP and is the Editor for Gastric Cancer, an official journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association (IGCA).
Prof So established a multidisciplinary programme for Oesophagogastric cancers in NUH in 2005 and received fellowship training in gastric and oesophageal cancer surgery in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. He also established the Centre for Obesity Management and Surgery (COMS) in NUH. He is a pioneer of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer, intraperitoneal chemotherapy and pressurised intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) in Singapore.
1. Huang KK, Hagihara T, Lian BSX, Ong ZX, Lim SK, Chong RHH, Srivastava S, Kang JX, Lee MY, Tan AL, Lee M, Ho SWT, Binte Abdul Ghani SA, Ng CSY, Liang R, Liu L, Tay ST, Ong X, Zhu F, Chen H, Li Z, Ang TL, Gotoda T, Huang RJ, Khor CJL, Kim HS, Lau LHS, Lee YC, Takasu A, Teh M, Thian MY, Tam WL, Lu X, Wong SH, So JBY, Chung H, Lee J, Yeoh KG, Tan P. Mutational signatures and clonal hematopoiesis in intestinal metaplasia across countries with varying stomach cancer incidence. Cancer Discov. 2026;16(3):497–520. doi:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-25-0778.
2. Sheng T, Sundar R, Srivastava S, Ong X, Tay ST, Ma H, Uchihara T, Lian BSX, Hagihara T, Kong MS, Xu C, Ho SWT, Huang KK, Tan ALK, Ng MSW, Toh J, Ng CSY, Nasca V, Pircher CC, Randon G, Giordano S, Corso S, Lum JHY, Zhao JJ, Teh M, So JBY, Sabella G, Prabhakar S, Lee J, Ng MCH, Shitara K, Gasparello J, Fassan M, Pietrantonio F, Tan P. Spatial profiling of patient-matched HER2 positive gastric cancer reveals resistance mechanisms to targeted therapy. Gut. 2025 Oct 30:gutjnl-2024-334667. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2024-334667.
3. Ichimasa K, Kudo SE, Kouyama Y, Takashina Y, Chung H, Maeda Y, Lwin WP, Toya Y, Hatta W, So JBY, Yeoh KG, Nemoto T, Misawa M. Artificial intelligence-assisted whole slide image analysis for lymph node status prediction in early colorectal and gastric cancer. Digestive Endoscopy. 2025. doi:10.1111/den.70042.
4. van Hootegem SJM, Guchelaar NAD, van der Sluis K, Triemstra L, Mönig SP, Rawicz-Pruszyński K, Rosati R, Morgagni P, Erodotou M, Solaini L, De Manzoni G, Polkowski W, Puccetti F, Giacopuzzi S, Gisbertz SS, So JBY, Ruurda JP, van der Sluis PSL, Lagarde SM, van Sandick JW, Other Members of the IGCA European Chapter Collaborative Group on Staging Laparoscopy for Gastric Cancer. Staging laparoscopy for gastric cancer: European consensus. The British Journal of Surgery. 2025;112(9):znaf144. doi:10.1093/bjs/znaf144.
5. Shiwaku H, Misawa M, Inoue H, Jiang K, Oda M, Familiari P, Costamagna G, Shimamura Y, Ikebuchi Y, Iwaya Y, Ominami M, Hayee B, Ho KY, So JBY, Htet HMT, Bhandari P, Grimes K, Messmann H, Colosso BMQ, Maselli R, Hassan C, Repici A, Stavropoulos SN, Fukami N, Bechara R, Kahaleh M, Sethi A, Beyna T, Neuhaus H, Chiu PWY, Santi EG, Sharma P, Eleftheriadis N, Minami H, Haber G, Draganov PV, Seewald S, Shiwaku A, Shiwaku Y, Mori K, Kudo SE, Hasegawa S. Computer-aided detection for esophageal achalasia (with video). Digestive Endoscopy. 2025. doi:10.1111/den.15028.
6. Chua WY, Chia DKA, Chan YH, Leong EKF, Chen A, Asif S, Wong YA, Fung J, Johnson RP, Poojari SJ, Gani QS, Lin W, Wai SN, Kayambu G, Lim SP, Neo WJ, Wee CXY, Lomanto D, Kim G, So JBY, Shabbir A. Determinants of quality of life and emotional well-being in a bariatric surgery seeking cohort of 1501 multi-ethnic Asian patients. Clinical Obesity. 2025;15(1). doi:10.1111/cob.12707.
7. Owen R, Chidambaram S, Shamiyah K, Elliott JA, Hedberg J, Kamarajah S, Klevebro F, Schneider MA, Fourie L, Gutschow C, Nilsson M, Griffiths E, Rosati R, Sultan J, Pera M, Grimminger P, Piessen G, Eveno C, Ruurda J, van Hillegersberg R, Reynolds JV, van Berge Henegouwen M, Gisbertz S, So JBY, Maynard N, Markar S, Peronace V, Boyle EA, Pang A, Yap C, Chia D, Kim G, Shabbir A, Youcef A, Bhatti K, Keywani K, Calef R, Uzun E, Cero MD, Halle-Smith J, Bagnell T, Triemstra L, Josef M, Neuschütz K, Cossu A, Saunders J. Prognostic impact of positive peritoneal cytology (POPEC) in gastric cancer: multi-centre European retrospective cohort study. Surgical Oncology Insight. 2025;2(3). doi:10.1016/j.soi.2025.100145.
8. Tan YC, Chia DKA, So JBY. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for gastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis: experience from Singapore. Chinese Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. 2025;28(5):493–496. doi:10.3760/cma.j.cn441530-20250410-00151.
9. Leong EKF, Masuda Y, Delgado AV, Shabbir A, So JBY, Lam TJW, Chia DKA, Kim G. Mediastinoscopic-assisted transhiatal esophagectomy (MATHE) in patients with significant respiratory co-morbidities: case series and review of literature. Current Problems in Surgery. 2025;63. doi:10.1016/j.cpsurg.2024.101649.
10. Quek SXZ, Koo CS, Liu L, Leung WK, Tang RSY, Chung H, Zhang X, Ichimasa K, Ngo D, Maralit R, Dao VH, Khien VV, Duseja A, Pratap N, Lee YY, Renaldi K, Sim SM, Wu CCH, Li JW, Tan JKH, Koh CJ, So JBY, Lee JWJ. Survey on the perceptions of Asian endoscopists to artificial intelligence. Communications Medicine. 2025;5(1). doi:10.1038/s43856-025-01030-2.
