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A/Prof Alfred Kow Wei Chieh

Designations:
  • Head & Senior Consultant, Division of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, National University Hospital
  • Senior Consultant, Adult Liver Transplantation Programme, National University Centre for Organ Transplantation, National University Hospital
  • Senior Consultant, Division of Surgical Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore
Qualifications:
MBBS (S'pore), MMed (Surgery)(S'pore), MRCS (Edinburgh), MRCS (Ireland), FRCS Ed (Gen Surgery)(Edinburgh), FACS (USA), FAMS (Singapore)
Specialties:
Organ Transplantation, Surgery, Surgical Oncology
Sub-Specialties:
Adult Liver Transplantation Programme, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery & Liver Transplantation, Surgical Oncology (Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery)
Special Interests:
Malignancies in liver, pancreas and biliary tree (including gallbladder) (All surgical and non-operative treatment options for these malignancies), Liver transplantation (Deceased and Living-donor LT for acute liver failure, chronic liver disease and liver malignancies), Minimally Invasive HPB Surgery (including laparoscopic pancreatectomy, laparoscopic liver resection and laparoscopic biliary surgery such as CBD exploration for stone diseases, including single incision surgery)

Biosketch

"I believe that medical education and mentorship are crucial to nurture the next generation of healthcare professionals. While the effort of a single physician may benefit a limited number of patients, teaching and training medical students, nursing students and doctors well will multiply this effect tremendously. Apart from teaching theory and skills, I also believe that medical education must, above all, emphasise patient safety." 

A renowned educator, A/Prof Kow has not only taught and mentored many batches of medical students, but has contributed widely to the field of surgery, particularly in general surgery, hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation. 

As a practicing surgeon at the Division of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, NUH, A/Prof Kow is a pioneer of many advanced surgical techniques in pancreatic surgery, liver surgery and biliary surgery. 

A/Prof Kow obtained his Master of Medicine (Surgery), Master of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland diplomas in 2005 and subsequently, completed his advanced surgical training in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. In 2009, he obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (General Surgery) in Hong Kong. He was also accorded Specialist accreditation in General Surgery by Ministry of Health, Singapore in the same year. 

He received the funding from National University Health System in 2010 to undergo fellowship training in living donor liver transplantation and hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgical oncology in Samsung Medical Center & Samsung Cancer Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. During his one-year stay in Korea, he authored or co-authored six peer-reviewed journals. 

Advancing the science of liver surgery

 A/Prof Kow has championed and pioneered many complex liver and pancreas surgeries within Singapore and in Southeast Asia. These include minimally invasive complex liver surgeries such as the ALPPS procedure, minimally invasive Whipple's procedure and laparoscopic donor hepatectomy for living donor liver transplantation. He is also one of the first in the world to adopt the mixed reality technology for complex open and laparoscopic liver surgery, including liver transplantation. 

Importantly, he has championed several clinical services to enhance the recovery of surgical patients to improve their patient experience, outcomes and quality of life. 

Contributing knowledge to the field

A/Prof Kow shares his extensive knowledge and experience in hepatobiliary surgery through his prolific contribution to various articles, journal publications and book chapters. He was listed by Stanford University (published by Elsevier) as the world's top 2% most-cited researchers from NUS Medicine in 2021. 

 Furthermore, he is active in improving surgical education and training for undergraduates and postgraduates. His area of focus is in understanding the art and science behind training junior doctors to be excellent surgeons. He has previously won grants to study the use of mobile applications in teaching patient safety in surgery.

Awards

  • 2023 - Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Faculty Digital Teaching Excellence Award (Team – for HEALING Project)
  • 2023 - REAL Advancing in Liver Transplantation Award, International Liver Transplant Society
  • 2022 - NUHS-Mocktar Riady Pinnacle Award 2021 – Team Award: The NUCOT Liver Transplant Team, NUHS Tribute Night
  • 2022 - NUHS-Mocktar Riady Pinnacle Award 2021 – Outstanding Mentor Award, NUHS Tribute Night
  • 2020 - Young Investigator Award, IHPBA Virtual Congress

Journals & Publications

  1. "Starting a laparoscopic hepatectomy programme", Wang E, Kow AWC, Chan CY, Liau KH, Ho CK. Singapore Med Journal 2009; 50(4): 1—6.
  2.  "Using Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangioscopic Lithotripsy for Intrahepatic Calculus in Hostile Abdomen" Kow AWC, Wang B, Wong D, Sundeep P J, Chan CY, Ho CK, Liau KH. The Surgeon, 2011; 9(2): 88 – 94.
  3. "Endovascular stenting for mycotic peudoaneurysm of the aorta in a SLE patient due to Klebsiella bacteraemia." Huey CWT, Kow WCA, Chia KH. 2nd Edition, College of Surgeons Newsletter, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 2008.
  4. "Is Pancreaticoduodenectomy Justified in the elderly patients?" Kow WCA, Sadayan NA, Ernest A, Chong SY, Chan CY, Ho CK, Liau KH. The Surgeon 10 (2012): 128 – 136.
  5. "Moving towards the new International Study Group for Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS) definitions in pancreaticoduodenectomy: a comparison between the old and new. Tan WJH, Kow AWC, Liau KH. HPB (Oxford) 13; 5660 (2011).
  6. "Perioperative Outcome of Laparoscopic and Open Distal Pancreatectomy –Our Institution's 5 year" Soh YF, Wong KY, Kow AWC, Soh JGS, Wang B, Ho CK, Liau KH, Chan CY. Asian J Surg 2012 xx: 1 – 8.
  7. "Risk factors of peritoneal recurrence and outcome of resected peritoneal recurrence following liver resection in HCC: Reviewing 1222 cases of hepatectomy in a tertiary institution." Kow WCA, Kwon DCH, Song SH, Shin MJ, Kim MJ, Joh JW. Published in Annals of Surgical Oncology (2012). a. Presented as Free Oral Paper at the 10th IHPBA Congress in Paris, France 2012.
  8. "The role of caudate lobectomy in Type III hilar cholangiocarcinoma: A 15-year experience in a tertiary institution." Kow WCA, Choi DW, Choi SH, Heo JS, Kim MJ. World J Surgery (2012) 36:1112 – 1121. a. Oral presentation at the 3rd APHPBA Meeting at Melbourne, Australia.
  9. "Surgical Outcomes of 230 Cases of Resected Hilar Cholangiocarcinoma at a Tertiary Institution." Song SC, Choi DW, Kow WCA, Choi SH, Heo JS, Kim WS, Kim MJ. ANZJ of Surgery Sept 2012 (Epub ahead of print).
  10. The Varying Faces of Gall Bladder Carcinoma. Lim K.S., Tan C.H., Kow A.W.C. Acta Radiologica 2012 Apr 30 (Epub) PMID: 22547386


 

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