"I believe strongly in cancer survivorship. The treatment of upper gastrointestinal cancers is often a daunting and challenging journey, and walking this road with my patients brings meaning to my work. Since 2022, I have helped to organise and facilitate the upper gastrointestinal support group at NUH where I have the opportunity to meet and chat with cancer survivors and their families. Seeing them live active and productive lives years after surgery helps motivate and drive me to continue striving for excellence."
Asst Prof Kim Guowei graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2007. He completed surgical residency at the National University Hospital in 2016, serving as Chief Resident. He spent a year at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea, in 2019, for his clinical and research fellowship, mastering laparoscopic and robotic surgery for gastric cancer.
With a keen interest in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and education, he served as a Clinical Lecturer for the Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, from 2014 to 2021, before being appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2021.
Sharing best practices and educating the next generation
He is also the Programme Director of the NUHS General Surgery Residency Programme, grooming the next generation of surgeons. He was awarded the NUS "Dean's Excellence Award" for teaching and education in 2017 and the "NUS Medicine Fortitude Award" in 2020 for educational contributions during the COVID crisis.
He has authored more than 50 papers and has given multiple presentations, including presenting at Obesity Week/ASMBS 2014, during which he received the "Top 15 Posters" award. He was also awarded the "Best Poster Award" at the 5th NCIS Annual Research Meeting in 2018 and the "Best Oral Presentation" award at the 29th Congress of the Korean Society of Surgical Metabolism and Nutrition in 2019.
He was also awarded the "NUS Medicine Fortitude Award" in 2020 for work done during the COVID pandemic, the 2022 NUH Education Award: GREAT Teacher (Interactive), GREAT Teacher (Didactic) for undergraduate education and the Esprit de Corps Award (Alexandra Hospital) 2023 for exemplary patient care. He has also served as an instructor at local and regional endoscopic and surgical workshops, and has been invited to speak at international conferences on robotic surgery, artificial intelligence in Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, and on surgical innovation and techniques.
Actively contributing to the field
He is an active reviewer for several journals including Annals of Surgical Oncology and Obesity Surgery. He currently serves as Honorary Secretary, Executive Committee in the Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society of Singapore, a Board member for the Robotic Surgery Society of Singapore, and is the National Coordinator for The Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons Society. He is also a member of the Singapore Medical Association and Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia Society.
Driving innovation for better outcomes
Asst Prof Kim has a strong interest in innovation in surgery, and strongly believes that keeping abreast with advances in technology is quintessential to give Singaporean patients access to the best medical care available.
To this end, he embraces technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics to improve existing techniques to improve patient outcomes. One such example would be the successful performance of robotic telesurgery over a distance of more than 5,000 km between Singapore and Japan in October 2023. He also is an early adopter of new techniques, being part of the team that performed the first Pressurised Intraperitoneal Aerosolised Chemotherapy (PIPAC) procedure in Asia in 2016, conducting several first-in-the-world trials on PIPAC, and also being the first to successfully perform mediastinoscopy assisted transhiatal esophagectomy (MATHE), for patients in whom conventional esophagectomy approaches were not feasible.
He has also performed the first endoscopic full thickness resection (EFTR) for submucosal tumours of the stomach and the first endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty at NUH for bariatric patients.