I was born in Malaysia and am fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and conversant in Malay language. In 1988 I was sent to the UK to boarding school and entered medical studies in the University of Glasgow in 1990. In 1995, I graduated at the top 5% of my class earning my MBChB degree with commendation. I then obtained associated fellow status with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh after passing the exam in Surgery in General in 1998 being the one of the first few in the country to do so.
In 1999 I entered neurosurgical training in the West Midlands training scheme for 6 years. During that period I had 5 years of adult neurosurgical experience and 1 year of paediatric neurosurgical experience under some of the foremost neurosurgical experts in their field such the late Mr Anthony Hockley, an internationally renowned paediatric neurosurgeon. I passed the fellowship exam in neurosurgery in 2004 and obtained FRCS in Neurosurgery. After completion of my training in 2005 I decided to further my training in all aspects of paediatric neurosurgery with 1 year fellowship in the paediatric neurosurgical department in British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver, Canada under the guidance of Prof Paul Steinbok and Prof Douglas Cochrane. I was then asked to return to take up the consultant post in Birmingham Children's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2006.
Initially I worked as a Consultant Neurosurgeon in both these hospitals – in adult neurosurgery in Queen Elizabeth Hospital and in paediatric neurosurgery in Birmingham Children's Hospital. Birmingham Children's Hospital is one of the busiest children's hospitals in the UK with a catchment area of 5 million and is one of the 5 nationally designated centres for performing epilepsy surgery. Queen Elizabeth Hospital is one of the biggest hospitals in Europe with a 100 bedded ITU ward and a catchment area of 4 million. It is also the only hospital in UK for managing wounded soldiers being the centre for the Ministry of Defence. After 2007 I worked mainly in adult neurosurgery in Queen Elizabeth Hospital with occasional sessions in Birmingham Children's Hospital as the adult workload was increasing.
In 1999 I entered neurosurgical training in the West Midlands training scheme for 6 years. During that period I had 5 years of adult neurosurgical experience and 1 year of paediatric neurosurgical experience under some of the foremost neurosurgical experts in their field such the late Mr Anthony Hockley, an internationally renowned paediatric neurosurgeon. I passed the fellowship exam in neurosurgery in 2004 and obtained FRCS in Neurosurgery. After completion of my training in 2005 I decided to further my training in all aspects of paediatric neurosurgery with 1 year fellowship in the paediatric neurosurgical department in British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver, Canada under the guidance of Prof Paul Steinbok and Prof Douglas Cochrane. I was then asked to return to take up the consultant post in Birmingham Children's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2006.
Initially I worked as a Consultant Neurosurgeon in both these hospitals – in adult neurosurgery in Queen Elizabeth Hospital and in paediatric neurosurgery in Birmingham Children's Hospital. Birmingham Children's Hospital is one of the busiest children's hospitals in the UK with a catchment area of 5 million and is one of the 5 nationally designated centres for performing epilepsy surgery. Queen Elizabeth Hospital is one of the biggest hospitals in Europe with a 100 bedded ITU ward and a catchment area of 4 million. It is also the only hospital in UK for managing wounded soldiers being the centre for the Ministry of Defence. After 2007 I worked mainly in adult neurosurgery in Queen Elizabeth Hospital with occasional sessions in Birmingham Children's Hospital as the adult workload was increasing.
During my time in Birmingham, I was the lead consultant in the neurovascular department which consisted of 4 interventional neuroradiologists and 2 neurosurgeons. I also set up and ran the multi-disciplinary meeting for neurovascular cases every week. I was also one of the 3 core neurosurgeons in the neuro-oncology team which were rostered to operate on complex intracerebral tumours. In addition I was also one of two neurosurgeons who specialises in disorders of cerebrospinal fluid production such as chiari malformation, syringomyelia and hydrocephalus. I was instrumental in setting up the fortnightly multidisciplinary meetings in CSF disorders. I am also one of the few neurosurgeons in the world to perform selective denervation surgeries for cervical torticollis. In addition, I also performed a wide variety of spinal surgeries. From 2009 to 2012, I was in charge of neurosurgical training of all neurosurgical trainees in Queen Elizabeth Hospital and sat on the training committee in charge of West Midlands Neurosurgical training. From 2011-2013 I was the principal investigator in Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the international STASH trial (a randomised control trial researching the effects of simvastatin in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage) that was being run from Cambridge, UK.
During my training and my time as a consultant I have published 2 book chapters and 30+ papers in peer reviewed medical journals. I have also presented 60+ articles and 50+ posters in national and international meetings. In 2007 I was one of the keynote speakers in the annual American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Washington, USA, presenting data on paediatric patients below the age of three requiring neurosurgery for the whole of Canada. Since working in New Zealand, I have published 5 peer reviewed papers and presented 10 papers and posters in national and international conferences.
Since arriving in New Zealand in 2013, I have worked as a consultant neurosurgeon in Waikato Hospital, Southern Cross Hospital and Braemer Hospital. I was granted fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in mid-2015. My main practice is general neurosurgery in both intracranial and spines with a small paediatric component. I am particularly interested in minimally invasive neurosurgery having used the neuroendoscope to perform hundreds of intracranial and interspinal procedures. My other interests are in the medicolegal aspects of medicine having trained and qualified as a Certified Independent Medical Examiner by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners in 2015.
During my training and my time as a consultant I have published 2 book chapters and 30+ papers in peer reviewed medical journals. I have also presented 60+ articles and 50+ posters in national and international meetings. In 2007 I was one of the keynote speakers in the annual American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Washington, USA, presenting data on paediatric patients below the age of three requiring neurosurgery for the whole of Canada. Since working in New Zealand, I have published 5 peer reviewed papers and presented 10 papers and posters in national and international conferences.
Since arriving in New Zealand in 2013, I have worked as a consultant neurosurgeon in Waikato Hospital, Southern Cross Hospital and Braemer Hospital. I was granted fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in mid-2015. My main practice is general neurosurgery in both intracranial and spines with a small paediatric component. I am particularly interested in minimally invasive neurosurgery having used the neuroendoscope to perform hundreds of intracranial and interspinal procedures. My other interests are in the medicolegal aspects of medicine having trained and qualified as a Certified Independent Medical Examiner by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners in 2015.