Associate Professor Tan Hian Khoon will be appointed as CEO (Designate) for Singapore General Hospital (SGH) as the current Chief Executive Officer, Professor Kenneth Kwek passes on the leadership baton on 1 October 2024. Associate Professor Tan will assume the role of CEO, SGH from 15 January 2025 while Professor Kwek will remain in his role as Deputy Group CEO (Digital Health), SingHealth.
Over the past seven years, Professor Kwek has driven SGH’s progress in innovative clinical services, transformative education, and pioneering research. Under his leadership, SGH has solidified its position as Singapore’s top acute tertiary hospital and a premier Academic Medical Centre. Since 2018, SGH has consistently ranked highly on Newsweek’s “World’s Best Hospitals” list, achieving the title of the world’s third-best hospital in 2019 and being named the fourth-best AMC in the 2024 Brand Finance global hospital ranking.
Professor Kwek has championed a digital-first, mobile-first strategy, spearheading a comprehensive transformation of hospital services. This includes the implementation of video consultations, counter-less clinics with online registration and payment, an expanded medication delivery service, and bedside tablets for patients to access care information. He also played a key role in conceptualising and future-proofing healthcare infrastructure and technologies as outlined in the SGH Campus Masterplan. Additionally, he established the SGH Research and Innovation Office and provided leadership in adopting population health initiatives and new care models, such as SGH@Home and the Mobile Inpatient Care-at-Home (MIC@Home).
Associate Professor Tan is a visionary clinician and unifying leader with a proven commitment to enhancing patient care and driving positive change. As Chairman, Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology and Academic Chair, SingHealth Duke-NUS Surgery Academic Clinical Programme, Prof Tan led the integration of SGH’s Division of Surgery and NCCS’ Division of Surgical Oncology, fostering a unified approach to advanced surgical care for enhanced patient outcomes. Notably, he also established the first cluster-wide disease centre, a new model of care that harnessed the diverse talent and strength of SingHealth institutions, and served as the inaugural Head of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Head and Neck Centre.
Associate Professor Tan has been instrumental in creating and piloting future health system models to address and evolving healthcare landscape focusing on healthcare innovation and technology as Deputy CEO (Future Health System), SGH. He led the Steering Committee for Phase 2B of the SGH Campus Masterplan, successfully rallying colleagues in the collaborative co-creation of a new SGH.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he spearheaded a cluster-wide effort to set up and manage 3,700 beds in two Community Care facilities.
Concurrently, as Group Director, International Collaboration Office (ICO), SingHealth, and Director, SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute (SDGHI), Prof Tan aligned global health strategies and fostered wide-ranging partnerships, securing over $9 million in extramural funding to scale impactful projects and support new research and initiatives to advance health outcomes in Asia.
As the new CEO of SGH, Associate Professor Tan will build upon the solid foundations established by previous leaders, aiming to elevate SGH to new heights in clinical, educational, and research excellence. He will continue to serve as Group Director of ICO, SingHealth, and Director of SDGHI alongside his new role. However, he will step down as Deputy CEO (Future Health System), SGH, effective 15 January 2025.
