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A/Prof Mark Thong

Designations:
  • Senior Consultant, Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, National University Hospital
  • Head & Senior Consultant, Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Alexandra Hospital
  • Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Qualifications:
MBBS(S'pore), MRCS(Edin), MMed(ORL), DO-HNS(Eng), FAMS(ORL), HNS(Eng)
Specialties:
Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery
Sub-Specialties:
ENT Allergy, Rhinology, Skull Base Surgery

Biosketch

A/Prof Thong graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore in 1996. After completing his Otolaryngology residency in Singapore in 2006, he received a Ministry of Health's HMDP Award and pursued subspecialty training in Rhinology and Sinus Surgery as a clinical fellow at the Lahey Clinic, Massachusetts, USA.

Therefore, apart from treating general ear, throat and neck conditions, A/Prof Thong's particular area of specialty is that of the nose and sinus (e.g. nasal allergy, nasal obstruction, nose bleeding, sinus infections, polyps). He performs various procedures, either in the clinic or in the operating theatre. These include standard endoscopic sinus surgery, minimally invasive sinus surgery (eg "balloon sinuplasty"), as well as advance sinus and skull base surgery (eg orbital decompression with the Eye surgeons, and pituitary tumor surgery with the Neurosurgeons) for which he was also a Visiting Consultant to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

His other area of clinical interest is in patients with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. This includes helping to make diagnoses, to recommending suitable treatment like weight management, positive airway pressure (PAP) or surgical procedures.

Research similarly revolves around sino-nasal conditions (especially nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis), and snoring and sleep apnea (including running trials with A*Star to develop better ways of monitoring such patients).

A/Prof Thong is currently the Director of Undergraduate Education (Otolaryngology), and an Associate Professor with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, having previously served as department Deputy Director for Clinical Services. He subsequently received the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016, followed by the NUS School of Medicine's Special Recognition Award in 2017 for remarkable teaching contributions. He is also involved in postgraduate education, and has been a National Examiner since 2013. He has been an invited speaker at both local and regional conferences, and has published in various peer-reviewed journals.

Awards

  • 2020 - NUS Medicine Fortitude Award
  • 2018 - Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Teaching Excellence Award for AY2016/2017
  • 2018 - NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2017 - Special Recognition Award (SRA)
  • 2016 - Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence AY15/16

Journals & Publications

  1. ​Chee J, Lin X, Lim WS, Loh WS, Thong M, Ng L. Using 3D-printed nose models in nasopharyngeal swab training.
    Oral Oncol. 2021 Feb;113:105033. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2020.105033. Epub 2020 Oct 9.
  2. Cheong CS, Loke W, Thong MKT, Toh ST, Lee CH.  The Emerging Role of Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy in the Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
    Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Oct 16. doi: 10.21053/ceo.2020.01704.
  3. Soon GST, Petersson F, Thong MKT, Tan CL.  Primary Nasopharyngeal Kaposi Sarcoma as Index Diagnosis of AIDS in a Previously Healthy Man.
    Head Neck Pathol. 2019 Dec;13(4):664-667. doi: 10.1007/s12105-018-0954-y. Epub 2018 Jul 23.
  4. Kumar N, Patel RS, Thong MKT, Kumar N.  Symptomatic dyspnoea addressed by excision of ossified anterior longitudinal ligament.
    BMJ Case Rep. 2018 Jun 20;2018:bcr2017223322. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-223322.
  5. Tan KS, Andiappan AK, Lee B, Yan Y, Liu J, Tang SA, Lum J, He TT, Ong YK, Thong M, Lim HF, Choi HW, Rotzschke O, Chow VT, Wang Y.  RNA Sequencing of H3N2 Influenza Virus-Infected Human Nasal Epithelial Cells from Multiple Subjects Reveals Molecular Pathways Associated with Tissue Injury and Complications. Cells. 2019 Aug 27;8(9):986. doi: 10.3390/cells8090986.
  6. Zi XX, Guan WJ, Peng Y, Tan KS, Liu J, He TT, Ong YK, Thong M, Shi L, Wang DY.  An Integrated Analysis of Radial Spoke Head and Outer Dynein Arm Protein Defects and Ciliogenesis Abnormality in Nasal Polyps. Front Genet. 2019 Nov 13;10:1083. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01083. eCollection 2019.
  7. Gamage AM, Tan KS, Chan WOY, Liu J, Tan CW, Ong YK, Thong M, Andiappan AK,  Anderson DE, Wang Y, Wang LF.  Infection of human Nasal Epithelial Cells with SARS-CoV-2 and a 382-nt deletion isolate lacking ORF8 reveals similar viral kinetics and host transcriptional profiles.
    PLoS Pathog. 2020 Dec 7;16(12):e1009130. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009130. eCollection 2020 Dec.
  8. Liu X, Wang Y, Charn TC, Koh LT, Teo NW, Ong YK, Thong MK, Bachert C, Pfaar O, Schünemann HJ, Bedbrook A, Czarlewski W, Bousquet J.  Next-Generation Allergic Rhinitis Care in Singapore: 2019 ARIA Care Pathways. Ann Acad Med Singap. 2020 Nov;49(11):885-896. doi: 10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.202076.
  9. Chen Q, Tan KS, Liu J, Ong HH, Zhou S, Huang H, Chen H, Ong YK, Thong M, Chow VT, Qiu Q, Wang DY.  Host Antiviral Response Suppresses Ciliogenesis and Motile Ciliary Functions in the Nasal Epithelium.  Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Dec 21;8:581340. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.581340. eCollection 2020.
  10. Chen ZG, Wang ZN, Yan Y, Liu J, He TT, Thong KT, Ong YK, Chow VTK, Tan KS, Wang Y.  Upregulation of cell-surface mucin MUC15 in human nasal epithelial cells upon influenza A virus infection.  BMC Infect Dis. 2019 Jul 15;19(1):622. doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-4213-y.

Professional Memberships

  • ​Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh
  • Academy of Medicine (Otolaryngology), Singapore