A/Prof Anantham Devanand
Executive Director
A/Prof Anantham Devanand is a Senior Consultant at Singapore General Hospital and Head of SingHealth Duke-NUS Lung Centre. He has trained in endoscopy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Harvard Medical School and Thoraxklinik, University of Heidelberg. His clinical interests include lung cancer, respiratory endoscopy, pleural diseases, smoking cessation, and sarcoidosis. He is the vice chair of the National Medical Ethics Committee and serves as Director of SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical Humanities Institute and Executive Director of Centre of Medical Ethics and Professionalism at the Singapore Medical Association. He is also currently pursuing his PhD in medical ethics at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. His research interests include medical decision-making, ethics of pandemics, and end-of-life care.
Dr Lee Pheng Soon
Immediate Past Executive Director
Dr Lee Pheng Soon has a degree in Science from Flinders Uni, an MBBS from NUS, and a Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians, UK. He worked about 30 years in drug and nutrition research for two major European pharmaceutical, and one US paediatric nutrition, companies. Now retired from clinical research and corporate medical affairs, he is a GP in a small HDB group practice. He has served SMA continuously as a Council Member from 1992,and as the President from 2003-2006. He currently heads both the Medical Indemnity function and the Centre of Medical Ethics and Professionalism.
Dr T Thirumoorthy
Academic Director
Dr T Thirumoorthy graduated from the University of Malaya in 1972 and went on to be trained in internal medicine and dermatology. He served in both public and private practice in Singapore and returning in 2002 to be the founding director and senior consultant dermatologist of the dermatology department at the Singapore General Hospital. He served at SGH Dermatology until July 2017.
Dr Thirumoorthy is the Founding Director of the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) Centre for Medical Ethics and Professionalism (SMA-CMEP) from 2000 to 2003. The SMA Council re-appointed Dr Thiru to helm the SMA CMEP as its Executive Director from 2011 to 2015.
He holds a Master degree in Healthcare Ethics and Law from the University of Manchester (2007) and completed the Masters in Counselling (Monash) in 2015.
Currently Dr Thiru hold the position of Adjunct Professor at Duke NUS Medical School, in the Office of Academic Development. Since May 2024 he serves as Visiting Consultant to WH Clinical Ethics Committee in Woodlands Health.
Dr Peter Chow
Deputy Academic Director
Dr Chow Chiu Leung Peter is the Senior Consultant Geriatrician in Changi General Hospital. He obtained his MBChB in Hong Kong and finished basic and advanced training in Singapore. He is interested in medical law and ethics, and dementia. He had spent a year in Scotland and obtained a LLM in Medical Law and Ethics from the University of Edinburgh. Since then, he has been involved in the teachings in the Centre of Medical Ethics and Professionalism SMA.
He is the Chairperson of the Clinical Ethics Committee in CGH reviewing ethical dilemma referrals. Having read medical humanities and narrative medicine, he is also the Co-lead in Bioethics for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical Humanities Institute organising education activities and conferences. Since 2023, he Co-Chairs the Expert Workgroup for Drafting of Guidelines on Appropriate Use of National Electronic Health Records for the Ministry of Health, Singapore.
Dr Vishalkumar G Shelat
Associate Director
Vishalkumar G. Shelat is a general surgeon practicing at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, where he also serves as Director of Surgical Science Training Centre and Clinical Educator Lead (Medical). His work focuses on general surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, and clinical ethics. He's completed several fellowships and holds various certifications, including one in surgical ethics from Washington University St Louis and a fellowship in the International Society for Quality in Healthcare. He's also contributed to various professional organizations, including the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, and international surgical societies. His is widely published with over 270 publications and H-index of 46. He participates in medical ethics committees and has been the recipient of several awards and honours, including American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship from Public Service Commission. He has been affiliated with Singapore Medical Association Centre of Medical Ethics and Professionalism since 2015.
Dr Giles Tan
Associate Director
Dr Giles Tan Ming Yee is a Psychiatrist and Senior Consultant with the Department of Developmental Psychiatry and Chief of East Region Dept of General Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). He provides leadership on clinical quality and patient safety as the hospital’s Assistant Chairman Medical Board (Clinical Quality and Value) and chairs the IMH Clinical Ethics Committee. He is also a member of the National Medical Ethics Committee (NMEC) and SMC Ethics Committee.
He is President-Elect and Honorary Secretary of the College of Psychiatrist (Academy of Medicine Singapore), Vice-President of the Singapore Psychiatric Association (SPA), Associate Director of the SMA Centre for Medical Ethics and Professionalism (CMEP). He holds teaching appointments with the three local medical schools. He volunteers with social service agencies supporting people with disabilities.