Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
Menu
Prof Pierce Chow

Prof Chow Kah Hoe Pierce

MBBS (NUS), M.Med (Surg), FRCS (Edinburgh), FAMS (Gen Surg), PhD (NUS)

Senior Consultant

National Cancer Centre Singapore

Specialty: Surgery & Surgical Oncology

Clinical Interest: Hepato-pancreato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary, Liver

Conditions Treated by this Doctor:
Bile Duct Cancer, Biliary Tract Cancer, Liver Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Pancreatico-Biliary Diseases.

Clinical Appointments

  • Senior Consultant Division of Surgery & Surgical Oncology National Cancer Centre SingaporeNational Cancer Centre Singapore
  • Senior Consultant Hepato-pancreato-biliary and Transplant Surgery Singapore General HospitalSingapore General Hospital

Academic Appointments

  • Professor and Program Director, PhD Programme in Clinical Sciences, Duke-NUS Medical School
  • Academic Vice Chair (Research), Academic Clinical Programme for Surgery (SURG ACP)

Profile

Pierce Chow is Professor and Program Director at the Duke-NUS Medical School and Senior Consultant Sur-geon at the National Cancer Centre Singapore and the Singapore General Hospital. He is concurrently a Na-tional Medical Research Council (NMRC) funded Senior Clinician-Scientist and founding President of the Col-lege of Clinician Scientists, Academy of Medicine Singapore. 

In addition to managing a busy HPB surgical oncology service, Pierce has researched extensively on hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC). He is the Protocol Chair of the Asia-Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma (AHCC) Trials Group and leads multi-national investigator-initiated clinical studies. Pierce has led the multi-disciplinary NMRC TCR National Flagship Program in Liver Cancer (the PLANet study) which has been successfully re-newed under the NMRC Open Fund-Large Collaborative Grant in 2022. In addition, he leads the A*STAR funded IAF-ICP nation-wide cohort study to develop diagnostics for early detection of HCC (the ELEGANCE study) and the multi-national Phase II randomised clinical trial (the STRATUM study). For his dedicated re-search on liver cancer, 

Pierce was conferred the NMRC National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award in 2012. Pierce is also a faculty member at the Genome Institute of Singapore and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute and Research Director at the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology Singapore.

Education

  • PhD, National University of Singapore, 2004
  • Fellowship Diploma, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 1999
  • Fellowship Diploma (FRCS), Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1994
  • M.Med (Surgery), National University of Singapore, 1994
  • MBBS, National University of Singapore, 1989

Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships

  • Co-Chair, Research and Scholarship Committee, Duke-NUS Medical School
  • Member, Research Committee, Specialists Accreditation Board, Ministry of Health
  • Faculty Member, SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute (SDGHI), Duke-NUS Medical School
  • Local Review Panel Member, NMRC Clinician Scientist – Individual Research Grant (CS-IRG) Scheme
  • Chairman, Academic Medicine Grant Review Committee – Clinical Research (AGRC-Clinical), SingHealth
  • Member, National Advisory Committee for Laboratory Animal Research (NACLAR), National Research Foundation
  • Member, Novel Agents Committee for Cancer (NACC), A*STAR
  • Member, Faculty of Medical Experts (FME), Academy of Medicine
  • Member, Advisory Committee, SingHealth Experimental Medicine Centre (SEMC)
  • Founding President, College of Clinician Scientists, Academy of Medicine Singapore
  • Research Director, Institute of Molecular Cell Biology (IMCB)
  • Director, Academy of Medicine Singapore
  • Associate Faculty, Senior Group Leader, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS)
  • Member, Research Committee, Specialists Accreditation Board, Ministry of Health
  • Member, SAB Research Committee Research Training Review Panel, Specialists Accreditation Board, Ministry of Health
  • Member, Asia-Pacific Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
  • Member, International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
  • Member, International Liver Cancer Association
  • Member, Australasian Gastrointestinal Trials Group
  • Member, Singapore Society of Oncology
  • Protocol Chair, Asia-Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma (AHCC) Trials Group
  • Fellow, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd)
  • Fellow, Singapore Medical Association

Awards

  • Master Academic Clinician Award, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2023 
  • Long Serving Clinical Faculty, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2022
  • Singapore Health Quality Service Awards, Silver Award, 2020
  • Senior Investigator Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, 2018
  • Honorary Fellow, Academy of Medicine Malaysia, 2017
  • Honorary Fellow, Hepatology Society of the Philippines, 2016
  • National Day Awards, Pingkat Bakti Setia, Government of Singapore, 2016
  • NMRC Translational and Clinical Research Flagship Program Award, 2016
  • SingHealth Duke-NUS Research Team Award, 2nd Prize, 2015
  • Outstanding Faculty for Engagement Award (Normal Body), Duke-NUS, 2013
  • Outstanding Faculty for Engagement Award (Surgery), Duke-NUS, 2012
  • Outstanding Faculty for Advocacy Award (Normal Body), Duke-NUS, 2012
  • National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, 2012
  • Pioneer Award, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2011
  • Singapore Health Quality Service Award, Silver, 2011
  • Outstanding Educator Award, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2010
  • Senior Investigator Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, 2010
  • Service With A Heart Award, Singapore General Hospital, 2010
  • Outstanding Educator Award, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 2009
  • Excellent Publication Award, SingHealth (Singapore General Hospital), 2006
  • Excellent Service Award (Gold), Healthcare. Spring Singapore, 2004
  • SARS Courage Medal, Government of Singapore, 2003
  • Sir James Fraser Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 2002
  • HMDP Clinical Fellowship in HPB Surgery and Liver Transplantation, 1999
  • NMRC - Singapore Totalisator Board Medical Research Fellowship, 1997
  • Seah Cheng Siang Prize GE Society of Singapore, Best original research, 1997
  • NMRC - Kwek Hong Png Medical Research Fellowship, 1995
  • Young Surgeon's Award Academy of Medicine, Singapore. Best original research, 1995
  • Chapter of Surgeon's Gold Medal Conjoint M.Med (Surgery)/FRCS (Edin) Exam, 1994

Research Interests

  • Multi-omics (genomics, epigenomics, immunomics, metabolomics, spatial transcriptomics) as ap-plied to Precision Medicine in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Clinical Trials and Translational Research in hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, gastro-intestinal stromal tumour and surgical oncology
  • Meta-analysis, systemic review and health services outcomes research in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
  • Brachytherapy and Selective Internal Radiation Therapy
  • Clinical and Pre-clinical molecular and functional imaging. Non-human primate models. Patient tumour-explant xenografts and orthotopic models in experimental oncology.

Publications

Selected Publications of the past 5 years

  • Qin S, Chen M, Cheng A-L, Kaseb AO, Kudo M, Lee HC, Yopp AC, Zhou J, Wang L, Wen X, Heo J, Tak WY, Nakamura S, Numata K, Uguen T, Hsiehchen D, Cha E, Hack SP, Lian Q, Ma N, Spahn JH, Wang Y, Wu C, Chow PKH (2023). Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab versus active surveillance in patients with resected or ablated high-risk hepatocellular carcinoma (IMbrave050): a randomised, open-label, multicentre, phase 3 trial. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01796-8 
  • Sim YK, Chong MC, Gandhi M, Pokharkar YM, Zhu Y, Shi L, Li L, Chen C-H, Kudo M, Lee JH, Strasser SI, Chanwat R, Chow PKH (2023). Real-World Data on the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Asia-Pacific: The INSIGHT Study. Liver Cancer. DOI: 10.1159/000534513 
  • Thng DKH, Hooi L, Toh CCM, Lim JJ, Rajagopalan D, Syariff IQC, Tan ZM, Rashid MBMA, Zhou L, Kow AWC, Bonney GK, Goh BKP, Kam JH, Jha S, Dan YY, Chow PKH, Toh TB, Chow EK (2023). Histone-lysine N-methyltransferase EHMT2 (G9a) inhibition mitigates tumorigenicity in Myc-driven liver can-cer. Mol Oncol, https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.13417 
  • Jeon AJ, Teo YY, Sekar K, Chong SL, Wu L, Chew SC, Chen J, Kendarsari RI, Lai H, Ling WH, Kaya NA, Lim JQ, Ramasamy A, Oguz G, …, Goh BKP, Tucker-Kellogg G, Foo RSY, Chow PKH. (2023) Multi-region sampling with paired sample sequencing analyses reveals sub-groups of patients with novel patient-specific dysregulation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. BMC Cancer, 23(1):118. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-022-10444-3 
  • Thng DKH, Toh TB, Pigini P, Hooi L, Dan YY, Chow PK, Bonney GK, Rashid MBMA, Guccione E, Wee DKB, Chow EK. (2022) Splice-switch oligonucleotide-based combinatorial platform prioritizes syn-thetic lethal targets CHK1 and BRD4 against MYC-driven hepatocellular carcinoma. Bioeng Transl Med, 8(1):e10363. https://doi.org/10.1002/btm2.10363 
  • Lee YH, Chuah S, Nguyen PHD, Lim CJ, Lai HLH, Wasser M, …, Chow PKH, Albani S, Liu H, Chew V (2022) IFNγ-IL-17+ CD8 T cells contribute to immunosuppression and tumor progression in human hepatocellular carcinoma, Cancer Lett, 552:215977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2022.215977 
  • Chan JJ, Zhang B, Chew XH, Salhi A, Kwok ZH, Lim CY, …, Chen L, Gao X, Chow PKH, Yang H, Tay Y. (2022) Pan-cancer pervasive upregulation of 3' UTR splicing drives tumourigenesis. Nat. Cell Bi-ol., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-022-00913-z 
  • Nguyen PHD, Wasser M, Tan CT, Lim CJ, Lai HLH, Seow JJW, DasGupta R, Phua CZJ, Ma S, … Zhai WW, Albani S, Chow PKH, Chew V. (2022) Trajectory of immune evasion and cancer progression in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Commun., 13(1):1441. https://doi.org/ 0.1038/s41467-022-29122-w 
  • Zhai WW, Lai H, Kaya NA, Chen J, Yang HC, Lu BX, …, Tam WL, Toh HC, Foo RSY, Chow PKH. (2021) Dynamic phenotypic heterogeneity and the evolution of multiple RNA subtypes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: the PLANET study, Nat. Sci. Rev. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwab192
  • Chew XH, Sultana R, Mathew EN, Ng DCE, Lo RHG, Toh HC, Tai D, Choo SP, Goh BKP, Yan SX, Loke KSH, Thang SP, Gogna A, Venkatanarasimha NK, Tong AKT, Moe FNN, Chua JSS, Ang RWT, Ong AD, Ng AWY, Hoang MTQ, Too CW, Thng CH, Chan WY, Kee W, Chan JHM, Irani F, Leong S, Lim KH, Wang MLC, Chow PKH. (2021) Real-World Data on Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Liver Cancer: A Prospective Validation of the National Cancer Centre Singapore Consensus Guidelines for the Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Liver Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1159/000514400
  • Nguyen PHD, Ma S, Phua CZJ, Kaya NA, Lai HLH, Lim CJ, Lim JQ, Wasser M, Lai L, Tam WL, Lim TKH, Wan WK, Loh T, Leow WQ, Pang YH, Chan CY, Lee SY, Cheow PC, Toh HC, Ginhoux F, Iyer S, Kow AWC, Young Dan Y, Chung A, Goh BKP, Albani S, Chow PKH, Zhai W, Chew V. (2021) Intratumoural immune heterogeneity as a hallmark of tumour evolution and progression in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Commun., 12(1):227. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20171-7. PMID: 33431814.
  • Gandhi M, Ling WH, Chen CH, Lee JH, Kudo M, Chanwat R, Strasser SI, Xu Z, Lai SH, Chow PKH. (2021) Impact of COVID-19 on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Management: A Multicountry and Region Study. J Hepatocell Carcinoma, 8:1159-67. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHC.S329018
  • Sharma A, Seow JJW, Dutertre CA, Pai R, Blériot C, Mishra A, Wong RMM, Singh GSN, Sudhagar S, Khalilnezhad S, Erdal S, Teo HM, Khalilnezhad A, Chakarov S, Lim TKH, Fui ACY, Chieh AKW, Chung CP, Bonney GK, Goh BK, Chan JKY, Chow PKH, Ginhoux F, DasGupta R. (2020) Onco-fetal Reprogramming of Endothelial Cells Drives Immunosuppressive Macrophages in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cell, 183(2):377-394.e21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.040. PMID: 32976798
  • Chow PKH, Mihir Gandhi, Say-Beng Tan, et al. (2018) SIRveNIB: Selective Internal Radiation Therapy Versus Sorafenib in Asia-Pacific Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma. J. Clin. Oncol., JCO2017760892. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2017.76.0892.
  • Chew, V., Lee, Y.H., Pan, L., Nasir, N.J.M., Lim, C.J., Chua, C., Lai, L., Hazirah, S.N., Lim, T.K.H., Goh, B.K.P., Chung, A., Lo, R.H.G., Ng, D., Filarca, R.L.F, Albani, S., and Chow, P.K.H. (2018). Immune Activation Underlies a Sustained Clinical Response to Yttrium-90 Radioembolisation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Gut. pii: gutjnl-2017-315485. https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2017-315485.
  • Zhai W, Lim TK, Zhang T, Phang ST, Tiang Z, Guan P, Ng MH, Lim JQ, Yao F, Li Z, Ng PY, Yan J, Goh BK, Chung AY, Choo SP, Khor CC, Soon WW, Sung KW, Foo RS, Chow PK (2017) The spatial organization of intra-tumour heterogeneity and evolutionary trajectories of metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat. Commun. 8:4565. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14565

Research Trials

  • Precision Medicine in Liver Cancer across an Asia-Pacific Network 2.0 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05516628 (AHCC12 EMPHASIS & AHCC13) 
  • A multi-national, double-blind, placebo-control, randomized phase II trial to compare the safety and efficacy of SIR-Spheres (Y-90 resin microspheres) followed by atezolizumab plus bevacizumab ver-sus SIR-Spheres in patients with locally advanced HCC https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05377034 (AHCC09 STRATUM)
  • Development of a companion diagnostic test kit for selective internal radiation therapy and immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): A prospective clinical translational study
  • Prospective Cohort Study of Changes in Circulatory MicroRNA after Surgical Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05148572 (AHCC11 PROSECT)
  • Early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): miRNA, microbiome and imaging biomarkers in the evolution of chronic liver disease in a high-risk prospective cohort
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04965259 (AHCC10 ELEGANCE)
  • Decoding global gene expression in liver cancer through deep learning and standard-of-care clinical imaging
  • A Patient-Specific Diagnostic and Predictive Platform for Precision Medicine in HCC
  • Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Registry in Asia
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03233360 (AHCC08)
  • A Prospective Study to develop a Genomics-Immunomics- Phenomics Platform for Precision Medicine in HCC
  • Comprehensive interrogation of the epigenetics promoter and enhancer landscape in HCC to identify aberrant regulatory mechanisms associated with HCC
  • The use of LiverMultiScan ("LMS") to analyse HCC patients' MRI scans for improved monitoring of patients' prognosis and selection of therapy
  • Post-SIR Spheres® surgery study (P4S): a retrospective analysis in patients with primary liver tumours or secondary hepatic metastases
  • Artificial Liver Platform for Next-Generation Drug Discovery and Development
  • Precision Medicine in Liver Cancer across an Asia-Pacific Network
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03267641 (AHCC07 PLANET)
  • Phase III Multi-Centre Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial of Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) Versus Sorafenib in Locally Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01135056 (AHCC06 SIRveNIB)
  • Effect of YQ23 on Radiation sensitization in a Hepatoma Model
  • Study of SIR-Spheres plus Sorafenib as 1st Line Treatment for Non-Resectable Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00712790 (AHCC05)
  • A Study of the Safety Profile of Three Escalating Radioactivity Levels of 32P BioSilicon Delivered with the SIMPL Needle as Intratumoural Implantations in Patients With Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00247260 (AHCC04)   
  • Randomized Phase III Trial to determine the Effectiveness of Megestrol Acetate in treating Patients who have Liver Cancer that cannot be removed by surgery
    http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/show/NCT00041275 (AHCC02)
  • Phase III Randomized Study of High Dose Tamoxifen versus Placebo in Patients with Inoperable Hepatocellular Carcinoma
    http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00003424 (AHCC01)