Dr Chumpon is Emeritus Consultant in the Department of Neurosurgery of the National Neuroscience Institute and Visiting Consultant at the National Cancer Centre. He was previously the National Neuroscience Institute’s Deputy Director (2004-2010) and Chief of Neurosurgery (2002-2004), and was the senior lead surgeon in the 97-hour operation in 2001 to separate the Nepalese craniopagus twins, Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha. He has subspecialty interests in complex skull base surgery, neuro-oncology, neurotrauma, and general neurosurgery.
He graduated from the University of Singapore in 1977, where he studied on an ASEAN Scholarship and was awarded the Singapore Medical Association Bronze Medal for distinction in anatomy. This was followed by postgraduate surgical training at the National University of Singapore on a Singapore Government Scholarship, during which he received the Howard Eddie Gold Medal for being the top candidate in the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) Part 1 examinations in 1980 and obtained Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) of the United Kingdom in 1981. In addition to neurosurgical training at Tan Tock Seng Hospital with Singapore neurosurgery pioneers Dr Tham Cheok Fai and Dr Gopal Baratham, he underwent advanced subspecialty training in microvascular and skull base neurosurgery at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, United Kingdom, under Dr Christopher Adams on a Singapore Government Healthcare Manpower Development Plan (HMDP) Award. He has been a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore (FAMS) from 1987.
Upon his return to Singapore, Dr Chumpon established the Department of Neurosurgery in Singapore General Hospital in 1989 with Dr Ho Kee Hang where he went on to become Head of Department (1997-2002) as well as Director of the Skull Base Surgery Programme and Cerebro-vascular Surgery Programmes (1992-2002). With his experience in multidisciplinary approaches to complex neurosurgical conditions, Dr Chumpon was the senior lead surgeon of a team of 16 specialists in the marathon 97-hour operation to separate the Nepalese craniopagus twins Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha in 2001. This operation was planned using the Dextroscope Virtual Reality workbench developed and validated in Singapore with National Science and Technology Board funding for which Dr Chumpon was principal investigator. The Dextroscope has since been commercialised, pioneering the use of virtual reality in surgical practice, training, and research. For putting Singapore medicine on the world map through his surgical leadership and excellence, Dr Chumpon was awarded the Singapore Totalisator Board Excellence for Singapore Award and the Singapore Medical Alumni Association Plaque in 2001. He was also awarded the National Day Award Long Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Setia) in 2011.
As Chairman of the Neurosurgical Chapter of the Singapore Academy of Medicine and the Specialist Training Committee for Neurosurgery (2004-2009), Dr Chumpon was instrumental in establishing an internationally-recognised specialty accreditation pathway in neurosurgery in Singapore with the United Kingdom Joint Royal Colleges of Surgeons in 2005. He was also a Council Member of the ASEAN Neurosurgical Society for more than 20 years. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the training and professional development of clinicians and clinician-scientists in Singapore, ASEAN, and the rest of Asia, Dr Chumpon was awarded the National Medical Excellence Award (NMEA) for Outstanding Clinician Mentor in 2017.
Dr Chumpon is fluent in English, Chinese (Mandarin, Teochew, Hokkien), Malay, and Thai.
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