• Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (General Surgery) (2008)
• Fellow of the Academy of Medicine (2008)
• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge (Molecular Carcinogenesis) (2003)
• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Honors, National University of Singapore (1998)

• Head and Neck Cancer Society (Singapore), President (2014)
• American Head and Neck Society, Member (2010)
• American Association for Endocrine Surgeons, Member (2009)

• Distinguished Researcher Award,Singhealth Excellence Awards, 2018
• National Medical Research Council 2017 Award – Investigator Category, 2017
• SingHealth Manpower Development Plan (HMDP) Award 2016 – Head & Neck Surgery Management: A multidisciplinary team approach, USA, 2016
• Visiting Professor, Head & Neck Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, NY, 2015
• SingHealth Residency in SingHealth Excel (RiSE) 2014 (General Surgery), 2015
• Outstanding Faculty Award, Residency in SingHealth Excels, 2014
• National Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award, 2014
• Clinician-Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, 2013
• Wong Hock Boon-Society Outstanding Mentor Award, National University of Singapore, 2013
• Soo Khee Chee Publication Award, SingHealth Foundation, 2013
• Proctored/supervised first ever robotic thyroidectomy in Australia at Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney on 3rd Feb 2012 
• SingHealth Publish Medical Research Publication Award, 2012
• SingHealth Talent Development Fund Medical Research Publication Award, 2011
• Best presentation, New York Head and Neck Society Annual Meeting (co-first author, presented by Dr Luc Morris), 2011
• Best poster, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (co-first author, presented by Dr Luc Morris), 2011
• Young Investigator Award (Clinical Science) from Singapore General Hospital- supervisor to Brian Tian (medical student/presenter), 2011
• Michael E Burt award for operative, clinical, teaching and research excellence from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – awarded to the best fellow overall in the Division of Surgery, 2010
• Poster of Distinction, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, 2010
• Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal -best graduate throughout course of study for M.B.B.S. Gibbs Gold Medal -first in general proficiency for 4 professional exams Singapore Medical Association Silver Medal -first in final professional examination Ciba-Geigy Prize -first in general proficiency throughout complete course of 5 years of study Second Mekie Book Prize (Surgery) -second best in surgery Nestle Book Prize (Paediatrics) -best in paediatrics clinical clerkship, 1998

• Identification of novel biomarkers that guide therapeutic decisions, identification of novel therapeutic targets and modification of conventional therapy for head and neck cancers for precision oncology.
• Biomarker discovery focused on established and state-of the art technologies from next-gen sequencing, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry to single cell genomics.
• Functional analyses to modify therapeutic paradigms involve the establishment of patient-derived 2D and 3D cell cultures, stem cell models, as well as modelling the immune micro-environment ex vivo.
• The overall objective is to translate the knowledge into clinical trials and patient specific outcome in the era of shifting therapeutic paradigms

• DM Rodrigues-Junior, SS Tan, SK Lim, HS Leong, ME Melendez, CRN Ramos, LS Viana, DSW Tan, , AL Carvalho, NG Iyer, AL Vettore,. Circulating extracellular vesicle-associated TGF modulates response to cytotoxic therapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Carcinogenesis. 2019 Aug 22; pii: bgz148. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgz148. [Epub ahead of print]

• DM Rodrigues-Junior, SS Tan, SK Lim, L de Souza Viana, AL Carvalho, AL Vettore, NG Iyer. High expression of MLANA in the plasma of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma as a predictor of tumor progression. Head Neck. 2019 May;41(5):1199–1205. doi: 10.1002/hed.25510
  
• DM Rodrigues-Junior, SS Tan, L de Souza Viana, AL Carvalho, SK Lim, NG Iyer, AL Vettore. A preliminary investigation of circulating extracellular vesicles and biomarker discovery associated with treatment response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. BMC Cancer. 2019 Apr 23;19(1):373. doi: 10.1186/s12885-019-5565-9 (co-corresponding author)

• GGY Lai, TH Lim, J Lim, PJR Liew, XL Kwang, R Nahar, ZW Aung, A Takano, YY Lee, DPX Lau, GS Tan, SH Tan, WL Tan, MK Ang, CK Toh, BS Tan, A Devanand, CW Too, A Gogna, BH Ong, TPT Koh, R Kanesvaran, QS Ng, A Jain, T Rajasekaran, J Yuan, TKH Lim, AST Lim, AM Hillmer, WT Lim, NG Iyer, WL Tam, W Zhai, EH Tan, DSW Tan. Clonal MET Amplification as a Determinant of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Resistance in Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mutant Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2019 Apr 10;37(11):876-884. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.00177.

• NG Iyer, MLK Chua. Multidisciplinary team meetings - challenges of implementation science. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 2019 Apr;16(4):205-206. doi: 10.1038/s41571-018-0148-2.

• SL Kong, H Li, JA Tai, ET Courtois, HM Poh, DP Lau, YX Haw, NG Iyer, DSW Tan, S Prabhakar, D Ruff, AM Hillmer. Concurrent Single-Cell RNA and Targeted DNA sequencing on an Automated Platform for Comeasurement of Genomic and Transcriptomic Signatures. Clinical Chemistry. 2019 Feb;65(2):272-281. doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2018.295717.

• A Sharma, EY Cao, V Kumar, X Zhang, HS Leong, AML Wong, N Ramakrishnan, M Hakimullah, HMV Teo, FT Chong, S Chia, MT Thangavelu, XL Kwang, R Gupta, JR Clark, G Periyasamy, NG Iyer, R DasGupta. Longitudinal single-cell RNA sequencing of patient-derived primary cells reveals drug-induced infidelity in stem-cell hierarchy. Nature Communications. 2018 Nov 22;9(1):4931. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07261-3. (co-corresponding author)

• SAK Rasheed, HS Leong, M Lakshmanan, AK Raju, D Dadlani, FT Chong, NB Shannon, R Rajarethinam, T Skanthakumar, EY Tan, JSG Hwang, KH Lim, DSW Tan, P Ceppi, M Wang, V Tergaonkar, PJ Casey, NG Iyer. GNA13 expression promotes drug resistance and tumor-initiating phenotypes in squamous cell cancers. Oncogene. 2018 Mar;37(10):1340-1353. doi: 10.1038/s41388-017-0038-6.

• WY Chay, LL Kwok, WN Tiong, SS Krisna, KH Lim, NG Iyer, LK Goh, DS Tan. Mutational Aberrations Detected in Mucinous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer of Asian Women. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. 2018 Mar;28(3):428-436. 
   
• DSW Tan, FT Chong, HS Leong, SY Toh, DP Lau, XL Kwang, X Zhang, GM Sundaram, GS Tan, MM Chang, BT Chua, WT Lim, EH Tan, MK Ang, TKH Lim, P Sampath, B Chowbay, AJ Skanderup, R DasGupta, NG Iyer. Long non-coding RNA EGFR-AS1 mediates epidermal growth factor receptor addiction and modulates treatment response in squamous cell carcinoma. Nature Medicine. 2017 Oct;23(10):1167-1175. doi: 10.1038/nm.4401.

• S Chia, JL Low, X Zhang, XL Kwang, FT Chong, A Sharma, D Bertrand, SY Toh, HS Leong, MT Thangavelu, JSG Hwang, KH Lim, T Skanthakumar, HK Tan, Y Su, S Hui Choo, H Hentze, IBH Tan, A Lezhava, P Tan, DSW Tan, G Periyasamy, JLY Koh, NG Iyer, R DasGupta. Phenotype-driven precision oncology as a guide for clinical decisions one patient at a time. Nature Communications. 2017 Sep 5;8(1):435. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00451-5. (co-corresponding author)

• CJ Ong, NB Shannon, S Mueller, SM Lek, X Qiu, FT Chong, K Li, KKN Koh, GCA Tay, T Skanthakumar, JSG Hwang, TK Hon Lim, MK Ang, DSW Tan, NC Tan, HK Tan, KC Soo, NG Iyer. A three gene immunohistochemical panel serves as an adjunct to clinical staging of patients with head and neck cancer. Oncotarget. 2017 Jun 19;8(45):79556-79566. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.18568

1.       Drugging the undruggable- targeting wild type EGFR with exosomal therapeutics National Medical Research Council Clinical Scientist Individual Research Grant (CIRG21jun-0035) for $1,494,200; Feb 2022 to 31 Jan 2025) – currently ongoing 

2.       Precision oncology approach to identification and expansion of tumour-targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in head and neck squamous cell cancer. National Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award – Senior Investigator Grant (MOH-000325) for $1,748,900; Jan 2020 to Dec 2024) – currently ongoing 

 3.       Precision immunotherapy for gastric, and head and neck cancer targeting the MARK3 splice variant antigen. National Health Innovation Centre Singapore I2D grant (NHIC-I2D-1912237) for $250,000; Aug 2020- Jul 2021) as CO-I

4.       Next-generation lung cancer clinical trials. National Medical Research Council Large Collaborative grant for $1,130,000; May 2018 – Apr 2023 as theme PI

 5.       The Role of Tumor Heterogeneity in Lymph Node Metastasis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC): A Precision Medicine Approach (NMRC/CSA-INV/0011/2016 for $1,200,000; Nov 2016 - Oct 2019)