Dr Nigel Tan is currently a Senior Consultant with the Department of Neurology at the National Neuroscience Institute. Dr Tan received his MBBS from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Medicine, in 1993. His basic training in Internal Medicine was done in Singapore, and his advanced training in Neurology at NNI-TTSH. His fellowship training in epilepsy was with Prof Samuel Berkovic in Melbourne, Australia. In the clinical arena, Dr Tan is a neurologist with an interest in epilepsy.
In the area of health professions education, Dr Tan is currently the Education Director, NNI, and Vice Chair (Education) of the Neuroscience Academic Clinical Program, overseeing health professions education within NNI. He graduated with a Masters in Health Professions Education (MHPEd) from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2013. He is currently the Assistant Dean for Year 3 at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
He is also a Clinical Assoc Professor with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSOM) and Adjunct Assoc Professor Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. He is currently the Internal Medicine Residency Site Director for NNI for the NHG-AHPL Internal Medicine Residency and is a member of the core faculty. Dr Tan is a member of the SingHealth Graduate Medical Education Committee, as well as the SingHealth Education Council. At the national level, he also serves on the Neurology Residency Advisory Committee as the Chair of the Exam Committee. He assists MOH as a member of the National PGY1 Training & Assessment Committee. Internationally , Dr Tan is a member of the Genetics Commission, the Pharmacogenetics Task Force and the Education Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy
Dr Tan is directly involved in education planning, teaching and assessment of medical students from all 3 medical schools - YLLSOM, LKCSOM and Duke-NUS, as well as residents and senior residents from Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology residencies. In his capacity as Asst Dean for Year 3 at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, he is responsible for Year 3, overseeing clinical training and assessment for that year. As core faculty for postgraduate medical education, he is involved in planning pedagogy, and doing teaching, assessment and selection of residents.
Outside NNI, Dr Tan has been involved as facilitator in the Asia Pacific Evidence-Based Medicine Conference and Teaching Course since 2006. He also teaches clinical epileptology and is an examiner for the EEG Qualifying Examinations as part of the faculty of the Asian Epilepsy Academy. In medical education, he is involved in faculty development for fellow educators via the Harvard-Macy ‘Essentials’ Program for Clinician-Educators and Health Professional Educators, as well as via the Academic Medicine Education Institute (AMEI) workshops.
Dr Tan’s research interests cover both neurology and education. His current neurology research interests include clinical epileptology, genetics of common epilepsies and complex traits, with publications in Neurology, Epilepsia, Seizure and Epileptic Disorders. In education, his research focuses on the use of team-based learning for neurology, assessing clinical reasoning, and the use of test-enhanced learning.
Dr Tan, with Dr Kevin Tan, runs the Neurology Education Research Division of NNI Neurology. This research group has received a medical education research award from Duke-NUS, and two awards for their education research at the Asia-Pacific Medical Education Conference. The group has also published neurology education research in Medical Education, BMC Medical Education, and European Journal of Neurology, and frequently collaborates with fellow educators both in Singapore and overseas.
