Profile
Prof EK Tan is a Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Academic Affairs) and Senior Consultant Neurologist at the National Neuroscience Institute, a Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (a joint initiative with Imperial College London).
Prof Tan is an editor of European Journal of Neurology, Parkinsonism Related Disorders and Parkinson’s disease Journal and has served in various committees in the International Movement Disorders Society (MDS) and a founding member of the MDS Asian Oceanic Section.
Prof Tan's clinical interest is in the care of patients with neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and other related disorders. He also runs a botulinum toxin clinics managing patients with various neurological disorders including migraines, dystonias, spasticity, facial spasm, etc
Prof Tan’s research interests include clinical and neuroimaging studies, functional genomics and experimental therapeutics in Movement Disorders.
Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships
- Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Academic Affairs), National Neuroscience Institute
- Senior Consultant, Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute (NNI@SGH)
- Academic Deputy Chair, Academic Affairs, SingHealth Duke-NUS Neuroscience Academic Clinical Programme
- Professor, Neuroscience & Behavioural Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School
- Professor, Division of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS
- Honorary Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
- Co director, USA National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence
- Guest Professor, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- Associate Designated Institution Officer (ADIO) for Residency, Singhealth
- Honorary Secretary, Clinical Neuroscience Society of Singapore, 2004-present
- Executive Steering committee, Asian-Oceanic section, International Movement Disorders Society, 2005-7
- Chairman, Parkinson’s Disease Clinical Pathway Team, SGH, 2004
- Coordinator, NNI sub-committee for research (NNI@SGH), 2003
- Member, Pharmacy Naming committee, SGH, 2000/2
- Member, SingHealth PET Tender committee, 2002
- Executive Member, Clinical Neuroscience Society, 2001/3
- Executive Member, Parkinson’s Disease Society, Singapore, 2000-presen
- Member, Organising Committee of 2nd ASEAN Neurological Association Neurology Convention, 1997.
- Member, Organising Committee of SGH Brain Centre Function, 1995.
- Member, Committee of SGH Parkinson’s Disease Support Group, 1995-present
- Member, Executive committee of National Parkinson’s Disease Society, 1997/98
- Member, SGH Rehabilitation committee, 1996/7
- Member, Bishan Health Fair committee, 2000
- Member, MCD/SGH Health Screening for the Elderly committee, April 2000
- Co-chairman, 1st International PD and Movement Disorder Symposium, Feb 2002
- Chairman, SGH PD GP Shared Care committee, July 2002
- Vice-chairman, 2nd International PD and Movement Disorder Symposium Dec, 2003
- Organising Chairman, 3rd International PD and Movement Disorder Symposium, 2005
- Organising Chairman, Movement Disorders Subcommittee, Asian Oceanian Congress of Neurology, 2004
- Central organizing committee member, Asian Oceanian Congress of Neurology, 2004
- Chairman, National PD Public Forum committee, 2004
- Member, Scientific Issues Committee, International Movement Disorders Society, 2007-present
- Member, Ministry of Health SAB Research committee, 2007
- Chairman of the scientific committee and co-chair organising committee for the International AOPMC meeting, 2007
- Scientific co-chair for the 41st Malaysian-Singapore Congress, 2007
- Chairman, innovation and advances in medicine, 41st Malaysian-Singapore Congress in 2007
- Chairman, Research Committee, National Neuroscience Institute, 2007-2008
- Director, Research National Neuroscience Institute, 2010-current
- Member, Interim Steering Committee, ASTAR-Duke Partnership on Neuroscience, 2008-9
- Selection committee, SingHealth Clinician Sciention committee, NRF-MOH Research Scholarship (PhD), NMRC Fellowship Awards, 2008
- Selection panel, Khoos Awards Review Committee, GMS-NUS, 2008
- Executive committee, International Movement Disorders Society (AOS), 2007 – 2013
- Member, Scientific Issues committee, International Movement Disorders Society, 2007 – 2013
- Member, Duke - NUS Graduate Medical School Admissions Committee, 2008 – 2013
- Member, Duke - NUS Graduate Medical School Interview Panel, 2008 – current
- Member, Duke- NUS Khoo Infrastructure Award (KIA) Oversight Committee, 2009 – 2013
- Member, National medical Research Council New Investigator Grants Committee, 2009 – current
- Member, Biomedical Research Council Translational Grants Committee, 2009 – 2012
- Member, Committee, Clinician Career Model (Research), Singhealth, 2010
- Council Member, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 2010 – present
- Abstract reviewer, 136th American Neurological Association Meeting, 2011
- Treasurer elect, International Movement Disorders Society (AOS) 2011
- Member, Committee, Parkinson’s disease Research group, World Federation of Neurology, 2011 – present
- Chairman, Ministry of Health Accreditation of Mentors, Research Units, 2011 – present
- Member, NMRC, Clinician Scientist Unit, 2011
- Chairman, Chapter of Clinician Scientist, Academy of Medicine, 2012 – 2015
- Member NMRC ASTAR Bench and Bedside Review Panel, 2012 – 2016
- Member, Congress Scientific Program Committee, International Movement Disorders Society, 2012 – present
- Member, ASTAR NRF Healthcare Expert Panel, 2013 – 2015
- Academic Vice chair, SingHealth Neuroscience Academic Clinical Programme, 2012 – present
- Member, NMRC Awards organising committee, 2014 – present
- Member, Genome Institute of Singapore Platform Oversight Committee, 2015 – present
- Member, National Health and Biomedical Sciences Open Fund Sub Committee, 2015 – present
- Member, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Search Committee for Professor of Anatomy, 2015
- Associate Faculty (Senior Group Leader), Genome Institute of Singapore, GIS Partnership Programme, 2015 – 2019
- Advisory Panel, Singapore General Hospital Research, 2015 – present
- Advisory Panel, Centre for Aging Research and Education (CARE), Duke-NUS, 2015 – present
- Member, Continuing Medical Education (CME) Panel, International Movement Disorders Society, 2015 – present
- Member, International Dystonia Task Force, International Movement Disorders Society, 2015 – present
- Member, International Tremor Task Force, International Movement Disorders Society, 2015 – present
- Member, Clinical Research Committee, SGH Department of Clinical Research, 2016 - present
- Member, Working Committee for Strategic Thrust #2 “Identify, Develop and Retain Clinician Scientists, Basic Scientists and Research Professionals”, 2016 – present
- Clinical Advisory Committee, MOH Chronic Disease Management Programme, 2016 – 2019
- Chairman, National Neuroscience and Sensory Disorders Task Force, 2016 – present
- Chairman, NMRC ASTAR Bench and Bedside Review Panel, 2016 – present
- Advisor, SingHealth Duke-NUS Health Services Research, 2016
- Member, Strategic Planning Committee, International Association Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 2017 – present
- Member, Congress Proceedings Committee, International Association Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 2017 – present
- Co-chairman, Open Fund IRG Panel 2016-present
- Vice-Chairman SAB Research Committee, 2015-present
- Chairman Research Training Review Panel MOH 2016-present
- Associate Designated Institutional Official, Singhealth Residency 2014-presentCo-chairman, NMRC Research Training Review Panel 2015-present
- Director, Research, National Neuroscience Institute, 2010-2021
View More +
Education
- Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh, United Kingdom), 2006
- Fellow, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 2000
- United States Medical Licensing Examination (United States), 1997
- Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians (United Kingdom), 1995
- Designated Factory Doctor Diploma (Ministry of Health), 1992
- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (National University of Singapore), 1989
View More +
Awards
- AOS Ambassador for the 3rd Taiwan International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, 2016
- SingHealth Duke-NUS Research Team Award, 1st Prize, 2017
- Distinguished Member, Japanese Society of Neurology 2016
- Yoshikuni Mizuno Award, International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society – Asian and Oceanian Section (MDS-AOS) 2016
- SingHealth Distinguished Team award 2015
- STaR Investigator award 2014
- SingHealth Distinguished Researcher Award 2011
- National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award 2011
- Ministry of Health HMDP clinical fellowship Award in Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders 1998/1999.
- National Medical Research Council-Singapore Totalisator Board Medical Research Fellowship Award in Neurogenetics 1999.
- Commendation for outstanding performance, Baylor College of Medicine, USA 1999
- Singapore General Hospital Excellent Publication Award (Gold) 2001
- Singapore General Hospital Clinician Scientist Award 2002
- National Medical Research Council and Biomedical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award 2005
- SingHealth Excellent Researcher Award 2005
- National Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award 2008
- Duke NUS Khoo Investigator Excellence Award 2008
- Singapore General Hospital Service Quality Excellence Award 2010
- Elected Member, American Neurological Association, 2010
View More +
Research Studies
- Principal Investigator. A multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-and Entacapone-controlled, parallel group study of the Efficacy, Safety and tolerability of E2007 (an AMPA antagonist) in levodopa treated Parkinson’s disease patients with motor fluctuations. (PI; funded by Eisai; 2007-).
- Principal Investigator. A Phase 2, 12-week, double-blind, dose-finding, placebo- controlled study to assess the efficacy and safety of a range of SCH 420814 doses (1mg BD, 2mg BD, 5mg BD, and possibly 10mg BD) in subjects with moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease experiencing motor fluctuations and dyskinesias. (PI; funded by Schering Plough; 2007 -)
- Principal Investigator. A randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 18-month study of the efficacy of Xaliproden trial in patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (PI; funded by Sanofi-aventis 2007-present)
- Principal Investigator. A trial of vitamin therapy in the prevention of dementia and cognitive deterioration following stroke. BMRC(till 2010)
- Principal Investigator. Rivastigmine In Vascular cognitive impairment (RIVIVE) A 24-week prospective, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study of 9 mg/day Rivastigmine in patients with Vascular Cognitive Impairment Not Dementia to evaluate efficacy, safety and tolerability in Asian patients. (till 2010)
View More +
Publications
- Midbrain-like organoids from human pluripotent stem cells contain functional dopaminergic and neuromelanin-producing neurons. Jo J, Xiao Y, Sun AX, Cukuroglu E, Tran HD, Goke J, Tan ZY, Saw TY, Tan CP, Lokman H, Lee Y, Kim D, Ko HS, Kim SO, Park JH, Cho NJ, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Shin JH, Weinberger DR, Tan EK, Je HS, Ng HH. Cell Stem Cell. 2016 Aug 4; 19(2):248-57.
- Amyloid precursor protein regulates neurogenesis by antagonizing miR-574-5p in the developing cerebral cortex. Zhang W, Selvaratnam T, Kim PJ, Yu WP, Je SH, Tan EK, Zeng L. Nat Commun. 2014 Mar 3;5:3330.
- Genetics: Utility of next-generation sequencing in ataxias. Tan EK. Nat Rev Neurol. 2013 Nov;9(11):614-5.
- SLC1A2 variant associated with essential tremor but not Parkinson disease in Chinese subjects. Tan EK, Foo JN, Tan L, Au WL, Prakash KM, Ng E, Ikram MK, Wong TY, Liu JJ, Zhao Y. Neurology. 2013 Apr 23;80(17):1618-9.
- Rare and common LRRK2 exonic variants in Parkinson's disease. Tan EK. Lancet Neurology. 2011 Oct; 10(10):869-70.
- Nonsynonymous variants in MC1R are rare in Chinese Parkinson disease cases. Foo JN et al. Ann Neurol. 2015 Jul;89(1):152-3.
- A sensitive two-photon probe to selectively detect monoamine oxidase B activity in Parkinson's disease models. Li L, Zhang CW, Chen GY, Zhu B, Chai C, Xu QH, Tan EK, Zhu Q, Lim KL, Yao SQ. Nat Commun. 2014;5:3276.
- Thiol peroxidases ameliorate LRRK2 mutant-induced mitochondrial and dopaminergic neuronal degeneration in Drosophila. Angeles DC, Ho P, Chua LL, Wang C, Yap YW, Ng C, Zhou ZD, Lim KL, Wszolek ZK, Wang HY, Tan EK. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Jun 15;23(12):3157-65.
- Multicenter Analysis of Glucocerebrosidase Mutations with Parkinson’s disease. E. Sidransky et al. New England Journal Medicine 2009;361:1651-6.
- Collaborative analysis of alpha-synuclein gene promoter variability and Parkinson disease. Maraganore DM et al. JAMA. 2006;296(6):661-70.
View More +
