Dr Tan Yat Harn Daniel

Dr Daniel Tan Yat Harn is a radiation oncologist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital and Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore.

His clinical interests are in the management of the central nervous system (brain and spine) tumours, prostate and breast cancers.

He specialises in the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS/SBRT) and advanced radiation technologies to treat complex cancers.

Prior to entering private practice, Dr Tan was a consultant radiation oncologist in the division of radiation oncology at National Cancer Centre Singapore, where he led the development of the SRS and SBRT programmes in Singapore for various organ sites.

After graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2002, Dr Tan underwent specialist training at the National Cancer Center Singapore (NCCS) and was awarded a Health Manpower Development (HMDP) award by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2008 for training in clinical oncology.

He obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists in the UK (FRCR) in clinical oncology in 2011 and was given another HMDP Award for training in brachytherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery and body irradiation (SRS/SBRT) in 2012. Dr Tan was admitted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Singapore (Radiation Oncology) in 2012.

His subspecialty training was with a focus on neurooncology at international premier centres, including Proton Therapy at University of Pennsylvania’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center in USA, Spine Radiosurgery at Princess Margaret Hospital and Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, and Advanced Radiation Technologies at Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital in Japan.

Dr Tan’s research interests were in the evaluation of the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in benign and malignant tumours of the brain, spine and body. Together with his mentors, he developed the Novalis Brain Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and subsequently developed the Novalis Spine Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program after returning from abroad.

Dr Tan was the national project coordinator for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) healthcare project 6065 involving efforts to train and develop SBRT, an advanced radiation technique, in countries within the Asia-Pacific Region. He was course director for the inaugural regional SBRT training course in 2012 and in 2014 he was invited to IAEA as an expert consultant for preparation of phase 2 of the project.

Dr Tan’s work has been presented at major international conferences, and he has written and published in research journals on the subjects of neuro-oncology, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). He is frequently invited to speak these subjects in regional meetings.

In NCCS, Dr Tan held the appointments of co-chairperson of the Neuro-Oncology Cancer Service Line Development workgroup as well as clinical lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS. Dr Tan also served as an executive committee member of the Singapore Radiological Society and council member of the College of Radiology Singapore. He was organising chairman of their 24th Annual Scientific Meeting and the event Radiology Asia 2015. In 2015, he founded the Asian American Radiation & Oncology (AARO) with a mission to provide subspecialised radiation oncology services in the private sector, aligning with the practice of leading international cancer centers, where specialists devote their practice to specific cancers and procedures so as to achieve clinical excellence.