Dr. Chang Kin Yong Stephen

Adj Associate Professor Stephen Chang is the founding President of the Hepatopancreatobiliary Association of Singapore. He graduated with MBBS in 1994 and obtained his Master of Medicine in Surgery in 2000 from the National University of Singapore and having obtained his Fellowship in Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2003, went on to further training in Laparoscopic Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation in Paris, France. He is a key developer of the laparoscopic approach to Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery in this region and is also active in developing the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program in Singapore.

He is the pioneer of the Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery and was the first among the first in the world to publish his experience in single incision laparoscopic gall bladder surgery, liver resection and pancreas resection. To date, he has more than 500 patients operated through this technique and is actively sharing his expertise in the region and world-wide.

Academically, A/Prof Chang has several research interests involving not only clinical research but also basic science and Medtech development. He is presently holding/ held numerous research grant awards totally more than S$7 million to develop new surgical techniques and treatment modalities through medical technological initiatives. He has almost a hundred publication in both clinical and Medtech research and has since filed five patents in these areas. With these endeavors, he hope to contribute towards improving the care of our future patients.

Sub-speciality practice interest:  

1. Laparoscopic Surgery
2. Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery
3. Management of Gall Bladder, Liver and Pancreas Diseases
4. Liver Transplantation

Academic Awards

1. 2004 Health Manpower Development Programme Award (Hepatopancreaticobiliary and Laparoscopic Surgery), Hospital Henri Mondor, Creteil, Paris – Prof Daniel Cherqui, Hospital Beaujon, Clichy, Paris – Prof Jacques Belghiti, Hospital Paul Brousse, Villejuif Paris – Prof Rene Adam, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris – Prof Brice Gayet, Imperial College London, Hammersmith – Prof Nagy Habib
2. 2010 Health Manpower Development Programme Award (Team-Based) – (Multi-organ Transplant), Toronto General Hospital, Canada

Research – Scientific Award

1. Best Innovation in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications (NI ASEAN GSD Achievement Awards 2011)
2. Grants Awarded (Total Sum – S$7,123,467.23)
3. Cord-stem cell Application for Regeneration Enhancement (CARE) (May 2011-Nov 2013) ($200,000.00), NMRC Exploratory/ Development Grant (EDG). Principal Investigator
4. Cryopreserved cadaveric vascular grafts: Studying the long term effects of Cryopreservation (2007 – 2012) (S$166,000.00), NMRC New Investigator Grant. Principal Investigator.
5. Development of an Ablation and Division Device with blood- flow sensor feature (10/7/2008-31/7/2010) (S$150,000.00),NMRC Exploratory/ Development Grant. Principal Investigator.
6. Liver progenitor cells in chronic liver injury – a potential source of autologous cells for liver tissue engineering (S$124,000.00), NMRC New Investigator Grant. Co-Investigator.
7. Simulation-based design, development and experiment of augmented reality surgery (S $177,000.00),Faculty Research Committee Start-up Grant. Collaborator
8. Characterization of anisotropic healthy, pathological and ablated liver tissue using quantitative MR elastography (S$68,000.00), JSPS-NUS Joint Research Project. Co- Investigator.
9. Image-guided Robot Assisted Surgical training (2008 – 2011) (S$ 575,790.00), SERC. Principal Medical Investigator
10. Phase III Multi-Centre Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial Of Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) Versus Sorafenib In Locally Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (SIRveNIB) (AHCC06) (4/10/2010 – 28/4/2015) ($48,000.00),Principal Investigator
11. Clinician Investigator Salary Support Programme (CISSP) (Dec 2010-April 2015) (S$530,999.23)
12. Biocompatible Real-time Implantable Close-loop Glucose-control System (BRICGS) (1/1/2011 – 31/12/2012) (S$450,000.00), SCEI. Principal Medical Investigator
13. Image Guided Robotic Assisted Surgical Training (IRAS) (Jan 2011-June 2013) (S$1,341,190.00), SCEI. Clinical Principal Investigator
14. Robotic-Assisted Training for Basic Laparoscopic Skills – A novel teaching tool (Sept 2012 – Mar 2014) (S$9,000.00), NUHS Innovation and Creativity in Education (NICE) Fund. Principal Project Manager
15. Image and model-based human-robot collaborative system for large liver tumor ablation – (1 April 2013 – 31 March 2016) (S$ 298,500), SINGAPORE – CHINA 9TH JOINT RESEARCH PROGRAMME (SG-CN JRP) GRANT CALL 2012. Medical Principal Investigator
16. Pre-clinical validation for first in manby the Ablation and Division Device with blood flow sensor (ADD) – (14 August 2014 – 13 August 2015) (S$ 245,938), NRF POC 2014. Principal Investigator
17. Transcutaneous Robot-assisted Ablation-device Insertion Navigation System (TRAINS) – (15 October 2014 – 15 April 2016) ($439,050), BEP 2013 Grant Call. Lead Clinical Co-Principal Investigator
18. Clinical Validation (First-in-man) of the Ablation and Division Device with blood flow sensor (ADD) – (1 Mar 2015 -28 Feb 2017) ($150,000.00), NUHS Clinician Research Grant FY14
19. The Eradication of Chronic Hepatitis B – (Dec 2014 – Dec 2019) ($1mil), TCR Grant. Co-PI
20. Integrated Identification and Characterisation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Subtypes for Enhanced Personalised Medical Diagnosis and Treatment – (16 Feb 2015 – 15 Feb 2017) ($1mil), Yong Siew Yoon Research Grant. Co-I
21. Epigenetic Approach to Treating MYC-driven Hepatic Tumors – (1 Mar 2015 -28 Feb 2017) ($150,000.00), Seed Fund for Basic Science Research Grant.

Clinical Trials

1. TS-103- A Phase III Clinical Trial of Intra-arterial TheraSphere in the Treatment of Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC): STOP-HCC, BTG sponsor 2015
2. A phase III, placebo-controlled, multi-center, randomized, double-blinded trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of K-333 (peretinoin) in patients with complete cure of hepatocellular carcinoma in Asia, KOWA sponsor 2015-2018
3. TS-102 -A Phase III Clinical Trial Evaluating TheraSphere® in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma of the Liver who have Failed First Line Chemotherapy, BTG sponsor 2015
4. A prospective, randomized, controlled trial to compare CT guided percutaneous drainage vs laparoscopic drainage of the liver abscess, BRAIN Fund
5. AHCC06 – Phase III Multi-Centre Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial Of Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) Versus Sorafenib In Locally Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (SIRveNIB), NMRC 2010-2015