Rachel Teo Zui Chih

Dr Rachel Teo is a renal physician who sub-specialises in kidney transplantation, in addition to managing patients with chronic kidney disease and patients requiring dialysis treatment.

Dr Teo underwent education in Australia graduated with BMedSc and MBBS (Hons) from University of Sydney in 2002 and 2006 respectively, with award of the academically credited International Merit scholarship over the course of her study. She went on to complete physician training in general medicine and Renal Medicine and was granted Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Before returning to Singapore in 2015, Dr Teo worked in various tertiary hospitals in Sydney with busy acute transplant units, where she developed a keen interest and pursued further training to become well versed in kidney transplantation.

Prior to private practice, Dr Teo worked in NUH where, in addition to nephrology, she was in charge of the deceased donor kidney transplantation program in the transplant unit. Dr Teo providing care to pre and post transplant patients while maintaining a keen research interest with several publications in kidney transplantation. She is also a reviewer for international peer reviewed transplant journals. Dr Teo served as an executive committee member of the Society of Organ Transplantation, Singapore until 2021, and continues to be a member of the Australasian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology.

In addition to clinical work, Dr Teo also advocates for excellence in quality of clinical care and patient safety. During her time at NUH, she was the patient safety officer responsible for morbidity and mortality reviews, peer review learning and hospital safety audits, receiving recognition and merit awards for quality improvement projects, as well as the excellence award for the value driven outcomes project.

Following her tenure at NUH, Dr Teo has turned her efforts towards preventive medicine, targeting the rising tide of kidney failure in Singapore. During her time at NKF over 2 years, in addition to providing care for patients on dialysis treatment, she ran the chronic kidney disease intervention clinic, focusing on screening and education of the public at risk for kidney disease, with the aim of early detection and treatment of diabetes and hypertension to prevent and delay progression to kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease, kidney transplantation glomerular diseases, dialysis

Sucroferric oxyhydroxide use in patients on haemodialysis – real world experience from an Asian cohort. R Teo, A Ng, V See, H Yan, T Singh, B Khan. Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare. 32: 1-5.

Multi-photon Microscopy for the Evaluation of Interstitial Fibrosis in Extended Criteria Donor

Kidneys: A Proof-of-Concept Study. WZ So et al. Clin Transplant Aug 2022; 36(8): e14717

Health Economics of Kidney Replacement Therapy in Singapore: Taking Stock and Looking

Ahead. BA Khan, T Singh, ALC Ng, RZC Teo. Ann Acad Med Singapore, April 2022; 51(4):236-240.

Implementation of Exercise Therapy in Kidney Failure. RZC Teo, D Kaur, D Ong, T Singh, BA Khan. RSAJ March 2022, 18(1):9-14.

Multi-photon Microscopy for the Evaluation of Interstitial Fibrosis in Extended Criteria Donor Kidneys: A Proof-of-Concept Study. WZ So et al. (Preprint) Nov 2021

D Yi, A Vathsala, RZC Teo. Invasive Fungal Infection by Volvariella volvacea: First reported case following solid organ transplantation and a unique therapeutic approach. Transpl Infect Dis July 2021; 23(4).

ZY Chang, PA Tambyah, LHW Lum, A Vathsala, ZC Teo. Tailoring Management and Immunosuppression Regimen in Kidney Transplant Recipients with COVID-19 Infection – Lessons from Singapore. SMJ June 2021.

Yue Gu et al. Defining the structural basis for human leukocyte antigen reactivity in clinical transplantation. Scientific Reports (Open access), October 2020.

Yue Gu et al. Defining the structural basis for human alloantibody binding to human leukocyte antigen allele HLA-A*11:01. Nature Communications (Open access) February 2019.

C1q Assay to Determine Complement Fixing Ability of Anti-HLA Antibodies, but not Immunoglobulin Subclass Identification, Allows Better Prediction of Kidney Allograft Outcomes in an Asian Population. Transplantation July 2018; 102 (Supp. 7): S88

Outcomes of Weight-based Dosing of Mycophenolic Acid in Kidney Transplant Recipients on Tacrolimus. Nephrology 2016; 21 (Supp.2): 150-280

R Teo, G Wong, G Russ, W Lim. Cell-Mediated and Humoral Acute Vascular Rejection and Graft Loss – A Registry Study. Nephrology Feb 2016; 21(2): 147-155

Lim WH, Lewis JR, Wong G, Teo R, Lim EM, Byrnes E, Prince RL. Serum Neutrophil Gelatinase-associated Lipocalin and Kidney Function Decline and Kidney Disease-related Clinical Events in Older Women. Am J Nephrol 2015; 41(2): 156-164

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

International Merit Scholarship, University of Sydney 2001-2004

Basic and Clinical Sciences Theme Prize – John Harris Scholarship 2004

2015 – Current     Royal Australasian College of Physicians – Fellow

2012 – Current     Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology

2016 – 2021         Society of Transplantation, Singapore