DERMA
DIGEST
Dedicated To Excellence In Dermatology and Venereology
Vol 65 Issue No.5 • SEP/OCT 2015 MCI (P) 091/09/2015
NSC Update 2015
Dr Tey Hong Liang, Consultant
(Left) Senior Consultant and Medical Advisor Prof Roy Chan
Senior Consultant Prof Goh Chee Leok delivering his talk titled ‘Is
giving the audience an update on HIV Prevention and Treatment. There a Need for Regulation in Aesthetic Dermatology?’
(Right) NSC Director A/Prof Tan Suat Hoon presenting a token
of appreciation to invited guest speaker Prof Sean Whittaker.
A captivated
full house
on the first
day of the
conference
NSC Updates in Dermatology and Venereology 2015 was held on the 5th and 6th of
September 2015 at the Mandarin Orchard
Hotel, Singapore. The biennial conference
embodied a comprehensive range of topics in dermato-venereology – from basic
sciences, to practical approaches towards
clinical problems, as well as future direction
of the specialty. There were approximately
450 attendees - comprising of clinicians,
researchers, nurses and pharmacists from
many countries.
For this year’s event, four pre-conferences
were held at the National Skin Centre on
3rd September, with topics focusing on Dermatopathology, Urticaria and Dermatologic
Surgery. The main event consisted of seven
symposia of different themes, three plenary
lectures, and a session for Dermatology
trainees to showcase their work. In addition,
two other symposium, one each for Pharmacists and Nurses were held concurrently
on Day One.
The first symposium of the conference
focused on the potential of new bioengineering technology and the ways they can
improve our dermatological practice. The
second symposium had experts in Paediatric dermatology providing an up-to-date and
informative series of lectures. In the third
symposium on diagnostic and assessment
tools in Dermatology, attendees gained a
deeper insight into the evaluation techniques used in our subspecialty clinics. The
fourth symposium was on sexually transmitted infections (STI) where our experts
shed light on the latest advancements in the
field of venereology. The fifth symposium
was particularly relevant to the clinicians in
the audience as it focused on the common
issues and challenges faced in day-to-day
practice, providing participants with clinical pearls and pitfalls. The sixth symposium
was focused on skin cancers, and the last
featured the developments in dermatological surgery and lasers.
This year, we were honoured to have our invited guest speaker, Prof. Sean Whittaker, a
consultant dermatologist at the Guy’s and St
Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and a Professor of Cutaneous Oncology at King’s College, London. He delivered the plenary lecture, entitled “Dermatology 2020”, in which
he provided an overview on the evolution of
dermatology over the past two decades and
opined on the future challenges.
Prof Whittaker was also impressed with the
conference and found it to be of “high quality
educational material”. He said, “I thought it
to be perfectly pitched to an audience that
is a mix of both medical and non-medical
professionals.”
Conference participants milling in the pharmaceutical exhibition during tea break.
Attendees to the conference have also provided similarly positive feedback on their
fruitful experience, proving NSC Update in
Dermatology and Venereology 2015 to be
another success.
NSC News
NSC Public Forum 2015 – Be Clear About Rashes
Nathalie Ng, Corporate Communications Executive
The recent haze did not deter our participants from coming down to the Grassroots
Club from 2 to 5 pm for this year’s National
Skin Centre’s Public Forum – both English
and Mandarin - conducted by NSC doctors.
Aptly titled ‘Be Clear About Rashes’, this
year’s forums concentrated on common
adult rashes and theit treatments. The afternoon sessions saw our doctors clearing
up some commonly held misconceptions of
certain skin conditions.
The English forum, chaired by Senior Consultant Dr Anthony Goon, delved into commonly
held misconceptions of various rashes, how
to differentiate its symptoms, and
the importance of accurate clinical diagnosis in treating them
effectively. Concomitantly, at
the Mandarin forum, which was
chaired by Senior Consultant Dr
Leow Yung Hian, the speakers
gave the audience an educational walkthrough on the various
types of pigmentation and their
treatments.
It was an afternoon of fun and
learning as members of the public enjoyed
the various talks and engaged in lively Q&A
sessions with the doctors.
Participants from both forums milled
around the sponsors’ booth during the tea
break.
A/Prof Steven Thng receives Singapore Clinician-Investigator Award at SHBC
Sunanthar Lu, Corporate Communications Executive
Senior Consultant A/Prof Steven Thng
receiving his award from the Minister for
Health Mr Gan Kim Yong.
A/Prof Steven Thng, Senior Consultant was
presented with the top Singapore ClinicianInvestigator Award at the Singapore Health
and Biomedical Congress, held on 2-3 October 2015. For nearly 70% of vitiligo patients,
twice-weekly phototherapy sessions of up to
10 minutes each can improve the condition
within six months but many patients do not
follow through with regular treatment due
to the time taken to visit NSC. A/Prof Thng’s
solution was to re-purpose a smaller, portable machine that uses ultraviolet light and
loan it to vitiligo patients to take home. Patients have to use the machine for longer thrice a week instead of twice - as the light
is less powerful than it would be in a clinic.
However, it saves them the time and cost of
coming to NSC for treatment.
A/Prof Thng performed a study of 44 patients and found that seven in 10 of those
who underwent the regular institution treatment followed through, with the rest stopping halfway or going to the NSC only once
a week. For the home phototherapy group,
nine in 10 complied with the prescribed
treatment sessions, 70% of those who
went through the home treatment showed
at least a 50% improvement in skin colour,
compared with about half for the other
group. Congratulations A/Prof Thng on your
well-deserved award!
Excellence In Action Award (EIAA) – Exemplary Patient Award Winner
Mr Wong Foot Keng: It has been a long but rewarding journey
Nathalie Ng, Corporate Communications Executive
Mr Wong Foot Keng, the
winner of EIAA’s Exemplary
Patient Award.
Mr Wong Foot Keng’s journey with the National
Skin Centre spans over 15 years, and today, he
counts the doctors and nurses here as “close
friends”. Since his first visit back in 2000, Mr Wong
has not only cultivated strong relationships with the
medical staff here, he has also tirelessly volunteered
his time and effort for the Psoriasis Association.
Now, he is the Vice-President of the association and
helps in organising activities and educational talks
to raise awareness for the disease.
It is thus not surprising that the altruistic 66-yearold was awarded the Exemplary Patient Award in
this year’s NHG Quality Day Awards. Nurse Clini-
DERMA DIGEST • Vol 65 Issue 5 • SEP / OCT 2015
cian Sister Tan Yoke Choo, who knew Mr Wong
since his early days as an NSC patient, finds him
to be a “genuinely caring” man. She said, “He is
ever willing to lend a hand when approached, and
does not expect anything in return.”
Mr Wong, who is now actively involved in setting
up and running of homes for abandoned children
and orphans in Thailand, credits his award to
the support he has received over the years from
the Centre’s staff. “Their kindness and support
allowed me to open up about my condition and
made this journey a very rewarding one,” he said.
Education and Training
HMDP Report
Associate Consultant Dr Ker Khor Jia
in Philadelphia, USA
HMDP - In the clinic with my
mentor in Immunodermatology
Dr Victoria Werth.
My six-month fellowship started from 1
March 2015 to 31 August 2015 in Philadelphia, USA at two tertiary institutions. At the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania,
I trained in Immunodermatology with Dr
Victoria Werth and at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, I trained in Paediatric
Dermatology with Dr Albert Yan.
Dr Victoria Werth’s clinical and research
interests are in cutaneous lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis and blistering
diseases. I had the opportunity to join her
in the clinics and work with her on several
research projects. She has a particularly
busy clinic every week which runs for 12
continuous hours where highly complicated
cases are referred to her. I appreciated the
chance to observe how patients are counselled on complex medical conditions and
how they are recruited into clinical trials
and databases for research purposes. It
was a wonderful learning experience to
be able to work with Dr Werth, who is one
of the world’s leading experts in this field.
During my fellowship, I also managed to
join other interesting clinics in the department, such as sarcoid clinic, graft-versushost-disease (GVHD) clinic, nail and vasculitis clinic.
I spent time at The Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, department of paediatric
dermatology, where I joined the outpatient
clinics, inpatient consults, as well as laser
and surgery suites. A lot of knowledge was
gained during my fellowship due to the
wide variety of cases seen in the department, such as vascular malformations,
skin infections, genodermatoses, juvenile
autoimmune connective tissue disorders
and atopic dermatitis. My fellowship also
included rotations through Genetics and
Metabolic clinic, Allergy and Immunology,
and Plastic surgery clinic, where I saw patients with rare genetic diseases, immunodeficiencies, and those presenting for surgery for congenital melanocytic naevi and
vascular malformations.
I have benefited greatly from this fellowship and it has been a busy but fulfilling 6
months. I hope that with my experience, I
would be able to improve clinical services
in the specialities of Immunodermatology
and Paediatric Dermatology, explore the
possibility of setting up a database of patients with cutaneous lupus and dermatomyositis and looking into the feasibility of
initiation of oral propranolol in infants with
infantile haemangioma in NSC.
Clinical Nursing Professor Steven Ersser
from University of Leeds visits NSC
Brenda Lim, Head of Nursing
On 23 September, NSC Director A/Prof Tan
Suat Hoon and the Centre’ nursing team
welcomed Professor Steven Ersser, who is
the Dane Kathleen Raven Chair in Clinical
Nursing at the School of Healthcare in University of Leeds*.
During his visit, Prof Ersser introduced
our nursing team to a new tool named the
Person-Centred Dermatology Self-Care Index (PeDeSi). The PeDeSi, which was jointly
developed by him, measures the needs of
patients with long-term skin conditions.
Head of Nursing Ms Brenda Lim found the
use of the PeDeSi promising in helping to
elevate patient care in NSC. She said “We
will study the use of the PeDeSi on our local patients and how we can integrate this
tool into our current care delivery system
to better address the support needs of our
patients with long term skin conditions.”
A collaborative study among the institutions - National Skin Centre, National University of Singapore, University of Leeds
(From middle left) Coordinator of Graduate Research Programmes in Nursing (YLLSoM)
Prof Karis Cheng, NSC Director A/Prof Tan Suat Hoon (in white coat), Prof Steven Ersser,
Head of Nursing Ms Brenda Lim, together with our nursing team.
and University of Hull - on the use of PeDeSi to address the need of Asian patients
with long term skin conditions is expected
to take place in year 2016.
*This session was made possible with the
kind support of Professor Karis Cheng,
Coordinator of Graduate Research Programmes in Nursing, Alice Lee Centre for
Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of
Medicine, and the National University of
Singapore.
DERMA DIGEST • Vol 65 Issue 5 • SEP / OCT 2015
Staff News
Asia Fellowship Tour to DSC Clinic
James Foong, Education Officer
Head of DSC Clinic,
Senior Consultant
Dr Martin Chio
(seated) with
journalists
across Asia, who
are part of the
Asia Journalism
Fellowship.
On 19 August, a group of 14 visiting journalists from countries
across Asia visited the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control (DSC) Clinic and were briefed by the Head of DSC
Clinic, Senior Consultant Dr Martin Chio on STI trends and some
of the outreach programmes conducted by DSC for at-risk groups.
They were part of the Asia Journalism Fellowship that is jointly run
by Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University’s
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.
Their visit to the DSC Clinic is a first for the programme, which has
been ongoing for seven years.
The journalists also attended the Safe Sex Show organised by Action for Aids. Programme co-director Alan John, who was a volunteer at the anonymous testing clinic some years ago, included this
item in the programme as he wanted the participants “to understand Singapore’s practical approaches to dealing with STIs and to
get an understanding of the excellent work AfA has been doing for
so many years”.
The journalists found the visit very educational. Mr John said,
“Many of the participants said afterwards it an eye-opening experience, and appreciated seeing a different side of Singapore.”
NHG Teaching Excellence Awards
Medical Appointments/
Promotions
Three of our staff have been awarded the NHG Teaching Excellence Awards 2015
for their commitment to teaching excellence and in promoting medical education.
We congratulate the following staff for their well-deserved recognition awards:
NHG Outstanding
Nurse Teachers
2015
NHG Teaching Award
for Nursing Preceptors
2015
NHG Teaching Award
for Pharmacy Senior
Preceptor 2015
A/Prof Chong Wei
Sheng
From Senior
Consultant to
Adjunct Associate
Professor
With effect from
1 July 2015
Dr Chuah Sai Yee
Sister Tan Yoke Choo,
Nurse Clinician,
Phototherapy
Mr Mohd Adnan
Bin Mahmud,
Nurse Clinician,
DSC
Ms Elizabeth Tian,
Manager,
Pharmacy Practice
From Associate
Consultant to
Consultant
With effect from
1 September 2015
Go Green with NSC – Read your Derm Digest online. Help us conserve the environment by viewing our Dermadigest online, instead of
receiving them in print. Send your request to pr@nsc.com.sg and be notified for our latest online issue via email.
National Skin Centre 1 Mandalay Road Singapore 308205 | Website: www.nsc.com.sg | www.facebook.com/NationalSkinCentre
Appointment
Tel: 6350 6666
Fax: 6258 2475
Recorded General Information
Tel: 6350 6680
For NSC Internet Appointment
Booking, please login to
www.nsc.com.sg
DERMA DIGEST • Vol 65 Issue 5 • SEP / OCT 2015
Editorial: Ms Nathalie Ng
Advisors: Clinical A/Prof Tan Suat Hoon, Mrs Tang Lee Foon
This is an in-house publication for staff information only. Contents can be
quoted or reproduced with permission of National Skin Centre (S) Pte Ltd.
Designed and Printed by : Ease Communications