Adjunct A/Professor Hee Hwan Tak

Adjunct Associate Professor Hee Hwan Tak Adjunct A/Professor Hee Hwan Tak

MBBS (Singapore), FRCS (Edinburgh), FRCS (Glasgow), FAMS (Orth)

Introduction

Dr Hee Hwan Tak is an Adjunct Associate Professor with Nanyang Technological University. He did his spine surgery fellowship in the United States between 1999 to 2000. He spent 6 months in Tulane University in New Orleans, and 6 months in Louisville, where he was a clinical instructor in the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Currently, Dr Hee is a spine surgeon whose clinical practice is 100 percent on spinal disorders in the pediatric and adult population. He manages all types of spinal disorders, for example degenerative spine (including cervical spine or neck), spinal fractures, spinal tumor, spinal infections, spinal deformities (including scoliosis).

His specialist services encompass non-surgical management of spinal conditions, as well as surgery if clinically indicated. Surgical services available at Pinnacle Spine & Scoliosis Centre include cervical spine (neck) surgery, non-fusion (including artificial disc replacement) surgery, scoliosis and spinal deformity surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery, spine tumor surgery, and revision spine surgeries.

Bibliography

Current appointments

Medical Director and Senior Consultant, Pinnacle Spine & Scoliosis Centre
Adjunct A/Professor, Nanyang Technological University
Visiting Consultant in Parkway Group of Hospitals (Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles, and Parkway East), Mount Alvernia Hospital, Raffles Hospital, Alexandra Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, and Westpoint Hospital
Visiting Professor, Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou University, China

Past appointments

Medical Director and Senior Consultant, Centre for Spine & Scoliosis Surgery
Visiting Consultant and Adjunct A/Professor, National University Health System
Clinical Director, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital
Senior Consultant and Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital
Deputy Head, University Spine Centre, National University Hospital

Professional Affiliations

Member, Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Panel of Medical Experts, former Subordinate Courts of Singapore
Associate Editorial Board Member, The Spine Journal
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Orthopaedic Science
Member, Cervical Spine Research Society
Founding member, Cervical Spine Research Society (Asia Pacific section)
Member, International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine
Member, North American Spine Society
Member, International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery
Member, AO Spine International
Associate Fellow, Scoliosis Research Society
Member, Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association
President, Back Society (Singapore)

Professional Awards

TTSH 9th Annual Scientific Meeting 2001 (overall best paper award)
Singapore Orthopaedic Association Hong Kong ambassador, November 2001
Yahya-Cohen Lecture, 36th Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine, August 2002
Star Award, Quality Convention, National University Hospital, January 2004
Star Award, Quality Convention, National University Hospital, March 2006
Young Investigator Award – 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of Singapore Orthopaedic Association , November 2006
1st prize, Doctoral category in research presentation contest, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, May 2007
Star Award, Quality Convention, National University Hospital, May 2007
Best poster award – Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation and intervertebral disc distraction reverse intervertebral disc degeneration in a rabbit model. 15th Triennial Congress of APOA, Seoul, Korea, September 2007
JOA Congress 2008 Travel Award Winner – Effects of dynamic tension on degenerated human annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus cells: an in vitro study. The 81st Annual Congress of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association, Sapporo, Japan, May 2008
Excellent service award (Star award) 2008
Excellent service award (gold) 2009

Educational Activities (selected)

Faculty, Workshop in MIS Spinal Surgery and Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement, Hue, Vietnam, June 2013
Faculty, National Congress Annual Scientific Meeting, Indonesia Sports Medicine Association, Jakarta, Indonesia, May 2013
Faculty, ASEAN MIDLF course, The German Endoscopic Training Center, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, January 2013
Faculty, Arthrocare Skills Lab and Product Training (Cadaver Lab – Spine, Chulalongkorn Hospital), Bangkok, Thailand, December 2012
Faculty, AOSpine Asia Pacific Interactive Courses, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2012
Faculty, Asia Spine 2012, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, September 2012
Faculty, NUHS Spinal Workshop – Advanced cervical spine surgery course, July 2012
Faculty, AO Spine Advanced Cadaver Course, Singapore, April 2012
Faculty, SRS Worldwide Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 2011
Faculty, AO spine Asia Pacific principles course, Manila,November 2011

Research Publications (selected)

Cellular mechanotransduction in microfluidic systems. In: Li DQ ed. Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. New York/Heidelberg: Springer, Inc 2013.
Is hybrid surgery of the cervical spine a good balance between fusion and arthroplasty? Pilot results from a single spine surgeon series. Eur Spine J 2013 Jan; 22(1):116-22.
Anterior only decompression and instrumentation of stable thoracolumbar burst fractures: introduction of concept of hemi-corpectomy. J Bone Joint Surg Br 2012; 94-B (suppl): 130
Post-laminectomy spondylolisthesis – a review of the posterior elements and their contribution to the stability of the lumbar spine. The Open Spine Journal 2012; 4: 5-9.
Oh JY, Louange D, Rahmat R, Hee HT, Kumar VP. Paradoxical movement of L5S1 lumbar segment in spondylolytic spondylolisthesis. Eur Spine J 2012; 21(2): 262-7.
Ultrasmall natural peptides self-assemble to strong temperature-resistant helical fibers in scaffolds suitable for tissue engineering. Nano Today 2011; 6: 232-9.
Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A brief review of its pathophysiology, presentation, assessment, natural history and management. Orthopaedics and Trauma 2011; 25(3): 181-9.
Vascularization and morphological changes of the endplate after axial compression and distraction of the intervertebral disc. Spine April 2011; 36(7): 505-11.
Stem cell therapy in Orthopaedic Surgery. Advances in Orthopaedics 2010; 2(3): 81-8.
Effects of dynamic cyclic compression on human annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus cells -an in vitro stud. The Spine J Sep 2010; 10(9): 795-801.
Effects of cyclic dynamic tensile stress on pre-compressed annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus cells of human intervertebral disc- an in vitro study. J Orthop Res April 2010: 503-9.
Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation and intervertebral disc distraction reverse intervertebral disc degeneration in a rabbit model. J Bone Joint Surg Br 2010 May; 92(5): 726-36.
Paraspinal magnetic stimulation cerebral evoked potentials in treatment follow-up of low back pain. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, October 2009, Volume 285, Supplement 1, page S141.
Treatment of osteoporotic compression fractures with vertebroplasty. In: BE Mattingly, AC Pillare eds. Osteoporosis: Etiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc 2009.

Research Presentations (selected)

Wound infection rate in minimally invasive spine fracture fixation. 3^rd Global Spine Congress, April 2013, Hong Kong
Posterior occipitocervical fusion in rheumatoid arthritis of upper cervical spine – analysis of our results. SICOT 2011 XXV Triennial World Congress, September 2011, Prague, Czech Republic
A review of 287 consecutive spinal instrumentation and fusion in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients: risk factor analysis for early versus late and minor versus major complications. 18th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST), July 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark
A 4 to 9 year review of 196 posterior instrumented adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients. 18th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST), July 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark
Is The Routine Use of Surgical Drain Necessary in Posterior Instrumented Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients? A Review of Wound Complications in 193 cases. 18th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST), July 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark
Paraspinal magnetic stimulation cerebral evoked potentials in treatment follow-up of low back pain. 19^th World Congress of Neurology, October 2010, Bangkok, Thailand
Paradoxical movement of L5S1 lumbar segment in spondylolytic spondylolisthesis. Global Spine Congress, June 2009, San Francisco, California
Histological and micro computed tomography (micro CT) features of the intervertebral disc and the endplate after axial compression and distraction of the intervertebral disc in a rabbit model. Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) 55th Annual Meeting, February 2009, Las Vegas, Nevada