MBBS (S’pore) FRCS (Edin) FRCS (Glasg) FAMS
Senior Consultant ENT Head & Neck Surgeon
Subspecialty: Nose and Sinus Surgery
Dr Samuel CL Yeak (ENT Specialist) Educated in Anglo-Chinese School and Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Dr Yeak was awarded the Public Service Commission’s Local Merit Bursary to study medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He graduated in 1987 and after completing his internship and National Service, joined Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in 1990 where he began specialty training in Otolaryngology (ENT). This was how his journey as a sinus doctor in Singapore started.
Dr Yeak was awarded his first Health Manpower Development Program (HMDP) fellowship by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 1993. He spent a year at the prestigious Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital in London and passed his fellowship examinations in Edinburgh and Glasgow in the same year. His interest in sinus surgery began in London under the wings of Prof Valerie Lund, one of the UK’s foremost sinus surgeons. At the same time, he developed a passion for upper airway allergy through the influence of Prof Glenis Scadding, an eminent allergist.
He came back to Singapore and quickly obtained a Health Sector Development Plan (HSDP) grant from MOH to start Singapore’s first Rhinology laboratory for a more thorough evaluation of sino-nasal diseases, including allergy testing, rhinometry, rhinomanometry, nasal smears, and ciliary beat frequency. Being a sinus specialist in Singapore, he was also involved in the running of the Nose Clinic, Singapore’s first joint clinic between ENT surgeons and allergists.
In 1999, he left for a second HMDP fellowship in the US under the tutelage of Dr Frederick Kuhn, a world-renowned sinus surgeon who pioneered many techniques in sinus surgery, especially in complex frontal sinus surgery and revision sinus surgery.
After coming back to Singapore, he obtained a second HSDP grant to introduce Computer-Guided Sinus Surgery using the latest electromagnetic technology in Singapore. Today, computer-guided surgery has become the standard of care in Singapore, as it is in most developed economies. After a joint 120 patient study with NUS on sublingual immunotherapy, he started this form of therapy in TTSH to more optimally manage patients with allergic rhinitis.
In 2003, Dr Yeak was appointed the head of the ENT department, a post he held until he resigned in 2012 for private practice. Aside from being a sinus doctor in Singapore, he also had a great passion for teaching and was Senior Clinical Lecturer with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. He was named among the top ten teachers from 2007-2010 and the best teacher from 2008-2009.
He has also trained many of the present generation of endoscopic sinus surgeons both in the public and private sectors in Singapore. In addition, as a sinus doctor in Singapore with years of experience in the field of Otolaryngology, Dr Yeak has trained Rhinology Fellows from Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, and Saudi Arabia who have since gone back to become leading sinus surgeons in their own countries. He was a past President for the Society of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery (Singapore). In private practice, he continued to serve professionally first as chair of the Medical Credentialing Committee, then as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.
As a sinus specialist in Singapore, Dr Yeak has varied interests and held a concurrent appointment as the first Chief Medical Information Officer for Tan Tock Seng Hospital and helped out as Information Technology Advisor after leaving the hospital. As a leading sinus doctor in Singapore, Dr Yeak has helped design the hospital’s Electronic Medical Record system from scratch to achieve Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Level 6, the highest award in Singapore and the region, besides bagging numerous local IT awards. He designed a fully electronic ENT system which is currently being used in TTSH and of course in Amandela ENT.
Even though Dr Yeak has a busy schedule owing to his role as a sinus doctor in Singapore, he is actively involved in giving back to society and has regularly led medical mission teams to China and Myanmar. He has served on the board of the Metropolitan YMCA for many years, chairing the outreach and fund-raising committees and then as President. He is currently also President of MY world, an anchor operator for childcare in Singapore. He is also actively involved in church and has been involved in missions to India and Kenya. He chaired the English Working Committee and was Vice-chairman of the Local Church Executive Committee. He now chairs the Outreach and Social Concerns committee.
Dr Yeak is married to Elizabeth, an educator and they have three children, a girl, and two boys. The older two are currently junior doctors working in our restructured hospitals. Contact us today to learn more about Dr Yeak and his sinusitis specialist clinic in Singapore.
