Dr Yam Kean Tuck Andrew

Dr Andrew Yam is a hand surgeon practising at Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore. He has special interests in improving function in paralysed or weak upper limbs, tendon transfers, nerve transfers, minimally invasive (endoscopic) treatment of nerve compression syndromes (carpal tunnel, cubital tunnel), and treatment of hand injuries and infections.

Dr Yam obtained his medical degree from the Flinders University of South Australia in 1997. He became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2003 and obtained a Master of Medicine (Surgery) from the National University of Singapore in 2004. He trained in hand surgery at the Singapore General Hospital and the National University Hospital and was accredited as a specialist in hand surgery in 2007.

He then trained in peripheral nerve and brachial plexus surgery under Professor Rolfe Birch at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, the premier centre of excellence for nerve surgery in the UK. He also completed workshops on cerebral palsy, tetraplegia and brachial plexus reconstruction at internationally renowned centres in Taiwan, France and Switzerland. He remains the Director of the Peripheral Nerve and Paralytic Upper Limb Service at the Singapore General Hospital and runs the Obstetric Brachial Plexus Service in KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

Dr Yam has been awarded several awards for health service quality and teaching excellence. He has published more than 30 scientific articles covering a wide spectrum of hand and nerve disorders in international journals and textbooks. His research has won awards at the Singapore Society for Hand Surgery Annual Scientific Meetings. He lectures on brachial plexus injuries locally and internationally in developing countries. He is also a regular and well-regarded discussant on LinkedIn’s Hand Surgery International, the largest international online community of hand surgeons.

Dr Yam spends 2 to 3 weeks every year operating on patients and training surgeons in developing countries such as Cambodia and Sri Lanka.