Dr Ranjiv Sivanandan

Dr Ranjiv Sivanandan is a Specialist Board Certified General Surgeon who has devoted his career to the practice and development of thyroid and head & neck surgery. He graduated with a Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery from the National University of Singapore in 1991 and was awarded Fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and Masters of Medicine (Surgery) in 1997. He received his advanced training in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University, California, USA. Upon completion of the fully accredited program, he was conferred Fellowship with the American Head and Neck Society, and was appointed full-time faculty and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University and the Stanford Cancer Institute until his return to Singapore in 2005.

Dr Ranjiv was extensively involved in scientific research and clinical teaching. He spearheaded research into squamous head and neck cancers at the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and was the first worldwide to publish on Head and Neck Cancer Stem Cells in 2007. He was twice conferred the Resident Teaching Award for the most outstanding contribution to the Residency Program at Stanford University.

Prior to establishing his private practice, Dr Ranjiv was Senior Consultant and Chief of the Head and Neck Service at the Department of Surgery, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), which oversees the largest number of thyroid, parathyroid, parotid and major head and neck surgeries performed in Singapore. He co-founded the Thyroid Group which developed, formalized and implemented Institutional Guidelines for the treatment of thyroid cancer at SGH, and was its Chairman from 2007 to 2009. He was also Principal Investigator at the Head and Neck Cancer Research Laboratory at the National Cancer Centre. Dr Ranjiv is a Visiting Consultant at SGH, and Adj A/Prof at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where he continues to be actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate education and training. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Chapter of General Surgeons, Singapore since 2011. Dr Ranjiv was thrice the recipient of the Singapore General Hospital Service Quality Award.

In addition to the numerous thyroid, parathyroid, parotid and major head and neck surgeries he performs every year, Dr Ranjiv has a special interest in the application of robotics in head and neck surgery. In May 2010 Dr Ranjiv performed the first robotic thyroidectomy in Singapore, and in July 2011, the first robotic neck dissection in Southeast Asia. These novel procedures use state-of-the-art robotic technology to remove the thyroid gland and cancerous lymph nodes in the neck without any neck or visible incision.

On a personal level, Dr Ranjiv fervently believes that every condition is unique to the individual, that every patient be informed of best practices and evidence based treatment options, and fully engages patients in the decision making process. He is personally committed to treating the individual not just the disease, and providing the best clinical service and outcome to every patient in his care.