Dr Sabrina Ngaserin is a general surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore.
Her subspecialty is in oncoplastic and minimally invasive breast surgery, and advanced breast surgery techniques.
Her speciality interests include breast clinical evaluation, breast cancer risk assessment and screening, evaluation of breast and axillary symptoms, benign breast conditions not limited to breast cyst(s), microcalcifications of the breast, fibrocystic change, fibroadenoma, duct ectasia, sclerosing adenosis of the breast, fat necrosis, inflammatory conditions of the breast, papillary lesions, fibroepithelial lesions, breast cancer, axillary conditions such as axillary lymphadenopathy and skin cysts, as well as general surgery and endoscopy.
Prior to private practice, Dr Ngaserin was the former head of breast surgery and senior consultant at Sengkang General Hospital and chief of breast service at SingHealth Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Breast Centre. She is currently a visiting senior consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH) and SingHealth Duke-NUS Breast Centre.
She graduated from NUS and completed her general surgery residency and breast specialist training at NUH. She obtained her master’s degree from NUS, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, UK and the Academy of Medicine, Singapore. She honed her subspeciality surgical skills in various institutions around the world, including an advanced oncoplastic breast surgery fellowship with the Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospital Group, Australia, through the Health Manpower Development Plan scholarship; a breast surgery international visiting scholars programme with Asan Medical Center in South Korea; surgical observerships with Seoul National University Hospital, South Korea; Samsung Medical Center in South Korea; Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan; and The Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer of King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Thailand.
Dr Ngaserin is one of the few surgeons in Singapore and the world, formally trained in oncoplastic breast surgery and minimally invasive endoscopic breast surgery. She has been practising medicine for more than 15 years.
She was the founding programme director of the advanced breast surgery fellowship programme (oncoplastic and minimally invasive breast surgery) at her prior institution, and remains an active live surgical operator, with a special interest in minimally invasive breast surgical demonstration and training. She spearheaded the development of minimally invasive breast surgery (MIBS) in Singapore, and was the founding director of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Minimally Invasive Breast Surgery Symposium Singapore, which also involves live surgical demonstrations and cadaveric workshops.
Dr Ngaserin has authored textbook chapters in MIBS, and represented SingHealth in overseas collaboration as steering committee for the clinical pillar of robotic surgery. Over the years, she has demonstrated her MIBS technique in live surgery for specialist breast surgeons in Singapore and the region.
Besides her clinical work, she is an assistant professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and assistant professor at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
She has published scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and is a reviewer for several scientific journals in breast surgery, minimally invasive surgery and surgical innovations. She is a regular local, regional and international speaker. As participant, panellist, invited faculty or organising committee member, she presents her surgical and scientific work regularly in conferences and meetings around the world.
Dr Ngaserin is also the Singapore country representative of the digital strategy communications team of the EUBREAST Network of the European Breast Cancer Research Association.
She is a recipient of several Singapore Health Quality Service awards, Long Service awards and the COVID-19 Resilience Medal.
Ngaserin, S., Wong, A. W., Leong, F. Q., Feng, J., Kok, Y. O., & Tan, B. K. (2023). A preliminary experience of endoscopic total mastectomy with immediate free Abdominal-Based perforator flap reconstruction using minimal incisions, and literature review. Journal of Breast Cancer, 26(2), 152.
Ngaserin, S., Yeo, C. B., Leong, F. Q. H., Tan, V., Lim, G. H., Tan, S. M., & Tan, B. (2023). The practice patterns and perceptions of surgeons in Singapore regarding breast-conserving surgery. Annals Singapore - Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 52(11), 639–642.
Ngaserin, S., Shaw, V., & Tan, B. K. (2020). Nipple base‐splitting enucleation (NiBSE) can preserve cosmesis and nipple sensation for the complete excision of benign nipple lesions. The Breast Journal, 26(11), 2280–2282.
Leong, F., Kusumawidjaja, G., Sultana, R., Ishak, H. M., Wong, F. Y., Tan, S. M., Tan, B. K. T., Sim, Y., & Ngaserin, S. (2022). Superior survival after breast conserving surgery versus mastectomy – a multicentre Asian cohort study of 3655 patients. European Journal of Cancer, 175(Suppl 1), S1-96.