Dr Tan Ban Wei Ronny

Dr Ronny Tan is a urologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospitals and Parkway East Hospital, Singapore.

He subspecialises in andrology, male subfertility, sexual medicine and urological prosthetic surgery.

Dr Tan performed the UroLift procedure, a minimally invasive approach to treating an enlarged prostate, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital on 16 October 2019.

He was awarded the Healthcare Manpower Development Plan (HMDP) scholarship in 2013 and spent a year undergoing a Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA)-accredited clinical fellowship in Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

During his stint at Tulane, other than being trained in implanting the Boston Sci AMS penile prosthesis, artificial urinary sphincters and urethral slings, Dr Tan also implanted the Titan Touch penile implant from Coloplast as well as the quadratic urethral sling. He was one of the earliest to start using intralesional collagenase injections for the treatment of Peyronie’s disease, and reported on the efficacy of the second generation PDE5 inhibitor avanafil for treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Prior to starting private practice, he was the director of andrology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

He started the use of low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy (LiESWT) for erectile dysfunction in restructured hospitals and was the earliest to report the efficacy of this modality of treatment. He is proficient in the placement of urethral slings, artificial urinary sphincters for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence as well as penile prosthesis (ranging from malleables to inflatables) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

He is also trained in single-incision concomitant placement of prostheses for both erectile dysfunction and stress urinary incontinence, and has experience in the management of penile deformities, ranging from frenulum brevie to congenital penile curvatures to Peyronie’s disease.

He offers evaluation for male subfertility and is trained in sperm retrieval techniques ranging from percutaneous sperm aspiration, microsurgical TESE to electro-ejaculation. He offers microsurgical varicocelectomy for the treatment of inferior sperm parameters due to varicoceles.

He was also one of the earliest urologists in the department who started the clinical service using high power greenlight laser vaporisation for treating benign prostate enlargement and serves as the department proctoring surgeon for the procedure.

Dr Tan served as clinical core faculty of the NHG Urology Residency Program and has trained many urology specialists. He is also an adjunct assistant professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU, as well as a senior lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.

He has been awarded ‘Best Teacher’ numerous times for his passion and dedication for teaching medical students and young specialists in training. Together with his urology specialist trainee, he was awarded a NHG-HOMER (National Healthcare Group-Health Outcomes and Medical Education Research) Grant to formally train junior doctors on performance of the procedure of bladder washout.

He is well-published and continues to be a regular reviewer for the Journal of Sexual Medicine, Sexual Medicine Reviews and Urology (Gold Journal). He has served as course director in numerous symposia, masterclasses as well as courses on andrology and sexual medicine, He is often invited as speaker and faculty of loco-regional and international conferences. He is also active in organising public forums and GP forums and contributes articles to local magazines and newspapers, to raise the awareness of men’s health issues to both public and family physicians.

He led a team looking at ways to improve cost-effectiveness of ambulatory day surgical management of patients who have undergone TURP or TUVP while he was in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and was awarded the coveted Gold Award at the Asian Hospital Management Awards 2018.

He is currently on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Urological Association (SUA) and the Society for Men's Health Singapore (SMHS). He serves as the Honorary Treasurer of the Society for Continence Singapore (SFCS), the Vice-President of the Global Chinese Andrology and Sexual Medicine Association (GCASMA) and is the Chairman of the Membership Committee of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM).

He was on the committee for Clinical Practice Guidelines 2012 for treatment of Premature Ejaculation and is the co-chairman for the SMHS Guidelines 2014 for management of erectile dysfunction.

Dr Tan is an advocate for men’s health issues and is always looking for ways to add life to years and to engage men to take charge of their health issues.