ADJ A/PROF DR OOI YAU WEI

About A/Prof Ooi

Dr Ooi Yau Wei is the Medical Director at Sozo Cardiology Clinic and a Consultant General and Interventional Cardiologist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. He graduated from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore in 1999 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) and obtained his post-graduate Internal Medicine degree, Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom) in 2004. He has worked in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) since 1999 and received the SARS Courage Star award from the President of Singapore in 2003 for his work with SARS victims in the Intensive Care setting.

He underwent his Cardiology Advanced Specialty Training in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore from 2005-2008 and was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (FAMS) in 2009. He subsequently spent a year running the largest Heart Failure Program in Singapore, managing patients with complex end-stage heart failure requiring electrical/mechanical assist device therapy and heart transplantation.

In 2010, he was awarded the Human Manpower Development Program (HMDP) scholarship by Ministry of Health, Singapore to further sub-specialize in the field of Interventional Cardiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He spent a year under the mentorship of 4 world-renown Professors and experts in Interventional Cardiology and was trained in the latest advances in the Interventional Cardiology arena. He gained extensive experience in treating patients with complex left main, bifurcation, bypass graft lesions and chronic total occlusions using the latest in adjunctive interventional techniques such as rotational atherectomy and coronary imaging eg Intra-Vascular UltraSound (IVUS) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). He was also trained in carotid and peripheral artery stenting, left atrial appendage closure for stroke prevention and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in surgical turn-downs for severe aortic valve stenosis.

He subsequently returned to Singapore in 2011, working as a Certified Senior Interventional Cardiologist, providing 24/7 acute heart attack interventional service in TTSH. He has since taught in more than 10 interventional stenting workshops on advanced interventional techniques for doctors from Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Australia. To date, he has performed more than 6,000 invasive coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention procedures, mostly through the less invasive radial (wrist) approach. He has also successfully treated many patients with resistant hypertension via non-invasive renal denervation device therapy.

Dr Ooi is a strong believer in minimally invasive angioplasty (stenting) using the radial (wrist) approach rather than the femoral (groin) approach as this increases patient comfort and safety while significantly reducing complications such as bleeding or death by as much as 30%. He also harnesses the latest in stent technology eg. using Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffolds (stents that dissolve away) to give his patients freedom from being “caged” permanently with a stent.

Apart from his interest in complex coronary intervention, his other interests include Sports Cardiology. He has been certified as a Clinical Sports Physiologist by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) since 2014. Topics of relevance to the modern patient include prevention of sudden cardiac death and risk stratification for healthy subjects planning to undergo strenuous and extreme exercise.

Dr Ooi’s passion is in teaching. His past and present academic appointments include Head of Postgraduate Education in the Department of Cardiology, Program Director of the National Healthcare Group (NHG) Cardiology Senior Residency program, core faculty member of the Internal Medicine Residency program, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Cardiology Lead at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCSoM). In recognition of his contributions to education, he was appointed as Adjunct Asst Professor in Cardiology in LKCSoM.

Despite his move to private practice, he continues to nurture the younger generation of doctors by returning to TTSH weekly to mentor medical undergraduates, junior doctors in internal medicine, advanced cardiology trainees, nurses and allied health professionals.

Dr Ooi is also actively involved in clinical research and was the co-investigator in numerous international clinical trials like PLATO, IMPROVE-IT, GLOBAL LEADERS and LEADERS-FREE. He has written articles focusing on the management of acute coronary syndromes and coronary stenting, which have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. He is also invited regularly to be both speaker and faculty in major local and international cardiology conferences.
In recognition of his professional, educational and research achievements, and contributions to cardiovascular medicine, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Edinburgh (FRCP) in 2010 and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) in 2015.

On a more personal note, Dr Ooi believes in using his years of clinical experience to deliver the highest quality of clinical care to every patient, regardless of their socio-economic status. He is passionate about guiding patients to make a well-informed decision for their health which fits their values, preferences and goals. He believes in working honestly, ethically, with integrity and utmost sincerity. He aims to provide the highest level of cardiovascular care in a cost-effective manner. Ultimately, he treasures the long-lasting relationships he builds with all his patients.