Professor Goh Hak Su
Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon
BSc. (Hons), MBBS (Lond), FRCS, FAMS

Professor Goh Hak Su was born in Sarawak, Malaysia. Following early education in Sarawak, he won a British  scholarship to Sevenoaks School in Kent becoming the first South East Asian to study in this quintessentially English but progressive public school. He studied in King's College Hospital Medical School, London, did electives in Duke University Medical School, Durham NC USA, and Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal Canada, and graduated with a double degree in Science and Medicine. He received his surgical training in the England under Sir James Fraser and his training in colorectal surgery was under Sir Ian Todd at St Mark's Hospital for Diseases of Rectum & Colon, London.

Prof Goh worked in various hospitals in Sarawak before joining the Department of Surgery, National University of Singapore in 1981. Because of the rising incidence of colorectal cancer, in 1989, he was tasked to establish the Department of Colorectal Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital, the first such department in Singapore and the Asean region. As Founding Head & Senior Consultant of the Department, he built a centre of excellence for clinical work, teaching and research, and trained many colorectal surgeons for Singapore and the region.

Prof Goh had published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and contributed chapters in authoritative text books on colorectal surgery and colorectal cancer. He had lectured worldwide and was honoured with the Galloway Gold Medal and Memorial Lecture in Singapore, the Joint Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) and Academy of Medicine (Singapore) Lecture in Edinburgh, the Edward Wilson Lecture in Sydney, the Harry Bacon Oration in Jodhpur, and the WG Smith Lecture in Perth.

For his contributions, Prof Goh was awarded the Singapore National Science and Technology Medal in 1995 with the citation, "He is not only widely regarded as one of the leading colorectal surgeons in the region, but more importantly, he is more recognised in the medical professional for his effort and success in inspiring the researchers in the field of colorectal cancer. It is through his leadership and enthusiasm in the pursuit of understanding and managing colorectal cancer that he has helped to improve the treatment of cancer patients in Singapore."

Prof Goh is the founding chairman of the Society of Colorectal Surgeons (Singapore), inaugural chairman of the Asean Society of Colorectal Surgeons and a past vice-president of the International Society of University Colorectal Surgeons. He is a member of the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons and the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.

Since 1995, Prof Goh has been practising as a private colorectal surgeon in the Goh Hak Su Colon & Rectal Centre, Gleneagles Medical Centre, Singapore. He is a Visiting Consultant to the Singapore General Hospital as well as the National University Hospital. He remains an Adjunt  Associate Professor of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine,  National University of Singapore.