dr. Melvin Chua 

Qualifications:

MBBS, FRCR (Clinical Oncology) (UK), PhD (Cancer & Radiation Biology), FAMS, FASCO

Affiliations:

Principal Investigator, Laboratory of Optical Imaging, Photodynamic & Proton Therapy - Precision Radiation Oncology Program 

Associate Professor of Oncology Academic Clinical Program 

Head and Senior Consultant of Department of Head and Neck and Thoracic Cancers, Division of Radiation Oncology 

Director of Data and Computational Science Core

Biography: 

Dr. Chua is a clinician-scientist at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and Duke-NUS Medical School. He currently serves as Head of Department and Senior Consultant in the Department of Head and Neck and Thoracic Radiation Oncology at NCCS. In addition, he is the Principal Investigator of the Precision Radiotherapeutics and Oncology Programme (PROP) and Director of the Data and Computational Science Hub at NCCS. Dr. Chua holds a tenured appointment as Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, and is also a Visiting Professor at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China. 

His work is supported by several national grants, including the NMRC CSA (Investigator-category), the National Research Foundation Competitive Research Programme (NRF-CRP), the Ministry of Education Tier 3 Grant, the NMRC Open Fund Large Collaborative Grant (OF-LCG), and the NMRC Centre Grant. He has also received significant philanthropic support, notably from the Goh Foundation for Proton Therapy Research, the Tibore Foundation for the Kua Hong Pak Head and Neck Cancer Research Programme, and the Singapore Rubber Miller Association for the Cancer and Data Science Programme.

Dr. Chua’s key research focus areas include developing a comprehensive nasopharyngeal carcinoma clinical and translational research programme that integrates innovative phase 2–3 trial designs, a multi-dimensional, deeply annotated clinical-molecular database, and broad-scale computational genomics for biomarker discovery. He also leads a translational radiation research programme that applies bench-to-bedside expertise to elucidate the mechanistic pathways of radiation resistance and to develop novel treatment regimens targeting these molecular vulnerabilities.

Among his notable accomplishments are the development of the ASCO-CSCO international guidelines on the treatment of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, serving as Co-Lead Investigator of several randomised controlled trials that have redefined the standard of care for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and acting as Lead Investigator of the Singapore Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Large Collaborative Grant Programme. He also serves as Chair of the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Expert Panel for the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the Union for International Cancer Control TNM Staging, 9th edition.

Dr. Chua is an active volunteer with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), having previously served as Council Chair of the ASCO Asia-Pacific Regional Council and as Programme Chair for the ASCO Breakthrough Meeting 2024. In recognition of his contributions, he was conferred Fellowship of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2025. He has also represented Singapore as Commissioner on the Lancet Oncology Commission on Cancer in the Commonwealth.

He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, with an H-index of 46 and over 11,000 citations. He is the Lead Author of the Nasopharynx Cancer Chapter in the 12th edition of Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology, the world’s most widely used oncology textbook, and has published highly cited articles in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature, Cell, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and JAMA Oncology. Dr. Chua has been recognised as one of the world’s top 2% most cited scientists in both 2023 and 2024, and was awarded the SingHealth Excellence Distinguished Researcher Award in 2021.

Hobbies: 

Golf