Dr Chan graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1995. He then obtained the Master of Medicine (Internal Medicine) and the MRCP (UK) in 1999. He went on to specialty training in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the Singapore General Hospital. In 2004, he was awarded a Health Manpower Development Award to pursue a clinical fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Dr Chan also holds the European Diploma in Intensive Care. Dr Chan was the President of the Singapore Thoracic Society in 2005 and 2006 and an active executive committee member until 2008. He is also currently the President of the Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Singapore.

With a passion for teaching Dr Chan held dual appointments – Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, and Clinical Lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He has a special interest in Evidence-based Medicine and has directed and conducted several courses in this area. He is also regularly invited to lecture and teach at the annual Asia-Pacific Evidence-based Medicine Conference and Workshop.

In the research arena, Dr Chan focuses in the areas of intensive care, mechanical ventilation and acute respiratory distress syndrome. He has published in international journals such as CHEST and Critical Care Medicine and is regularly invited to speak regionally in these fields. In 2007, Dr Chan was the Scientific Chair for the 2nd Asia-Pacific Congress in Bronchology.

In addition to general respiratory medicine, Dr. Chan has a special interest in intensive care medicine and bronchoscopy. He is well-versed with many cutting-edge technologies, including high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation and advanced bronchoscopic techniques such as endobronchial ultrasound.

Dr Chan is also able to perform ultrasound examinations of the thorax, primarily for the diagnosis and management of pleural effusions. He also has a special interest in smoking cessation. While at SGH, Dr Chan directed the inpatient smoking cessation program as well as the outpatient Smoking Cessation Clinic. He also chaired the Ministry of Health Clinical Practice Guidelines for Smoking Cessation in 2010-2011. In addition, he is the Scientific Chair for the upcoming World Congress on Tobacco and Health in 2012, the premier smoking cessation meeting globally.