A/Prof Thong graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore in 1996. After completing his Otolaryngology residency in Singapore in 2006, he received a Ministry of Health's HMDP Award and pursued subspecialty training in Rhinology and Sinus Surgery as a clinical fellow at the Lahey Clinic, Massachusetts, USA.
Therefore, apart from treating general ear, throat and neck conditions, A/Prof Thong's particular area of specialty is that of the nose and sinus (e.g. nasal allergy, nasal obstruction, nose bleeding, sinus infections, polyps). He performs various procedures, either in the clinic or in the operating theatre. These include standard endoscopic sinus surgery, minimally invasive sinus surgery (eg "balloon sinuplasty"), as well as advance sinus and skull base surgery (eg orbital decompression with the Eye surgeons, and pituitary tumor surgery with the Neurosurgeons) for which he was also a Visiting Consultant to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.
His other area of clinical interest is in patients with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. This includes helping to make diagnoses, to recommending suitable treatment like weight management, positive airway pressure (PAP) or surgical procedures.
Research similarly revolves around sino-nasal conditions (especially nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis), and snoring and sleep apnea (including running trials with A*Star to develop better ways of monitoring such patients).
A/Prof Thong is currently the Director of Undergraduate Education (Otolaryngology), and an Associate Professor with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, having previously served as department Deputy Director for Clinical Services. He subsequently received the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016, followed by the NUS School of Medicine's Special Recognition Award in 2017 for remarkable teaching contributions. He is also involved in postgraduate education, and has been a National Examiner since 2013. He has been an invited speaker at both local and regional conferences, and has published in various peer-reviewed journals.
