​Dr Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore Faculty of Medicine in 1981. He obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (Glasgow) in 1987 and was admitted to the Academy of Medicine in 1993. He is a general surgeon who is involved in abdominal surgery and trauma though his primary interest is in vascular problems.His experience includes management of dialysis shunts in renal patients, varicose veins and leg ulcers, aneurysms and limbs with poor circulation.

Dr Tan is an avid collector of clinical slides showing interesting and often gory details of medical or surgical conditions which he uses to teach medical students. He is a clinical teacher with the Duke NUS medical school as well as the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in NUS. When not involved in stopping torrential bleeding, saving lives and limbs or making women happy by removing their ugly leg veins, he likes nothing better than to have tea at the coffeeshop while reading the latest edition of Economist. After that he will spend the rest of his waking hours in front of the TV watching Discovery channel or the latest season of CSI. He hopes one day to retire that way.