Dr Ooi Yau Wei

Dr Ooi Yau Wei is a cardiologist practising at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore.

He specialises in interventional cardiology and has special interests in complex coronary intervention.

Dr Ooi underwent his advanced specialty training in cardiology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and subsequently spent a year running the largest heart failure programme in Singapore, managing patients with complex end-stage heart failure requiring electrical/mechanical assist device therapy and heart transplantation.

In 2010, he was awarded the Human Manpower Development Program (HMDP) scholarship by Ministry of Health, Singapore, to further subspecialise in the field of interventional cardiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He spent a year under the mentorship of 4 renowned professors and experts in interventional cardiology, and was trained in the latest techniques in interventional cardiology. He treated patients with complex coronary lesions and chronic total occlusions using advanced interventional techniques such as rotational atherectomy and coronary imaging. He was also trained in carotid and peripheral artery stenting, left atrial appendage closure for stroke prevention and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for severe aortic valve stenosis.

He subsequently returned to Singapore in 2011, working as a certified senior interventional cardiologist, providing 24-hour acute heart attack interventional service in TTSH. He has since taught in more than 10 interventional stenting workshops on advanced interventional techniques to doctors from Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Australia.

Dr Ooi has performed more than 6,000 invasive coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention procedures, mostly through the less invasive radial (wrist) approach. He has also successfully treated many patients with resistant hypertension via noninvasive renal denervation device therapy. He is a strong believer in minimally invasive angioplasty (stenting) using the radial (wrist) approach as it increases patient comfort and safety while reducing complications. He also harnesses the latest in stent technology such as bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (stents that dissolve).

Dr Ooi is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and a consultant interventional cardiologist at TTSH. He is also a clinical senior lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, a cardiology lead at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, a clinical core faculty member at the National Healthcare Group's Cardiology Senior Residency Programme, and an Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor.

Apart from his interest in complex coronary intervention, his other interests include sports cardiology. He has been certified as a clinical sports physiologist by the American College of Sports Medicine since 2014. He has been invited to give numerous talks on the prevention of sudden cardiac death and risk stratification for healthy subjects planning to undergo strenuous and extreme exercise.

Dr Ooi’s passion is in teaching. Despite his move to private practice, he continues to nurture the younger generation of doctors by returning to TTSH weekly to mentor medical undergraduates, junior doctors in internal medicine, advanced cardiology trainees, nurses and allied health professionals.

Dr Ooi is also actively involved in clinical research and was the co-investigator in numerous international clinical trials. He has written numerous articles focusing on the management of acute coronary syndromes and coronary stenting, and has been published in multiple international peer-reviewed journals. He is also invited regularly as a speaker and faculty teacher in local and international major cardiology conferences.