Prem Harichander Thurairajah

Dr Prem Harichander Thurairajah is a gastroenterologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore. He treats a wide range of gastrointestinal and liver problems such as viral hepatitis, fatty liver, liver cirrhosis, gastric and colon cancer screening, reflux disease, anaemia, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, biliary stones and pancreatic disease. Prior to private practice, he worked at the National University Hospital, where he was the senior consultant in transplant hepatology and advanced endoscopy. Dr Thurairajah graduated from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India. Following medical school, he trained and worked in the UK and USA. His postgraduate training in internal medicine was at teaching hospitals in England and Wales, culminating in his admission to the Royal College of Physicians, UK. He subsequently entered specialist training in gastroenterology and hepatology at the West Midlands Deanery, UK where he honed his skills in the management of complex liver disease and liver transplantation. Driven by his interest in hepatology, he pursued a PhD in hepatitis C. His research has been widely published in more than 30 peer-reviewed journals. He later subspecialised in liver transplant medicine, completing fellowships in transplant hepatology at the liver unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, UK and in advanced hepatobiliary endoscopy at the University College London (UCL), UK. At UCL, he received training in advanced therapeutic endoscopy, including endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic stenting, percutaneous gastrostomy and complex colonic polypectomy. Dr Thurairajah was appointed consultant transplant hepatologist at St James’s University Hospital, UK, before moving to the USA, where he served as assistant professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky’s liver transplant unit. He relocated to Singapore and joined Changi General Hospital, where he led the development of a chronic hepatitis C treatment programme and served as director of hepatology. He completed and published a clinical study on linkage to care in hepatitis C in the community. He also carried out modelling studies on hepatitis C with Singapore colleagues to help inform public policy on the elimination of hepatitis C. He has been practising medicine for more than 25 years. He currently serves as an invited member of the national hepatitis C elimination steering committee, playing a key role in shaping public health policy in Singapore. Dr Thurairajah’s work in community-based hepatitis C care was recognised with the Best Publication Award by the Singapore Medical Association.