Dr Desmond Wai obtained his basic medical degree at the National University of Singapore in 1994. He passed his membership for the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom), Master of Medicine (Internal Medicine) in 1998, and completed his specialist training in internal medicine in 1999. Dr Wai completed his advanced specialist training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2002. Following that, he went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, to do his fellowship in hepatology, under the mentorship of world renowned Hepatologist, Professor Anna Lok.

Dr Wai went into private practice at the Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore, in November 2006 with a scope of practice in transplant hepatology and gastroenterology.

Dr Lai’s experience comprises over five years of training in the regional transplant unit at the University Hospital of Birmingham. The unit has on average 160 transplants per year and with 3500 patients transplanted and on active review. During this time, he had exposure to general and transplant hepatology, with a particular interest in the management of acute liver failure and viral hepatitis. During this period, he was also trained in therapeutic ERCP, including sphincterotomy, stone extraction, biliary stent insertion and the use of combined radiological approach for difficult cases.

Dr Lai continued to attend the weekly liver transplant assessment meeting and developed further insight into the complexity of assessing patient’s suitability for transplant.  He had regular on-call duty during those five years and had gained extensive experience in the management of patients with acute liver failure and those in the immediate post-liver transplant period on intensive care.  He had a specific interest in the management of patients presenting in acute liver failure and was involved in the study using albumin dialysis in these patients. This particular study enabled him to develop the technical skills in setting up haemo-filtration devices, placement of haemodynamic monitoring catheters such as right heart catheter, intracranial pressure transducer, and acquire knowledge in the management of fulminant hepatic failure. Furthermore, he gained experience in the management of clinical studies which has enabled him to further develop and initiate new clinical studies.

Prize. He performed his housemanship with Professor Sir Roy Calne – a pioneer in liver transplantation – at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. After obtaining his MRCP (London) in 1990, he joined the Department of Medicine, National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore. He was later named Fellow of the Year during a two-year Critical Care Fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA – the leading centre for liver transplantation in the world – under Professor Thomas Starzl and Professor John Fung.

In 1995, Dr Lee joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) and later became an Associate Professor of Medicine and Senior Consultant, and Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit. He started the liver dialysis programme at NUH and was the lead investigator in a MOH-sponsored programme that subsidised and evaluated the role of MARS® liver dialysis over a four-year period. He is the current editor for the Acute Medicine Handbook, and has lectured internationally and published many articles on respiratory related issues (especially pneumonia), ICU issues, health outcomes, liver cirrhosis and liver transplantation.

Dr Lee joined Gleneagles Hospital in September 2005 as the Director of Critical Care and has been affiliated with The Asian Centre for Liver Diseases and Transplantation (ACLDT) since then. He is currently responsible for managing all the acute liver failure and liver transplant patients treated at ACLDT. He is also responsible for all liver dialysis treatments and has introduced various liver dialysis devices used in Gleneagles Hospital, making it one of the leading liver dialysis centres in the world.