Adjunct Assistant Professor Dr. Aravind Kumar is a fellowship trained (UK & Australia) Orthopaedic surgeon with more than 20 years of experience practising in Australia, Singapore and the UK with a special interest in managing spinal conditions.
He has extensive experience in conditions such as slipped discs, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, fractures etc. which can lead to back pain, leg or arm pain and deformity. Some of the conditions that he has successfully managed include
- Prolapsed intervertebral discs
- Degenerative disc disease
- Disc bulges
- Nerve root impingements
- Radiculopathy
- Back pain
- Spinal fractures
- Scoliosis
Dr Aravind has significant experience in minimally invasive surgical techniques such as MIS-TLIF, MIS-XLIF, MIS-ALIF and MIS fracture stabilisation. These minimally invasive techniques are known to enable quicker patient recovery and return to function. He also employs endoscopic surgery for certain indications. He also has experience in the use of computer navigation aided surgery that helps to improve the accuracy of spinal surgery.
Dr Aravind graduated with MBBS qualification from Madras Medical College in Chennai, India. He was awarded a Gold medal in Orthopaedic Surgery during his under-graduation. He the undertook basic surgical training in the UK, gaining MRCS qualifications from the Royal Colleges of Glasgow and Edinburgh. He the entered the highly competitive Orthopaedic resident training Programme in Cardiff, Wales. He completed this with a CCT (Tr & Orth) and a FRCS (Tr & Orth).
Pursuing his goal of further training in Spinal surgery, he then went to Perth, Western Australia for a fellowship in scoliosis surgery and spinal trauma surgery in the Royal Perth Hospital. He the returned to UK for a further fellowship in Degenerative spinal surgery and Spinal deformity in the world renowned Spinal Surgery unit in Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham. These experiences served to round off the already good training that he received for 18 months in the Cardiff Spine unit.
Dr Aravind has been practicing as a Consultant Orthopaedic and Spine Surgeon in Singapore since 2014 having worked in Khoo Teck Puat hospital and then in Ng Teng Fong hospital. He has perfected his skills during these years for the betterment of his patients. He was repeatedly awarded award for excellence in patient care earning several patient compliments for the quality of his service.
Dr Aravind is an active teacher of medical students in NUS Yong Loo Lin school of medicine. He has several awards for excellence in teaching during this period. He is also a popular trainer for orthopaedic residents from the NHG and NUHS training programmes. He is a member of the Master of Medicine in Orthopaedic Surgery Committee which is active in the assessment of junior orthopaedic residents.
He is a member of numerous professional organisations such as the British Association of Spinal Surgeons, AO spine, Association of Spine Surgeons of India, Singapore Spine Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences in Singapore.
He maintains an active academic profile and has been part of several important publications in the field of Spinal Surgery. He has presented professional papers in numerous international fora. He has also been part of the faculty in several instructional hands-on training courses for juniors as well as experienced surgeons.
Dr Aravind holds a personal interest in serving the local community beyond the confines of a healthcare setting. He has been actively involved in taking important information on spinal and orthopaedic health into the community by way of public health seminars, radio talk shows etc. He remains committed to a holistic way of helping people to manage their orthopaedic and spinal health issues with every option including life style changes, simple medication, physical therapy and surgery, whenever it is indicated.
Dr Aravind Kumar, Consultant Orthopedic Surgery & Specialist in Spine surgery from Mount Elizabeth Novena specialist centre is here with us at Oli to talk about Scoliosis.
Career achievements and aims
Clinical work
As an experienced Orthopaedic Spine surgeon, Dr Aravind provides the whole gamut of Spinal Surgery including degenerative, tumour and trauma work as part of a team. He has developed his skills in minimally invasive techniques, including discectomies, decompressions and inter-body fusions. He also does annulo-nucleoplasty procedures.
Dr Aravind continues using anterior approaches to the spine as well lateral approaches for both degenerative conditions and deformities such as degenerative scoliosis. He provides emergency spine service along with his neuro-surgical colleagues.
He has innovated in the provision of services despite limited manpower. One example is the establishment of a 1 Stop Low Back Pain service, the early results of which were presented at the inaugural meeting of the Singapore Spine Society.
Training and Education
In the 7 years that he has been a consultant, Dr Aravind has established a weekly didactic spine teaching programme for residents. This has been very popular, well attended and highly rated by the residents. He is also creating a website for resident spine education, especially to accelerate learning in the operating theatre. Their preliminary work on this was presented at the APMEC conference 2017.
He was a Core Faculty Member of NHG orthopaedic residency training and a member of the Programme evaluation and Clinical Competency committees.
Dr Aravind is deeply committed to training the next generation of spine surgeons and he feels that he has inspired residents to consider spinal surgery as a career by demystifying spinal surgery and making it an enjoyable training experience.
He has made rapid strides in the teaching of medical students. Dr Aravind holds the post of Adjunct Assistant Professor in NUSMed, affiliated to the National University, Singapore. He was recently awarded the NUS Dean’s award for Excellence in Teaching. He has repeatedly received very appreciative feedback from his students, and he takes immense pride in their superb performance.
Research
During his training, Dr Aravind was involved in several projects that have led to publications. From KTPH, they have submitted several publications and presented work at SOA. He has also, in his own time, been involved in research work at other institutions and has helped to achieve several publications.
He is a reviewer for the International Journal of Spinal Surgery.
Management Experience
As Spinal surgery lead clinician in his previous unit, Dr Aravind was responsible for setting the agenda for his department. This included identifying clinical, training and logistical need and engineering and executing solutions. He has extensive experience with organising his team in delivering spinal care services in a sustainable and responsible fashion. He continued to identify service needs and organised resources to meet these.
Career Aims
He aims to build on this solid foundation and continue to sharpen his existing surgical skills while acquiring new ones such as endoscopic spinal surgery. He looks forward to training residents in spinal surgery, particularly focussing on improving the emergency care of these patients. He plans to continue research work, particularly basic science work. The establishment of a framework for Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) continues to be a significant aim.
Early Clinical Experience in Spinal Surgery
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Scotland 2001
Fellow in Spine, Royal Wolverhampton Hospital 2002 – 2003
His interest in spinal surgery was established when working for Mr Wardlaw, in Aberdeen, Scotland and with Mr Naresh Kumar (Professor in National University Hospital, Singapore now). Apart from the clinical aspects, Dr Aravind was involved in research generating a few papers and international presentations.
SpR in Cardiff Spine Unit 2009 and 2011 – 2012
As a specialist trainee, Dr Aravind was privileged to work for 18 months in the Cardiff Spine unit in the University Hospital of Wales. This is one of the most prolific spinal units in the world and the experience helped him master the basics of spinal surgery.
Some of the surgeries he was involved in include Scoliosis correction, Spinal tumour surgery and fracture stabilisation by a variety of different approaches including anterior and posterior approaches and thoracotomies. He also trained in ALIFs, TLIFs and XLIFs in addition to decompressions and discectomies. He also learnt procedures such as facet joint injections, Sacro-iliac joint injections and nerve-root blocks as essential adjuvants in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal problems.
Working for Mr Paul Davies and Mr Sashin Ahuja gave him enormous confidence. The extensive and intense experience from this stint has given him the ability to manage his own unit.
Spinal Surgery Fellowship, Perth, Australia 2012 – 2013
After passing the FRCS and attaining my Certificate of Completion of Training, Dr Aravind started Spinal fellowship training with Mr Peter Woodland and Mr Dave Dillon. He managed a wide spectrum of scoliosis with both surgery and bracing. Being the only spinal centre for the vast area of Western Australia, this unit handles the entire range of spinal trauma giving him complete hands-on surgical experience.
Spinal Surgery Fellowship, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, 2013
Dr Aravind has had the privilege of fellowship training in this world-famous hospital. It has been an extraordinary experience, which has provided him with a keen sense of governance and critical appraisal of his own clinical work as well as those of others. He has gained further experience in degenerative spinal surgery as well as tumour surgery, deformity correction, vertebroplasty and spinal injections.
Career Summary
Present Post
Consultant Spine and Orthopaedic Surgeon – Centre For Orthopaedics Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital Singapore
Previous Post
- September 2018 – August 2021 | Ng Teng Fong Hospital, NUHS Singapore – Senior Consultant Spine Surgeon
- May 2014 – September 2018 | Consultant Spine Surgeon – Khoo Teck Puat hospital, Singapore
- August 2013 – May 2014 | Senior Spine fellow – Queen’s Medical centre, Nottingham
- August 2012 to August 2013 | Spine fellow – Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Australia
- July 2006 – August 2012 | Specialty trainee in Orthopaedics – All Wales Training Programme
18 months in the Cardiff Spine Unit, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
- April 2006 –June 2006 | LAS (Registrar), Orthopaedics – Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Wrexham
- January 2006 – March 2006 | LAS (Registrar), Orthopaedics – Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford
- July 2005 – December 2005 | LAS (Registrar), Orthopaedics – Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford
- July 2005 – December 2005 | LAS (Registrar), Orthopaedics – Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport
- August 2004 – July 2005 | Clinical fellow in Orthopaedics – Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Rochdale
- August 2003 – August 2004 | Trauma fellow in Orthopaedics – Royal Sussex University Hospital, Brighton
- August 2002 – August 2003 (12 months) | Clinical Fellow in Spine to Prof Naresh Kumar – Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, UK
Senior House Officer
- August 2001 – August 2002 | Orthopaedics – Derby Royal Infirmary, Derby
- February 2001 – August 2001 | Orthopaedics – Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham
- August 2000 – February 2001 | Spinal surgery – Grampian University Hosp, Aberdeen
- August 1998 – August 2000 | General & vascular surgery, A&E, Orthopaedics – 6 months each – Pennine Acute Hospitals, Rochdale
Recent Conferences
Faculty
- Collaborative approach to the anterior spine – combined vascular and spine webinar, Singapore, September 2020 (Faculty and convenor, cadaveric workshop)
- Advanced Cervical Spine surgery course, NUH, Singapore, October 2019 (Faculty)
- APSS Basic Spine course, Singapore, May 2018 (Faculty)
- Singapore Trauma and Critical Care (STACC), Singapore, April 2018 (Faculty)
- SCORE Orthopaedic course, SRMC, India, January 2018 (Faculty)
- ASSICON, India, January 2018 (Faculty)
- ASSICON cadaveric course, India, January 2018 (Faculty)
- MISSICON, India, October 2017 (Faculty with live surgery demonstration)
- Singapore Trauma Conference, April 2017 (Faculty)
- Advanced Deformity Course, NUH, Singapore, June 2016 (Faculty),
- Singapore Trauma Conference, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, April 2016 (Faculty)
- NSpine conference, Nottingham, UK, June 2015 and June 2013 (Faculty)
- Simulation experience in Medical Training – A Training the trainers Conference, (Faculty), Chennai, India, November 2012
Participant
- Eurospine 2020, virtual conference, October 2020
- ISASS, Anaheim, April 2019
- Australian Orthopaedic Association meeting, Perth, October 2018
- ASEAN senior travelling fellow to Myanmar and Indonesia, July 2018
- Global Spine Congress, Singapore, May 2018
- ISASS, Toronto, April 2018
- Eurospine, Dublin, October 2017
- SRS, Philadelphia, September 2017
- BASS, Manchester, UK, March 2017 (Speaker)
- APMEC, Singapore, January 2017
- Singapore Spine Society inaugural meeting, January 2017 (Speaker)
- Biologics Summit, New York, December 2016
- Eurospine, Berlin, October 2016
- Spineweek, Singapore, May 2016
- Britspine Conference, Nottingham, UK, April 2016 (Speaker)
- SRS, Minneapolis, USA, September 2015
- IMAST, Kuala Lumpur, July 2015
- Australian Spine Society conference, Perth, Australia, April 2013 (Speaker)
- Deformity Down-under – Sydney, Australia, April 2013
Recent Courses
- Mastering open disclosure, Singapore, October 2019
- Clinical risk management, Singapore, October 2019
- High stakes interactions, Singapore, September 2019
- Pediguard live animal course, Singapore, July 2015
- MIS TLIF course, Vienna, June 2015
- ASEAN junior travelling fellow, November 2014
- Advanced cervical spine course, Singapore, October 2014
Research and Publications
Publications
Book Chapter
- “Surgery for Lumbar spinal stenosis”
- Kumar A, David KS, Kumar N
- 2404-2411, chapter 262, “Textbook of Orthopaedics and Trauma” 3rd Ed, Jaypee publishers, 2016
Papers
- The “Spinal Metastasis Invasiveness Index”: A Novel Scoring System to Assess Surgical Invasiveness
- Kumar N, Ramos MRD, Patel R, Tan BWL, Lopez KG, Nolan CP, Kumar A, Kumar DS, Liu G, Benneker LM
- Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2021 Apr 1;46(7):478-485
- doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000003823
- Asymptomatic Construct Failure after Metastatic Spine Tumor Surgery: A New Entity or a Continuum with Symptomatic Failure?
- Kumar N, Patel R,…, Kumar A, Liu G
- Asian Spine Journal (October 2020)
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31616/asj.2020.0167
- Incidence of pedicle breach following open and minimally invasive spinal instrumentation: A postoperative CT analysis of 513 pedicle screws applied under fluoroscopic guidance
- XL Chong, A Kumar, EWR Yang, AK Kaliya-Perumal, JYL Oh
- BIOMEDICINE 10 (30e35), 31, 2020
- Annulo-nucleoplasty using Disc-FX in the management of degenerative lumbar disc pathology: How long can the effect last?
- Kumar N, Aye SZ, Sonawane D, Hey HWD, Kumar A
- Global Spine Journal; 8(4): 365-373 (June 2018)
- Basic concepts in metal work failure after metastatic spine tumour surgery
- Kumar N, Patel R, Wadhwa AC, Kumar A et al.
- European Spine Journal; 27(4): 806–814 (April 2018)
- Evolution in treatment strategy for metastatic spine disease: Presently evolving modalities
- Kumar N, Malhotra R, Zaw AS, Maharajan K, Naresh N, Kumar A, et al.
- European Journal of Surgical Oncology; 43(9): 1784-1801 (September 2017)
- Annulo-nucleoplasty using Disc-FX® in the management of lumbar disc pathology: Early results
- Kumar N, Kumar A, Shah SM, Shah SP, Ngan J
- Int J Spine Surg. 8: 18. (December 2015)
- The sentinel vein: an anatomical guide to localisation of the dorsomedial cutaneous nerve in hallux surgery
- Makwana N, Hossain M, Kumar A, Mbako A
- J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2011;93(10):1373-6 (October 2011)
- Management of distal tibio-fibular syndesmotic injuries: A snapshot of current practice
- Monga P, Kumar A, Simons A, Panikker V
- Acta Orthop. Belg. 2008; 74(3), 365-369 (July 2008)
- Outcome following Surgery for Hallux Valgus: The patients’ perspective
- Monga P, Kumar A, Simons A
- Foot and Ankle Surgery 2006; 12(2):94-8 (April 2006)
- Analysis of stress distribution in lumbar interbody fusion
- Kumar N, Judith MR, Kumar A, Mishra V, Mulholland RC
- Spine 2005; 30(15):1731-5 (1 Aug 2005)
Case Reports
- Direct fixation of C1 Jefferson fracture using C1 lateral mass screws: a case report
- Kumar A, Onggo J, Lim HF, Oh J
- IJSS 2019; 13(4):345-349 (August 2019
- Hemiparesis in spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma: a potential stroke imitator
- Patel R, Kumar A, Nishizawa K, Kumar N.
- BMJ Case Reports 2018 Jan 26.
- url: http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2018/bcr-2017-222686
- Investigation of wooden splinters in foot: a case report and literature review
- Kumar A, Kumar N, Gadgil A
- EJOST 2006; 6(1):80-82 (Mar 2006)
- Pseudomonas cervical osteomyelitis with retropharyngeal abscess: an unusual complication of oteitis media
- Paul CA, Kumar A, Raut VV, Garhnam A, Kumar N
- J Laryngol Otol 2006; 119(10):816-8 (Oct 2006)
- Three cases of vertebral osteomyelitis caused by Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. Equisimilis
- Kumar A, Sandoe J, Kumar N
- J Med Microbiol 2005; 54(Pt 11):1103-5 (Nov 2005)
Letters to the editor
- Dynamic hip screw in the management of reverse obliquity intertrochanteric neck of femur fractures
- Kumar A, Kumar N
- Injury 2006; 37(1):84-5 (Jan 2006)
- Prediction of fixation failure after sliding hip screw fixation
- Kumar A, Kumar N
- Injury 2005; 36(8):984-5 (Aug 2005)
Abstracts
- Metastatic Spine Tumour Surgery: Does Perioperative Blood Transfusion Influence Postoperative Complications?
- N Kumar, A Zaw, D Sonawane, K Maharajan, HWD Hey, A Kumar
- Spine: Affiliated Society Meeting Abstracts, 312 (May 2017)
- “Annulonucleoplasty – discfx” A Radio Frequency Treatment Modality For Treatment Of Axial Low Back Pain-2 Years Outcome
- N Kumar, N Kumar, AS Zaw, J Tan, HWD Hey, A Kumar
- Spine: Affiliated Society Meeting Abstracts, 314 (May 2017)
- Surgical Aggressiveness Index for Metastatic Spinal Disease
- N Kumar, BWL Tan, LW Khin, AS Zaw, D Sonawane, A Kumar
- Spine: Affiliated Society Meeting Abstracts, 315 (May 2017)
- The influence of histologic subtype in predicting survival of lung cancer patients with spinal metastases
- J Tan, KA Tan, AS Zaw, D Hey, A Kumar, N Kumar
- The Spine Journal 17 (3), S17 (March 2017)
- Are we ready for transfusing intraoperative salvaged blood in metastatic spine tumour surgery?
- Kumar N, Zaw AS, Ahmed Q, Lee V, Wong H-K, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S61.
- Blood loss in spinal tumour surgery: evaluation of influencing factors.
- Kumar N, Zaw AS, Maharajan K, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S90.
- Evaluation of prognostic factors and a modification to the modified tokuhashi score in patients with spinal metastases from breast cancer.
- Tan J, Tan KA, Zaw AS, Hey D, Kumar A, Kumar N.
- The Spine Journal. 2017 Mar;17(3, Supplement):S16.
- Evaluation of the safety of using intra-operative salvaged blood in metastatic spine tumour surgery: using microwell technique.
- Kumar N, Zaw AS, Khoo BL, Thiery JP, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S62.
- Flowcytometric evaluation of intraoperative salvaged blood filtered with leucocyte depletion filter in metastatic spine tumour surgery.
- Kumar N, Zaw AS, Lam R, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S61.
- Metastatic spine tumour surgery: does perioperative blood transfusion influence postoperative complications?
- Zaw AS, Sonawane D, Maharanjan K, Hey D, Kumar A, Kumar N.
- The Spine Journal. 2017 Mar;17(3, Supplement):S17–8.
- Metastatic spine tumour surgery: minimally invasive approach versus open approach.
- Kumar N, Malhotra R, Maharajan K, Zaw AS, Wu PH, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S63.
- Perioperative blood transfusion: does it influence survival and cancer progression in metastatic spine tumor surgery?
- Zaw AS, Sonawane D, Maharajan K, Hey D, Kumar A, Kumar N.
- The Spine Journal. 2017 Mar;17(3, Supplement):S18–9.
- The accuracy of prognostic scoring systems in predicting survival of lung cancer patients with spinal metastases.
- Kumar N, Tan J, Tan KA, Zaw AS, Tan G, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S89–90.
- The influence of histological subtype in predicting survival of lung cancer patients with spinal metastases.
- Kumar N, Tan KA, Tan J, Zaw AS, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S90.
- The influence of histologic subtype in predicting survival of lung cancer patients with spinal metastases.
- Tan J, Tan KA, Zaw AS, Hey D, Kumar A, Kumar N.
- The Spine Journal. 2017 Mar;17(3, Supplement):S17.
- Versatility of percutaneous pedicular screw fixation in metastatic spine tumour surgery.
- Kumar N, Zaw AS, Malhotra R, Wu PH, Makandura M, Kumar A.
- The Spine Journal. 2016 Apr;16(4, Supplement):S90–1.
- Should anterior lumbar interbody fusion be treated as major abdominal surgery for thromboembolic prophylaxis?
- Kumar A, Ahuja S, Rao P
- Eur Spine J (2012) 21 (Suppl 2):S235–S236
- Incidence of adjacent level osteophytes after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion using non-plate fixation.
- Kumar A, Ahuja S, Rao P, Manoj-Thomas A
- Eur Spine J (2012) 21 (Suppl 2):S239
Presentations
Podium
- “Symptomatic metalwork failure in spinal metastases surgery”
- ASSICON, Chennai, India, January 2018
- “PID and Spinal stenosis”
- SCORE, SRMC, Chennai, India, January 2018
- “MIS surgery: complications and salvage options”
- MISSICON, Chennai, India, October 2017
- “Anterior versus posterior surgery for thoracolumbar fracture stabilisation”
- Singapore Spine Society, Singapore 2017
- “Low back pain clinic – an 1Stop shop”
- Singapore Spine Society, Singapore 2017
- “MIS versus open surgery for Spinal Tumours”
- Britspine, Nottingham 2016
- “Controversies in Cervical spine fracture dislocations”
- Singapore Trauma Symposium, Singapore 2016
- “The SpineCor brace in scoliosis – The Perth experience”
- Australian Spine Society meeting, Perth 2013
- “Adjacent level Osteophytes after ACDF: A comparison of 2 techniques”
- Australian Spine Society meeting, Perth 2013
- Britspine conference, Newcastle 2012
- “ALIF and DVT: Is there an indication for prophylaxis”
- Britspine conference, Newcastle 2012
- “The ‘Sentinel vein’ in hallux surgery”
- APOA, Seoul, South Korea, July 2007
- “Cervical Nerve Root Block – a ‘two needle’ technique”
- RCSEd/CSHK Conjoint Scientific Congress 2006, Hong Kong, October 2006
- “Cervical Nerve Root Block – a ‘two needle’ technique”
- IMAST, Athens, Greece, July 2006
- “Surgical Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy/ Myelopathy – early results”
- APOA, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2004
Podium
- “Symptomatic metalwork failure in spinal metastases surgery”
- ASSICON, Chennai, India, January 2018
- “PID and Spinal stenosis”
- SCORE, SRMC, Chennai, India, January 2018
- “MIS surgery: complications and salvage options”
- MISSICON, Chennai, India, October 2017
- “Anterior versus posterior surgery for thoracolumbar fracture stabilisation”
- Singapore Spine Society, Singapore 2017
- “Low back pain clinic – an 1Stop shop”
- Singapore Spine Society, Singapore 2017
- “MIS versus open surgery for Spinal Tumours”
- Britspine, Nottingham 2016
- “Controversies in Cervical spine fracture dislocations”
- Singapore Trauma Symposium, Singapore 2016
- “The SpineCor brace in scoliosis – The Perth experience”
- Australian Spine Society meeting, Perth 2013
- “Adjacent level Osteophytes after ACDF: A comparison of 2 techniques”
- Australian Spine Society meeting, Perth 2013
- Britspine conference, Newcastle 2012
- “ALIF and DVT: Is there an indication for prophylaxis”
- Britspine conference, Newcastle 2012
- “The ‘Sentinel vein’ in hallux surgery”
- APOA, Seoul, South Korea, July 2007
- “Cervical Nerve Root Block – a ‘two needle’ technique”
- RCSEd/CSHK Conjoint Scientific Congress 2006, Hong Kong, October 2006
- “Cervical Nerve Root Block – a ‘two needle’ technique”
- IMAST, Athens, Greece, July 2006
- “Surgical Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy/ Myelopathy – early results”
- APOA, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2004
Teaching Experience
- Adjunct Assistant Professor – National University and Nanayang Technological University, Singapore. I was involved in the regular teaching of M3 and M5 students. This included tutorials, ward rounds as well as teaching in clinics and assessments
- Examiner for M3 finals and final MBBS for NUSMed and LKCMed
- Clinical faculty member for the NHG Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programme. I am involved in the regular teaching of residents from this programme. This includes surgical skills training and tutorials in topics including Spinal Surgery and Basic Sciences
- I was a member of the Programme evaluation and Clinical Competency committees for the NHG Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programme
- I have been a tutor on the Operative Skills in Orthopaedic Surgery and MRCS revision courses
- I have regularly lectured on my Registrar training circuit including lectures and practical demonstrations in the following topics
- Application of Halo Fixation
- Management of Spinal trauma
- Passing the FRCS (Tr & Orth)
- Orthopaedic Basic sciences
- Orthopaedic Clinical examination
IT skills and General Interests
- Computer literacy – Comfortable with Mac and Windows, Endnote etc.
- I enjoy playing cricket and I am learning to play golf
- I regularly exercise by running and swimming
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT
Dr Aravind Kumar
Profile Details
Specialty
- Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
- Specialist in Spine Surgery
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
- March 1997 – MBBS, Madras Medical College, India
- January 2001 – MRCS(Glasg), Royal College of Glasgow, UK
- June 2001 – MRCS(Ed), Royal College of Edinburgh, UK
- September 2011 – FRCS (Tr & Orth), Intercollegiate Specialty board, UK
- August 2012 – CCT (Tr & Orth), General Medical Council, UK
- August 2018 – FAMS, Academy of Medical Sciences, Singapore
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATIONS
- Singapore Medical Council – M19933H
- (Full Registration)
- General Medical Council, UK – 5194327
- (Specialist Registration)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Singapore Spine Society
- Singapore Orthopaedic Association
- Association of Spine Surgeons of India
- British Association of Spine Surgeons
- AO Spine
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, NUSMed, National University of Singapore
- Member, Master of Medicine committee
- Department lead for undergraduate education
- Committees – Infection control committee, DRG code audit
- Reviewer – International Journal of Spinal Surgery, Injury, Global Spine Journal
Prizes and distinctions
- NUS, ‘Most inspiring teacher’ award – 2019-2020
- NUS, Department of Orthopaedics Excellence in Teaching award 2015-2016 & 2016-2017
- NUS Dean’s award for Excellence in Teaching 2016
- Clinical ‘Service Champion’ award – KTPH 2016 and 2017
- NUHS Innovation and Creativity in Education Fund 2015
- Top 10 papers for 2006
- Foot and Ankle Surgery, 2006
- Gold Medal in Clinical Orthopaedics, November 1995
- Distinction in University Anatomy, April 1992
