Assistant Professor Francis Wong Keng Lin is a Consultant in Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Assistant Professor in Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Cardiff University, Clinical Lecturer in NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Clinical Teacher and Adjunct Lecturer in NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, and Clinical Physician Faculty Member of the Singhealth Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programme. He graduated as the pioneer resident in the Clinician Scientist Track from NUHS Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Programme, clinching the Best Senior Resident Award 3 consecutive years in a row. He was also the Chief Resident, Asst Prof Francis Wong completed his Masters of Clinical Investigation(MCI) and his PhD in cartilage regeneration in NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and went on to be the inaugural Orthopaedic Surgery Resident in Singapore to win the prestigious National Medical Research Council(NMRC) Research Training Fellowship($428,400). He obtained his first NMRC New Investigator Grant(NIG)($199,650) in 2015, and in 2022, became the first ever nationally funded Orthopaedic Surgeon-Scientist by securing his NMRC Transition Award($943,500).
Asst Prof Francis Wong joined the Musculoskeletal Academic Clinical Programme (MSK ACP) at Duke-NUS in August 2018 as the Research Lead of SKH Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. In 2021, he was promoted to the Research Director of Sengkang General Hospital, achieving the feat of being the youngest candidate to assume a senior leadership role in research in any hospital in Singapore. For his expertise in Orthobiologics and Cell Therapy, he was also promoted to the Campus Service Chief for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre. Currently, Asst Prof Wong have more than 65 peer reviewed journal articles to date, with H-index of 21, and accumulated more than $3 million in funding for research.
Asst Prof Francis Wong’s interests lie in sports medicine and sports surgery, in particular cartilage regeneration and restoration, where he was awarded the Vericel-ICRS Clinical Travelling Fellowship in 2019, and became the very first Travelling Fellow of ICRS to represent South-East Asia. Asst Prof Francis Wong has made his hospital the only ICRS Centre of Excellence in Singapore. For his clinical work and patient service, he is the Award Recipient of the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards (SHQSA) STAR category in 2022 and is regularly invited as expert faculty for various professional societies such as the ICRS and APOA. Asst Prof Wong is currently a member of the NextGen Committee in ICRS.