Dr. Melvin Lee Kiang Chua, MD, PhD, FASCO, is a leading clinician-scientist and internationally recognized expert in precision radiation oncology. He serves in multiple senior leadership roles at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), where he is the Head and Senior Consultant of the Department of Head and Neck and Thoracic Radiation Oncology. Dr. Chua is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the Precision Radiotherapeutics and Oncology Programme (PROP) and the Director of the Data and Computational Science Core within the Division of Medical Sciences at NCCS.
Dr. Chua holds a joint academic appointment as Associate Professor (tenured) at the Duke-NUS Medical School and is a Visiting Professor at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China. His research is supported by the prestigious National Medical Research Council Clinician-Scientist Award and centers on precision medicine approaches for prostate and nasopharyngeal cancers. His work integrates predictive and prognostic biomarker discovery, computational genomics, radiation resistance mechanisms, and translational trial design. He is the lead investigator of multiple Phase II and III clinical trials that have shaped the standard of care for nasopharyngeal carcinoma globally.
A highly regarded expert in nasopharyngeal cancer, Dr. Chua has led several landmark initiatives, including co-developing the ASCO–CSCO international guidelines for the treatment of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. He serves as Chair of the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Expert Panel for the AJCC/UICC TNM 9th Edition, overseeing global staging standards. He also leads the Singapore Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Large Collaborative Grant Program, one of the nation’s key efforts in cancer innovation.
Dr. Chua is deeply engaged in global oncology leadership. He is a Commissioner of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) and Singapore’s representative to the Lancet Oncology Commission on Cancer in the Commonwealth. Within the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), he has served as Past Chair of the ASCO Asia Pacific Regional Council, Program Chair for the ASCO Breakthrough Meeting 2024, a mentor for the ASCO Leadership Development Program, and continues to serve on the International Education Steering Group. He was elected Fellow of ASCO (FASCO) in recognition of his sustained contributions to international oncology.
Dr. Chua’s scientific impact is reflected in more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, including high-impact papers in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, Cell, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has delivered more than 100 invited lectures at major scientific meetings worldwide. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Nasopharynx Cancer and Associate Senior Editor for the Head and Neck Cancer section of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (the Red Journal), the flagship journal of ASTRO.
He is an active member of multiple international professional societies, including ASCO, ASTRO, AACR, ESMO, and ESTRO.
In addition to his academic and research accomplishments, Dr. Chua contributes to scientific oversight and advisory roles across industry and global oncology initiatives. His disclosures include advisory roles with Janssen and MSD; consultancy with ImmunoSCAPE, IQVIA, and PVMed; speaker engagements with Astellas and AstraZeneca; and research funding from Decipher Bioscience. He also holds intellectual property ownership in diagnostic technologies and serves in leadership roles for organizations such as Alice’s Arc.
Through his extensive work in precision oncology, computational radiation sciences, and nasopharyngeal cancer research, Dr. Melvin L.K. Chua has become one of Asia’s most influential voices in radiation oncology and global cancer innovation.
He is a Member of the Editorial Board of OncoDaily.