Dr Rebecca Heywood is a British Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon (Otolaryngologist-Head and Neck Surgeon) with 25 years of medical experience. She subspecialises in otology/hearing implants and disorders of the ear, hearing, balance, facial nerve and skull base. She is passionate about helping people to hear better. Testament to her holistic approach and evidence-based, patient-centred care, Dr Rebecca was awarded a Gold Singapore Health Quality Service Award in 2022.

 

Dr Rebecca brings a wealth of experience to her practice, having worked in public hospitals in the UK, Australia and Singapore. She graduated from the University of Manchester, UK in 1998 and did her postgraduate surgical training in London at world-renowned institutions such as Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, the Royal Marsden Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital and the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital. During her training she gained further experience in ear surgery at several prestigious centres internationally including the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles and the Causse Clinic in Beziers. She then undertook subspecialty fellowship training at the Ear Science Institute Australia, where she refined her skills in surgery of the ear and skull base under the mentorship of Professor Marcus Atlas, performing many middle ear, cochlear and other hearing implant and acoustic neuroma operations.

 

Dr Rebecca is considered a key opinion leader in ear and hearing. She co-founded the hearing implant programmes at Ng Teng Fong and Sengkang General Hospitals in Singapore, winning a Service Quality Patient Experience Award for the Adult Cochlear Implant Programme along with her team at JurongHealth Campus in 2018. She has been an expert advisor on the provision of cochlear, middle ear and bone conduction implants in public healthcare and contributed to World Health Organisation strategy workshops on ear and hearing care in the Western Pacific region. She also volunteers her time and surgical expertise to charitable causes, especially for needy children. These have included performing surgery at the Children’s Surgical Hospital, Cambodia, running ear clinics in remote Aboriginal communities and promoting ear and hearing health community events in Singapore.

 

Dr Rebecca has a strong track record in research and teaching. She is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Ear Science Institute Australia and the University of Western Australia and was previously Clinical Assistant Professor at SingHealth Duke-NUS Surgery Academic Clinical Programme. Her research career started as an undergraduate at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester, UK, where she was involved in stem cell differentiation for tumour immunotherapy. More recently she was awarded grant funding to investigate the link between hearing loss and dementia in the ageing population in Singapore and led a research team spanning five institutions in Singapore, Australia (Ear Science Institute Australia) and the USA (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health). Her research has been widely reported in the media. She is also involved in clinical research on cochlear implantation and other auditory implants. Dr Rebecca is a keen advocate for collaboration in research and was organizing chairman of the World Hearing Day Research Symposium in Singapore in 2017. She has held expert faculty positions teaching ENT, otology and skull base surgery both locally and internationally.