Dr. Venkatachalam Jonathen is a respiratory and intensive care medicine specialist, managing a broad range of lung and airway conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis, interstitial lung disease, pleural effusion, sleep-disordered breathing, and the diagnosis and management of lung cancer.
He also manages critically ill patients requiring intensive care, with expertise in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, and ECMO-related care. His procedural experience includes bronchoscopy, pleural procedures (chest drain insertion, pleural aspiration and biopsy), invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation and airway management, and sleep studies with non-invasive ventilation setup.
After completing his undergraduate and intercalated degrees at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, Dr. Venkatachalam trained in general medicine and surgery in the United Kingdom before returning to Singapore, where he obtained his MRCP (UK) in 2012. He went on to complete his Senior Residency in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine with the National Healthcare Group in 2017, followed by specialist accreditation in Intensive Care Medicine in 2019.
Dr. Venkatachalam practised as Senior Consultant in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital from 2017, where he chaired the hospital's ICU Committee and served on the National ECMO Standing Committee, the NHG Respiratory Health Steering Committee, the Ambulance Services Workgroup, and the Physician Faculty of NHG Residency.
Alongside his clinical practice, Dr. Venkatachalam held academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Medicine, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and as Specialty Teaching Lead for Respiratory Medicine at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University. He is a published researcher, with work appearing in the European Respiratory Journal, the Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore, and the Journal of Intensive Care, spanning lung cancer diagnosis, critical care outcomes, and COVID-19 management.
