TOYP Singapore 2019

Dr. Kumaran s/o Rasappan

Honouree · Humanitarian Leadership

Year

2019

Biography

Dr. Kumaran Rasappan (b. 1985) is a Singaporean orthopaedic surgeon, mountaineer, and philanthropist who currently serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and dual fellowship-trained Consultant in the Division of Musculoskeletal Oncology and Division of Orthopaedic Trauma at the National University Hospital (NUH), as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS).

He obtained his medical degree from NUS and went on to earn membership with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (MRCS), a Master of Medicine (MMed) in Orthopaedic Surgery from NUS, and a Fellowship with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd, Ortho).

He further completed a full-year Oncology and Complex Arthroplasty Fellowship at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, UK, and an orthopaedic trauma fellowship at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden, Germany — a recognised AO Trauma Centre of Excellence.

Reflecting his passion for mountains and the outdoors, he also obtained the International Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM), awarded jointly by the UIAA, ICAR, and the International Society for Mountain Medicine, and completed a Masters of Clinical Investigation (MCI) from NUS.

He has published widely in scientific journals and presented at numerous local and international conferences, and his research has been funded by grants from AO Trauma Asia Pacific and the NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Clinician Scientist Preparatory Programme (CSPP).

Achievements

Dr. Kumaran is most celebrated for being the first Singapore-born Indian and the first Singapore doctor to summit Mount Everest on 26 May 2012 — at the age of 27 — making him the first Singaporean to climb the world’s highest peaks for a charitable cause.

Through his “No Mountain Too High” fundraising campaign, he raised over S$40,000 for the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Community Charity Fund, and continued his charity mountaineering efforts in 2017 by attempting K2 and Makalu to raise at least S$50,000 for the Home Nursing Foundation’s caregiver programme.

In 2014, he received the Singapore Youth Award (SYA) — the highest accolade for youth in Singapore, presented by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Istana — alongside the ASEAN Youth Award, in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in medicine, mountaineering, and philanthropy.

He was also presented the tabla! Community Champion Award in 2012 by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam, accompanied by a S$10,000 cash donation from the State Bank of India — which he donated entirely to charity.

His research papers earned him the 2nd Prize at the 2nd SingHealth Duke-NUS Education Conference 2015, as well as the Best Free Paper and Best Poster prizes at the Singapore Trauma & Acute Care Conference (STACC) 2018, and 3rd Prize under the Singapore Youth Investigator Award category at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Conference (SHBC) 2018.

Beyond his medical and mountaineering feats, he has delivered TEDx talks, given motivational speeches at schools and SINDA tuition centres, and volunteered regularly at prison rehabilitation programmes to inspire youth and inmates alike.

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