Cheng-har Yip MBBS, FRCS, FRCSEd, FACS

Dr. Yip Cheng Har is currently a consultant breast surgeon at Subang Jaya Medical Centre and Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare. The lead clinician for the breast cancer research programme in Cancer Research Malaysia, Dr. Yip was also the first woman President of the College of Surgeons of Malaysia and is the President-Elect of the International Surgical Society. “You can achieve anything as long as you believe in yourself, whatever your gender,” the surgeon shares, humble about her achievements.

With over 220 publications in peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Yip’s expertise focuses on breast cancer in the Asian setting. For the highly experienced surgeon, power lies in being able to advocate for women to take charge of their health and to receive the most effective care. “As a breast surgeon, I think it is important for me to be able to educate women about their breasts – when to come for screening and detect breast cancer early so that the chance of survival will be the highest.”

In 2021, Dr. Yip was a part of a collaborative effort between Malaysian and Cambridge scientists to build the largest genetic and genomic database of Asian breast cancers in the present. Through genomic sequencing of 560 breast cancer tumour samples, researchers uncovered that the aggressive subtype that expresses the HER2 protein is more common in Asian women compared to Caucasians. The genomics map has enabled new thinking about more effective approaches to treating breast cancer in Asians.