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​A/Prof Dessmon Tai graduated from the National University of Singapore with MBBS in 1986. He passed his examinations for the MRCP (UK) in 1992 from the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh), and EDIC in 2000 from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. He completed a one-year clinical fellowship from 1995 to 1996 under the MOH's Health Manpower Development Plan Programme in the Department of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA. He obtained his Fellowships from the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (FAMS 1997), American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP, 1997), American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM, 2001) and Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh (FRCP, 2002). He is accredited as specialist in Respiratory Medicine (1998), Intensive Care Medicine (2012) and Internal Medicine (2014). 

He is a Senior Consultant in the Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (since 2003), Clinical Associate Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (since 2010), and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University (since 2025).

He served as Director of Medical Intensive Care Unit in TTSH (1997 to 2006), President of the Society of Intensive Care Medicine (Singapore) (2001 to 2003) and co-chairman of the Intensive Care Medicine Sub-Speciality Training Committee (2005 to 2007).

He was the Treasurer (2002 to 2010), Assistant Treasurer (2010 to 2014) and Council Member (2002 to 2015) of Asia Pacific Association of Critical Care Medicine. He serves on the editorial board of Critical Care and Shock as an Associate Editor for Asia and Pacific regions since 2001. He was also an editorial board member of Medical Progress from 2002 to 2012.

A/Prof Tai has spoken at numerous local and regional medical conferences/courses in Bali (2002, 2004 to 2019, 2023 to 2025), Jakarta (2003, 2007 to 2008), Seoul (2004), Hong Kong (2005, 2007), Beijing (2006), Sydney (2008), Manila (2010), Chiba (2012), Bandung (2013), Jaipur (2014), Daejeon (2014), Phnom Penh (2019), Bangkok (2024) and Dhaka (2025). He received the Outstanding Achievement Awards as a dedicated speaker at the Asia Pacific Symposium on Critical Care & Emergency Medicine thrice in 2008, 2011 & 2018. He was also awarded the Long Service Reviewer Certificate (2016) for his long-term contributions to the Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress.

He has authored more than 100 papers and abstracts, and contributed chapters to 2 American medical books and an International Encyclopaedia of Public Health. He is the chief co-editor of the Bedside ICU Handbook (1st & 2nd Editions).

For his contributions during the SARS & Covid-19 pandemics, he was awarded the Medal of Valour (2003 National Day Awards), Courage Star Award (2003 NHG Health) and Covid-19 Resilience Medal (2023 National Day Award). His other awards include the Excellent Service Awards by SPRING Singapore (The Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board) in 2004 (Silver) and 2006 (Gold), and Long Service Medals (2002, 2009, 2014 & 2019).​