Assoc. Prof. Alvin Chong
MBBS, MMed, FACD
Assoc. Prof. Alvin Chong is the principal dermatologist at the Ivanhoe Dermatology Clinic.
BIOGRAPHY
Assoc. Prof. Alvin Chong graduated MBBS and obtained a Master of Medicine degree by Research from the University of Melbourne. In 2003 he became a Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists. He served on the Board of Examiners for the College of Dermatologists as Victorian Censor from 2016 to 2018.
Assoc. Prof. Chong’s public clinical appointments are Specialist Dermatologist and Director of Dermatology Education at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Skin Health Institute. He is also Head of Transplant Dermatology Clinic at Skin Health Institute. He is Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, where he has a profile as an international authority on skin cancers in immunosuppressed patients. He has written numerous peer-reviewed articles in medical journals, textbook chapters and was associate editor of the sub-specialty textbook “Transplant Dermatology: Skin Disease in Organ Transplant Recipients”, published by Cambridge University Press. He has been invited to present on this topic nationally and internationally.
Assoc. Prof. Chong is a member of the Skin Cancer Prevention Framework Steering Committee and Non-melanoma Skin Cancer Expert Working Group, Department of Health, Victoria. where he helped to draft the optimal care pathway for people with non-melanoma skin cancer. He is part of the Working Party to establish the Australian Cancer Network Guidelines for the Management of Keratinocyte cancers.
Assoc. Prof. Chong is strongly committed to undergraduate and post-graduate education. He is a member of the prestigious Melbourne Medical School Academy of Clinical Teachers and has coordinated and facilitated many workshops upskilling doctors on the management of skin cancer and skin diseases.
DR ALVIN CHONG’S PROFILE IN THE AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE OF DERMATOLOGISTS
“I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a child. Our family doctor was helpful as well as deeply respected. I wanted to be like him. My mother encouraged me to be compassionate, kind and to help people. Wanting to help is my core calling,” says Melbourne dermatologist Dr Alvin Chong.
Born in Malaysia and raised in Singapore, Dr Alvin Chong arrived in Melbourne at the age of 18. After brief stints whilst an undergraduate student working as a waiter, kitchenhand and actor, his first medical job was as an intern at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
“My first job as a doctor was as a dermatology resident. I was lucky enough to be mentored by Professor Robin Marks and Dr Harvey Rotstein, senior dermatologists who were encouraging and supportive. I initially wanted to be a psychiatrist, but working with them got me interested in dermatology instead. To be able to visually identify a problem, diagnose and then treat the disease made dermatology the most appealing area of medicine.”
Currently, Dr Alvin Chong is the principal dermatologist at Ivanhoe Dermatology Clinic and runs a public outpatient clinic at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. He is also the Head of the Transplant Dermatology Clinic at Skin Health Institute – the first dedicated transplant dermatology clinic in Australia.
Read the full profile on The Australasian College of Dermatologists website.