Dr Poon Ngar Yee
Dr Poon Ngar Yee 潘雅怡医生
- MBBS (UK), MMed (Psychiatry), MRCPsych (UK)
- Senior Consultant Psychiatrist | Medical Director & Co-Founder, Serenity Clinic Clinical Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School
- Visiting Consultant, Department of Psychological Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH)
- Languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | ADHD & Neurodevelopmental Conditions | Women’s & Perinatal Mental Health
About Dr Poon Ngar Yee
Dr Poon Ngar Yee is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Medical Director and Co-Founder of Serenity Clinic in Novena, Singapore, with more than 20 years of experience in psychiatry. Her clinical practice focuses on child and adolescent psychiatry, ADHD and neurodevelopmental conditions, women’s mental health and perinatal psychiatry, as well as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and psychosomatic disorders in children and adults.
Dr Poon has extensive experience working with children, adolescents and families, including young people experiencing emotional, behavioural, school and relationship difficulties. She has a particular interest in ADHD, autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as supporting women through mental health challenges during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Her interests also include infant mental health and mother–child bonding.
Before co-founding Serenity Clinic, Dr Poon was a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist and Head of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the Department of Psychological Medicine at KKH. She held a range of leadership roles at KKH spanning child and adolescent mental health, community mental health, patient safety, healthcare quality and service development.
She continues her professional affiliation with KKH as a Visiting Consultant in the Department of Psychological Medicine, contributing to the Women’s Mental Health Service and REACH East. Throughout her career, she has also worked across Singapore’s public healthcare system, including Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Institute of Mental Health and Changi General Hospital.
Alongside her clinical work, Dr Poon remains actively involved in medical education and professional development. She is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Duke NUS Medical School and a Member of the Clinical Practice Guidelines on Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Workgroup. She has also held previous academic and medical education appointments at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and within Singapore’s postgraduate medical education programmes.
Dr Poon believes that good psychiatric care begins with understanding the person behind the symptoms. She takes time to listen to each patient’s experiences, concerns and circumstances, and works collaboratively with patients and families to develop care that is practical, individualised and evidence-based. When working with children and adolescents, she considers both the young person’s perspective and the wider family context, while working closely with parents and caregivers.
Current Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships
- Visiting Consultant, Department of Psychological Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH)
- Clinical Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School
Current Professional Committee Membership
- Member, Clinical Practice Guidelines on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Workgroup
Previous Professional Leadership, Appointments & Committee Memberships
- Head of Service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Department of Psychological Medicine, KKH
- Patient Safety Lead, Department of Psychological Medicine, KKH
- Programme Director, Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health (REACH) East Team
- Director, PsyMed Academy
- KKH Representative, Autism Collaborative
- Committee Member, National Suicide Workgroup
- Committee Member, Implementation Committee for the Tiered Care Model (Youth) for Mental Health
- Committee Member, Medication Safety Committee
- Committee Member, Mortality and Morbidity Committee
- Committee Member, Joint Commission International Chapter: Care of Patients
Previous Academic & Medical Education Appointments
- Clinical Lecturer, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
- Clinical Teacher, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
- Physician Faculty Member, NHG Psychiatry Residency Programme
- Programme Faculty, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (IPSA) AM-EPIC Framework
Awards & Recognition
- Singapore Health Quality Service (Star) Award, 2024
- Singapore Health Quality Service (Gold) Award, 2023
- COVID-19 Resilience Medal, 2023
- Singapore Health Quality Service (Silver) Award, 2022
- KKH Target Zero Harm Award (Excellence), 2022
- Service From the Heart Award, 2021
- Service From the Heart Award, 2014
Selected Publications & Academic Work
- 2025 — Barriers underlying care gaps in Singapore’s mental health landscape and suggestions for improvement from service providers’ perspectives: A qualitative approach. Frontiers in Public Health.
- 2024 — Understanding adolescent depression in Singapore: a qualitative study. Singapore Medical Journal.
- 2020 — Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Telemedicine: a Singaporean experience born in COVID-19. Asian Journal of Psychiatry.
- 2018 — Medication adherence in first-episode psychosis patients in Singapore. Early Intervention in Psychiatry.
- 2018 — Managing challenging behaviours in dementia. Singapore Medical Journal.
- 2018 — Dementia management: a brief overview for primary care clinicians. Singapore Medical Journal.
