Dr Sabrina Siu-ling Tsao (曹小玲)
MBBS(UK), MRCP(UK), MRCPCH(UK), FACC(USA)
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine,
School of Clinical Medicine,
The University of Hong Kong
Specialty
Paediatric Cardiology
Honors and Awards
Mathematics, Chemistry and Music Prizes Malvern Girls’ College, Great Malvern, UK (1988)
Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation Scholarship For the clinical years at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK (1990-1993 )
Fellow’s Prize, 24th Annual Midwest Pediatric Cardiology Meeting, Omaha, NE (2000)
Silver Prize, 9th Annual American Heart Association Fellow’s Research Day, Pittsburgh, PA (2002)
| Contact | Email: Tel: Fax: |
stsao@hku.hk (852) 2255-4485 (852) 2255-4089 Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Room 115, 1/F, New Clinical Building 102 Pokfulam Road, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong |
Research ID
Research
Research areas
Ongoing projects
- Dual Chamber vs Single Chamber Ventricular Pacing in Isolated Congenital Complete Heart Block in Infancy (DAVINCHI study) – a multi-institutional study – in the process of data collection
- Unexplained Ventricualr Fibrillation in the Young – multi-institutional study – in the process of data collection
- 24-year Results of Non-fenestrated Extracardiac Fontan including Fontan conversions – collaboration with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago (accepted for publication)
- Fontan conversion/ Arrhythmia surgery long-term database –set up in Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong KongPaediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease are the major areas of Professor Cheung's research. The scope of research encompasses three domains: (i) paediatric and adult congenital heart disease, (ii) acquired heart disease in children, and (iii) vascular function in health and disease in the young.
Selected publications
- Tsao S. What is the optimal remote monitoring schedule in pediatric patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices? PACE Apr 2019. Doi: 10.1111/pace.13706
- Dubin AM, Jorgensen NW, Rabdill AE, Bradley DJ, Silva JN, Tsao S, Kanter RJ, Tanel RE, Trivedi B, Young ML, Pflaumer A, McCormack J, Seslar SP. What have we learned in the last 20 years? A comparison of a modern era pediatric and congenital catheter ablation registry to previous pediatric ablation registries. Heart Rhythm 2019;16:57. Doi: 10.1016/hrthm.2018.08.013
- Deal BJ, Costello JM, Webster G, Tsao S, Backer CL, Mavroudis C. Intermediate-term Outcome of 140 Consecutive Fontan Conversions with Arrhythmia Operations. Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2016;101(2):717-724.
- Mavroudis, C, Deal, BJ, Backer, CL, Tsao S. Arrhythmia surgery in patients with and without congenital heart disease. Ann Thorac Surg 2008; 86:857-868
Education
In the first year of her faculty position at The University of Hong Kong, Dr. Tsao brought her enthusiasm and expertise in electrophysiology to the Paediatric Cardiology team, providing systematic approach to arrhythmia teaching to residents through ward rounds, and Paediatric Grand round, to medical students through tutorials and didactic lectures in their Specialty Clerkship and Senior Clerkship rotations, and to cardiac catheterization lab technician and nurses during electrophysiology study.
Apart from her expertise in electrophysiology, Dr. Tsao also became board certified in Adult Congenital Heart Disease by The American Board of Internal Medicine in 2019. She has become an essential member of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease team at Queen Mary Hospital. She has collaborated with the adult electrophysiology team to perform complex transcatheter ablation in adults with congenital heart disease. She collaborates with the cardiac surgeons to perform complex arrhythmia surgeries in adults with congenital heart disease. Her collaboration with our cardiac surgeons for implantation of epicardial pacemakers lead to improved longevity and utilization of these devices in patients with congenital heart disease.
At the Faculty level, Dr. Tsao was the Coordinator of the MBBS Final Summative examination and rose to the challenge of the COVID pandemic. She needed to change and adapt different examination formats for the medical students, and therefore, we were able to provide appropriate examinations to the final year medical students. Due to the ongoing pandemic, her efforts in reimagining the MBBS examination will continue to be implemented in the foreseeable future.
Dr. Tsao uses novel ways to improve auscultation teaching in paediatric cardiology for paediatric residents at The University of Hong Kong, both at Queen Mary Hospital and Shenzhen Children’s Hospital by seeking out new applications that can be shared throughout. She has utilized these tools to improve on-line teaching to medical students as well.
In 2020, Professor Cheung developed a multifaceted ‘E-Learning Platform in Paediatric Cardiology’, and Dr. Tsao has helped develop lectures in this E-learning platform to facilitate remote learning.
Dr. Tsao has been a member of the Quality Improvement committee of the Pediatric And Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES) from 2017-2019. She has been one of the physician steering members of Chicagoland Cardiac Connections Advocacy from 2013-2018, this is an annual support group for children and young adults with pacemakers and defibrillators.
Dr. Tsao has been a journal reviewer for: Journal of American College of Cardiology, Europace, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Pediatric Cardiology, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, Cardiology in the Young, and Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics. She has been invited to be the Associate Editor for the Pediatric Section in Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology since December 2019.
Dr. Tsao is an invited speaker at multiple international scientific meetings including the Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions, PediRhythm, CardioRhythm, and Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society.
Clinical Service
Dr. Tsao provides specialist clinical service for children and adults with congenital heart disease. With her 15 years’ experience in adult congenital heart disease in Chicago prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, together with other paediatric cardiologists at Queen Mary Hospital, she has expanded and improved the care of these complex patients in their outpatient and perioperative care in the hospital. She will transition to provide care to paediatric cardiology patients at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, and still maintaining her active Adult Congenital Heart Disease service at Queen Mary Hospital. She will continue to provide diagnostic evaluation, postoperative care, transcatheter ablation, and cardiac device implantations for patients with arrhythmias.
She has twice been invited to be a Visiting Professor at Deutsches Herzzentrum München (German Heart Center), Munich, Germany to review and actively participate in Fontan conversion with arrhythmia surgery, epicardial pacemaker implantation in adults with single ventricle physiology in 2011.