Tiong Y. Tan is a Clinical Geneticist based at Flemington Road in Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Genetics can explain why some babies and children grow and develop in a different way. Dr Tan works with families who are dealing with suspected inherited conditions, and also with people who need help making sense of results from genetic testing.
In many cases, the focus is on development and early life changes. This can include delays in speech and learning, slower growth, low muscle tone, or trouble with movement like apraxia. At times, there may also be issues with brain development, such as cortical dysplasia or polymicrogyria, and some families are managing seizures or epilepsy, including absence seizures and generalised tonic-clonic seizures.
There are also families who come in because of changes in body shape and structure. For example, craniofacial differences like Pierre Robin sequence, Treacher Collins syndrome, Crouzon syndrome, and Goldenhar disease can be part of the story. Other signs might involve limb and bone differences, differences in the hands and fingers, or issues like craniosynostosis and metopic ridge.
Heart problems can also be part of the genetic picture. Dr Tan looks after patients where genetic conditions are linked with heart muscle disease, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM).
Some conditions involve the digestive system, too, such as achalasia or oesophageal atresia. Other areas can include skin and hair changes, hormone or reproductive differences, and conditions affecting the immune system or metabolism, like VLCAD deficiency. Genetic mosaicism may also come up in discussions, where test results show changes in some cells but not all.
Genetic testing is only one piece of care. Dr Tan also helps families understand what results can mean for health now, and what to watch for over time. Keeping up with new genetics knowledge matters in this field, even though the details of research or clinical trials aren’t listed here.
When a condition is complex, it helps to have someone who can explain it clearly, break things into manageable steps, and support families through decisions that can feel overwhelming.