Prof Jimmy So graduated from Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1991. He received his surgical training in National University Hospital, Singapore. He was trained in Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Bariatric Surgery, Therapeutic Endoscopy and Minimally Invasive Surgery. He received fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA. He was also appointed as visiting consultant surgeon in Esophageal and Gastric Surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, UK. He established the Centre for Obesity Management and Surgery (COMS). He is pioneer of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer, intraperitoneal chemotherapy and pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) in Singapore.
He has published more than 300 peer reviewed scientific papers (H Index of 61, Total citations > 13500 according to Google Scholar in Nov 2024) and received over S$35 million research grants for his research. He published his research in medical journals such as Lancet, Nature, Cell, Nature Genetics, Gastroenterology, Gut, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Surgery, BJS and JAMA Surgery. He received the Peritoneal Prize by International Society for the Study of Peritoneum and Pleura (ISSPP) in 2020 which recognized the top researcher in the world in the field of peritoneal carcinomatosis. He delivered the Yaya Cohen Memorial Lecture by College of Surgeons, Singapore in 2018. He has delivered over 150 invited lectures internationally. He was invited regularly to speak at International Gastric Cancer Congress, Annual Scientific Meetings of Japanese Gastric Cancer Association and Korean International Gastric Cancer Week. He has also presented his research at American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), International Society for Diseases of Esophagus (ISDE) and World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery. He is founding president of the Asia-Pacific Gastro-esophageal Cancer Congress in 2006. Prof So is the Editor for Gastric Cancer, an official journal of International Gastric Cancer Association (IGCA) and he is also member of editorial board of journals including ESMO GI Oncology, BJS Open, Journal of Gastric Cancer, Cancers, Translational Medicine and Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery.