Dr Soma received his medical degree from the National University of Ireland in 2002, graduating with honours. He subsequently completed his ENT Specialist training in Singapore via the National ENT Training Program. During this time, he spent 6 years rotating across all the public hospitals in Singapore, providing him with a wide array of experience training under many surgeons & teachers. He was awarded several postgraduate degrees including the MRCS (Glasgow), DOHNS (England), MMED (Singapore) and FRCS ORL (England) in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
In 2016, Dr Soma was awarded the HMDP Scholarship under the Ministry of Health, Singapore to pursue a 1 year Clinical Fellowship in one of the Top 3 ENT Centres in the USA. He underwent subspecialty training in Advanced Endoscopic Sinus Surgery and Endoscopic Skull Base surgery at The Ohio State University under the tutelage of world renowned Professor Ricardo Carrau, who is the pioneer in developing advanced endoscopic surgical techniques for the treatment of complex sinus and skull base diseases. With the valuable hands-on experience he gained during his residency and fellowship, Dr Soma is one of a very few ENT specialists in the region with the skills and knowledge to treat complex ENT-related sinus, allergy and skull base diseases.
In addition to his busy clinical schedule, Dr Soma plays an active role in the training of the next generation of doctors and ENT specialists. For 6 years, he served as the Associate Program Director of the NUHS Otolaryngology Residency Program from 2014-2020 where he had a direct role in teaching and nurturing residents pursuing ENT as a career choice.
In 2019, Dr Soma was appointed as the undergraduate director for ENT at NTFGH and Adj Asst Professor at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. His duties involve creating the teaching curriculum for the ENT rotations and teaching the medical students through regular clinical group lectures and small group tutorials. He has also been routinely invited as examiner for the NUS medical faculty examinations.
During his tenureship as undergraduate director, NUS awarded the department with the "NUS Clinical Training Merit Award" in 2020 followed by the "Clinical Training Excellence Award" in 2021. These awards recognize consistently high academic performance in teaching throughout the academic year. Dr Soma was then awarded the NUHS Teaching Excellence award in 2022, shortly before he started his own practice.
Dr Soma is also regularly invited as teaching faculty at national and international ENT conferences, where he has delivered more than 50 lectures and has published numerous journal articles in peer reviewed journals and authored multiple chapters in major textbooks.
Through the years, Dr Soma has received multiple service quality awards. These include :
These awards are testament to Dr Soma’s commitment to providing the best care to every patient he has the opportunity to serve. He understands that it is not just the disease that matters, but the patient that needs to be heard and understood - no two patients are alike. You can be assured that you are in the best and safest hands. Dr Soma will patiently converse with you in whichever language you are comfortable in – English, Bahasa or Tamil and have staff who can facilitate easy communication in Mandarin.
Dr Soma has played an active role in the local ENT community where he has served in several capacities, most recently as the Honorary Treasurer and Vice President of the Singapore ENT Society. This has given him the opportunity to engage the local ENT community and organize activities that foster greater friendships and learning opportunities together.
In addition, he has spent time and effort to engage the regional ENT community across the ASEAN region, where he is the founding President of the ASEAN Rhinologic Society. Through this endeavour, and with the help of his friends and colleagues across the region, a unifying platform was created to facilitate greater cooperation and collaborations across the region for the learning and teaching of ENT.