ABout Us
Meet Our
Rheumatologist
FRACP (New Zealand), FAMS (Rheumatology)
- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (University of Otago, New Zealand)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Obstetrics and Medical Gynaecology (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
- Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Rheumatology, New Zealand)
- Fellow of the Academy of Medicine (Rheumatology, Singapore)
Dr Poh Yih Jia is an experienced and dedicated rheumatologist with a special interest in the field of lupus, arthritis as well as management of pregnancy and flares in patients with autoimmune diseases.
Dr Poh completed her medical degree and specialist training in Rheumatology in New Zealand at the University of Otago, and was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Rheumatology) in 2012.
With a strong interest in autoimmune diseases and pregnancy, Dr Poh was awarded the Health Manpower Development Plan Fellowship to undergo subspecialty training at the Louise Coote Lupus Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London.
Prior to establishing her own practice, she served as a Senior Consultant in the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) where she was based for over a decade. At SGH, she led the development of several specialised services to enhance care for patients with autoimmune diseases. She established the Rheumatology Obstetrics Clinic (ROC) – a dedicated service providing integrated rheumatology and obstetrics care for pregnant women with autoimmune diseases. She also spearheaded the development of the Gout clinic which provides multi-disciplinary care for complex gout patients. In addition, she led the SLE clinic, a specialised service dedicated to the management of patients with complex SLE.
She is a member of the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration (APLC) which is an international network of clinicians and researchers working to improve outcomes for SLE patients. She also contributes to regional collaboration in lupus care as a member of the SLE special interest group for the Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR). She led the Value Driven Care initiative for gout in SGH which aims to optimise patient outcomes through the implementation of evidence-based practices and standardised quality care pathways. She also served as a member of the expert panel for the Ministry of Health Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) Clinical Guidance on Gout.
Dr Poh has also been actively involved in medical education and training. She has served as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School, Clinical Assistant Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Clinical Teacher at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. She is also involved with post-graduate medical education by serving as Core Faculty for the Rheumatology Senior Residency Programme in SingHealth. She is an examiner for the Duke-NUS Medical School and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
In addition, she has also served as clinical supervisors for allied health professionals including pharmacists and nurses. In recognition of her contributions, she has received the SingHealth Residency Outstanding Faculty Award and the Quality Improvement Mentor of the Year Award.
Dr Poh is actively involved in research, with interests including maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancies of patients with autoimmune diseases, SLE and models of care designed to improve outcome of patients with gout.
She remains committed to delivering personalised, evidence-based care tailored to each patient's needs.
- Senior Consultant, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital (SGH)
- Rheumatology Lead, Eastern General Hospital Clinical Leadership Council
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School
- Clinical Assistant Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
- Clinical Teacher, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine
- Core Faculty, Rheumatology Senior Residency Programme in SingHealth
- Clinical Performance Improvement Committee Member, Division of Medicine, SingHealth
- Lead for Building Improvement Capability, Clinical Performance Improvement Committee, Division of Medicine, SingHealth
- Lead for Value Driven Care for Acute Gout, Singapore General Hospital
- Expert panel for the Ministry of Health Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) Clinical Guidance on gout
- Council member of Lupus Association Singapore (LAS)
- Member of Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration (APLC)
- Member of SLE Special Interest Group, Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR)
Singapore Health Quality Service Award
- - Gold Award (2016, 2025)
- - Service with a Heart Award (2014, 2019, 2023)
- - Star Award (2017, 2022)
- - Silver Award (2018)
- SingHealth Long Service Award (2024)
- Outstanding Faculty Award (2022)
- Quality Improvement Mentor of the Year Award (2022)
- Sliver Award, SGH Innovation and Quality Circle Assessment (2021, 2022)
- Best Quality Improvement Team Project Award, SingHealth (2018, 2021)
- Gold Award, SGH Innovation and Quality Circle Assessment (2019)
- SingHealth Health Manpower Development Plan Fellowship for management of pregnancy and flares in patients with autoimmune diseases (2016)
- Poh YJ, Dalbeth N, Doyle A, Mcqueen FM. Magnetic resonance imaging bone edema is not a major feature of gout unless there is concomitant osteomyelitis: 10-year findings from a high-prevalence population. The Journal of Rheumatology 2011 Nov; 38 (11): 2475-81
- Poh YJ, Baptista B, D'Cruz DP. Subcutaneous and intravenous belimumad in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus: a review of data on subcutaneous and intravenous administration. Expert Rev Clin Immunol 2017 Oct; 13(10):925-938
- Poh YJ, Yuen YL, Lim HG, Li HH, Yang LY, Tan HK, Thumboo J, Tan LK. Maternal and fetal outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus pregnancies. Ann Acad Med Singap 2020; 49:963-70
- Meyappan M, Loh A, Tan LY, Tan SF, Ho PY, Poh YJ, Tan NC. Development of a novel gout treatment patient decision aid by patient and physician: A qualitative research study. Health Expectations 2021; 00:1-13
- Fong W, Yeo SI, Ng SA, Tan LK, Lustestica IE, Poh YJ. Improving Vitamin D screening in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Quality Improvement Project. Journal of Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality 2022; 1(2): 120-126
- Yih Jia Poh, A Alrashid, Shirish R Sangle, E Higgins, E Benton, D McGibbon, David P D'Cruz. Proton pump inhibitor induced subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus: Clinical characteristics and outcomes. Lupus 2022; 31 (9):1078-1083
- Shrish R Sangle, Catherine D Hughes, Lucinda Barry, Sumera Qureshi, Chee Ken Cheah, Yih Jia Poh, David P D'Cruz. Relapsing polychondritis- a single centre study in the United Kingdom. Autoimmunity Reviews 2023; 22 (8)
- Kandane-Rathnayake R, Louthrenoo W, Lau CS, Hamijoyo L, Cho J, Lateef A, Luo SF, Wu YJ, Navarra S, Zamora L, Li Z, Chen YH, Oon S, Chan M, Sockalingam S, Hao Yanjie, Zhang Zhuoli, Bae SC, Kikuchi J, Takeuchi T, Katsumata Y, Basnayake B, Goldblatt F, O'Neill S, Ng K, Tugnet N, Sapsford M, Poh Yih Jia, Tee C, Ohkubo N, Lefeber A, Shisha T, Tanaka Y, Golder V, Nikpour M, Hoi A, Gergely P & Morand E. Prevalence and outcomes of a pilot definition of severe refractory systemic lupus erythematosus: observations from a multinational Asia-Pacific cohort. Arthritis Res Ther 27, 155 (2025)