Christopher Teik-Kooi Khoo: plastic and reconstructive surgeon with an interest in the regulation of cosmetic surgery

Christopher Teik-Kooi Khoo was born in Singapore. His mother, Adeline Phoa, was a veteran of the anti-Japanese resistance, and his father, Khoo Oon Teik, was a distinguished nephrologist who established the first renal dialysis unit at the Singapore General Hospital in the 1960s after the death of his brother from renal failure. Christopher carried out his first operation as a child on an injured dog he and his father rescued, sutured, and nursed back to health.

A bright student, Khoo was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) in Singapore and later at Wellington School in the UK, travelling as an unaccompanied 14 year old to Genoa by boat, then across Europe by train with his school trunk. Despite the initial culture shock, including ice on the inside of the dormitory windows, Khoo settled in, editing the school magazine and writing a musical based on the travels of Marco Polo in China.