Mr K. M. John Chan studied medicine at the University of Nottingham where he obtained a First Class Honours in Medical Sciences (Biochemistry) before graduating in Medicine in 1995. After completing his internship at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, he went on to train in Surgery and passed the membership examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (MRCS) and Associate Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (AFRCS Ed) in 1998. Mr Chan then started Higher Specialist Training in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Nottingham City Hospital before securing a National Training Number at the London Deanery in 2001. Following this, Mr Chan worked as a Specialist Registrar in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Harefield Hospital, St. George's Hospital, the Heart Hospital, the Hammersmith Hospital and the Royal Brompton Hospital. He passed the intercollegiate specialty examination in Cardiothoracic Surgery (FRCS CTh) in 2005. Mr Chan is fully trained and competent in adult cardiac surgery and has a special interest in mitral and tricuspid valve repair surgery. He has Specialist Registration in Cardiothoracic Surgery and a Certificate of Completion of Training.

Mr Chan's research and academic interest began when he was an undergraduate at the University of Nottingham. His research and dissertation on the treatment of osteoporosis with fluoride and calcium won him the University of Nottingham's Bart Prize and a First Class Honours in his BMedSci degree. During his postgraduate training, Mr Chan initiated and completed clinical studies on biocompatible oxygenators for cardiopulmonary bypass, autologous pericardial aortic valve replacement as an alternative to standard aortic valve replacement, and mitral and tricuspid valve repair surgery.

In 2006, Mr Chan was awarded a Researcher Development Award by the Department of Health, UK, National Institute for Health Research. He was also awarded the Lansdell and Lawson 2007 Award by the British Medical Association, and was a co-investigator on a project grant from the British Heart Foundation together with Professor John Pepper and Dr Marcus Flather. The funding secured of almost £500,000 enabled Mr Chan to initiate and run an international multicentre randomised controlled trial, the Randomised Ischaemic Mitral Evaluation (RIME) Trial, which compared coronary artery bypass grafting with concomitant mitral valve repair against mitral valve repair alone in patients with moderate functional ischaemic mitral regurgitation. During this period of research, Mr Chan also developed a new technique to image the mitral valve comprehensively using cardiovascular magnetic resonance with Dr Philip Kilner and Professor Dudley Pennell. This new imaging technique was presented at the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and is now in routine clinical use in major cardiac centres worldwide. Mr Chan also acquired Level 2 Competency in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance during this time and an MSc in Clinical Trials. He has also passed his PhD thesis examination on his research. 

Mr Chan has given presentations at numerous international scientific meetings and published in major peer reviewed journals. He continues his research work and will be presenting and publishing results from the RIME Trial over the next few months.