Dr Thong Chwee Ling grew up in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and was educated in Assunta Primary and Assunta Secondary School. She completed her sixth form in Sultan Abdul Samad School and was accepted into the medical school of the University of Malaya. She graduated with MBBS (Distinction) in 1994 and completed her housemanship in Hospital Kuala Lumpur a year later.

She started her anaesthesia practice as a medical officer in Hospital Alor Setar and subsequently was accepted for specialty training in anaesthesiology and intensive care in the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia). She obtained the MMed (Anaes) in 2001 and was posted to Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru as a clinical specialist.

In 2002 she joined the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya as a lecturer, and was later promoted to senior lecturer. Her work included providing anaesthesia services to patients in University Malaya Medical Center, teaching undergraduate medical students, training medical officers in the Master of Anaesthesiology programme and undertaking research work in anaesthesiology.

During her tenure as lecturer with University of Malaya, she spent a year as a Visiting Fellow of the University of New South Wales, Australia at the St George Hospital in Kogarah, Sydney. Dr Thong resigned from her position in UM in 2006 and commenced work in Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre (KLSMC).

Although her primary passion in life is anaesthesiology, she has real-world interests in photography, travel, sports and archery.