Duke-NUS - Admissions Blog

I’m currently finishing my Masters of Science in Global Health at Duke University, in what is an extended third year of research during my Duke-NUS MD. Right now in preparation to transition back to Duke-NUS Medical School, I have a renewed sense of self and goals. With that spirit I will join Team Healthy Kids to run the upcoming New York City Marathon this November. Your encouragement and support - whether financial, vocal, social media, or even a commitment to run – will go a long way towards this mission that is very near and dear to me. Please take a minute to visit the following link below: https://www.crowdrise.com/ActionforHealthyKidsnyc2016/fundraiser/kuoben Growing up in a family of physicians in Taiwan and the United States, medicine as a career choice ironically wasn’t always my first nor my second choice. But after a long journey of different experiences, the calling and desire to become a doctor became clear. Anticipating the long road ahead, I knew if I wanted to see this through, I had to enjoy the journey. How do I now synthesise my experiences, background, and my passion to chart a path that I am truly excited about? This reflection letter came about and gave me the clarity and the peace of mind that I needed.

Deciding to pursue medicine as a career is not a decision anyone takes—or should take, for that matter—without careful consideration. This is especially true if you are considering diving into medicine as a post-graduate student (read: old[er] person). And, perhaps, this may be an even more difficult decision to make if you come from a non-traditional (i.e. non-premed) background. My name is Haikel, a second year medical student, and I hope to provide you with some insight into why, and how, I went from psychology to medicine, and how it has helped me so far, so that it may possibly help you make a more informed choice (too long?—skip to the last paragraph). Curiosity Killed the Cat

Year Two After a year of TeamLEAD sessions in the classroom, the second year Dukies will be released into the real world. It might seem exciting to some and scary to others, but it is definitely an experience that is unique to the life of a medical student. One way to think about this experience might be to compare it with the concept in the olden days of an apprentice, where the young disciple learns first-hand from his master how things are done, and at times even tries his hand at some tasks. Modern day learning is more structured. The ward learning experience is broadly divided into six specialties, each lasting four to eight weeks, called clerkships. The schedule differs slightly across different clerkships but generally speaking, the student attends and even participates in morning rounds, specialist clinics, and specialized procedures, if any. This is supplemented with specialised teaching sessions in the wards, like bedside tutorials. Through these, the student should be able to pick up skills in examining and communicating with a patient, to read signs and obtain necessary information to make diagnoses and plans for the patient. Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships

Financing a medical education can be challenging and is a huge factor that many MD applicants have to consider. Our school helps students tap on various resources to meet financial needs, including bursaries and merit scholarships. We interviewed an MD student from the Class of 2019, who shared how he finances his medical studies. What sort of financial aid did you receive when you applied to Duke-NUS Medical School? As a beneficiary of the School’s financial aid, I am extremely thankful for its generous support. In my first year, I received a Duke-NUS bursary that covered about 75% of my school fees. That helped to reduce the financial burden of attending medical school. I also took a Tuition Fee Loan (TFL) from a local bank that was made possible by MOE and NUS. The maximum TFL that can be taken is 90% of what a Singapore Citizen pays in tuition fees. How did you finance the remainder of your fees?

In May this year, the 'Student Steps Challenge' was launched, spearheaded by Paik Kwan Woo from the Class of 2018. We speak with Kwan to find out more about how the challenge came about. What is the Student Steps Challenge? Kwan: So the Student Steps Challenge is a competition between the four colleges to see which college can amass the most steps within 8 weeks. The college that has the most steps overall will be awarded with a food party + bragging rights. All the students were given a Mi Band at the beginning of the competition in May. They then had to key in their weekly steps at the end of each week into a google form. All the results are then collated into a graph that shows live updates. All this was made possible by the tech savvy (wizardry) of Elysia Su at Student Affairs. In addition to the grand prize for the college, we also have some individual prizes (e.g. ‘Most Steps’ each week, ‘Most Improved’, ‘Best Trash Talker’) to further encourage students to take a few extra steps every day.

The Cookie Project is a peer teaching initiative started in 2016 by the graduating Class of 2016, to help our junior classes be better equipped in their clinical skills - from bedside tutorials on targeted history taking, physical examination and oral presentation to didactic lectures on topics such as X-Ray and ECG interpretation. This became our final “farewell” gift to our school! How the project came about The idea came about during the long and tedious process of preparing for CPX4, our final MD exam. We were fortunate to have good junior doctors (alumni from both Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Duke-NUS), and senior doctors who took time off their rest hours to give us bedside tutorials. We also had very nice patients who willingly let us examine them so that we could pass our exams and graduate as doctors. After passing CPX4, I thought we should not let the good effort end there. We had a window period of about 2 months before graduation and this was a period where we were at our peak proficiency in our medical school journey. Instead of letting our clinical skills atrophy without further benefitting anyone, a group of us decided that we should pay it forward and organise small group teaching sessions for our juniors.

Project Dove, the Duke-NUS Overseas Volunteering Expedition, organized annually by Duke-NUS medical students, aims to improve health efforts in the surrounding regions. Last month, our team of students and faculty conducted a 3-day mobile clinic and health education program for the underserved in the town of Lembang, located in the province of West Bandung, Indonesia. With the help of local translators, they provided health screening and treated common medical problems to the townsfolk, and educated children and teachers at an orphanage on personal hygiene and basic first aid skills.

Since I was a kid, I had always been intrigued by the idea of being a doctor; a professional who is able to provide comfort, assurance and love for the sick. I decided on an engineering degree for my undergraduate studies because I did not know if I was ready to do Medicine then, and engineering had a good mix of my interest in the sciences and mathematics. I enjoyed what I studied in my undergraduate degree but the idea of Medicine always lingered at the back of my mind. How I got interested in Medicine There are a couple of reasons that led to my decision to do Medicine. During my undergraduate days, I enjoyed doing community work to help the needy and the sick. It was during those days when I realized how much joy I could give by interacting with the elderly, and saw the impact of forging connections with those in need of our time and help. Since I was a kid, I had always been intrigued by the idea of being a doctor; a professional who is able to provide comfort, assurance and love for the sick. I decided on an engineering degree for my undergraduate studies because I did not know if I was ready to do Medicine then, and engineering had a good mix of my interest in the sciences and mathematics. I enjoyed what I studied in my undergraduate degree but the idea of Medicine always lingered at the back of my mind. How I got interested in Medicine There are a couple of reasons that led to my decision to do Medicine. During my undergraduate days, I enjoyed doing community work to help the needy and the sick. It was during those days when I realized how much joy I could give by interacting with the elderly, and saw the impact of forging connections with those in need of our time and help.

I embarked on a 6-week long trip to the US for an overseas away elective in Abdominal Transplant Surgery in Duke University Medical Center. I also fortunately planned and had the privilege on going for a major international scientific meeting, the annual ASCO GI Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California. I started the trip touring the east coast's New York City, Boston and Washington DC for a couple of weeks prior to the commencement of the elective as it was my first time in the USA! I thoroughly enjoyed the Big Apple, spending New Year's eve counting down to 2016 at Times Square, visiting famous medical medical landmarks and national monuments in the nation's capital. I also had to eke out some time from the elective for my International Foundations of Medicine (IFOM) exam and the USMLE Step 2CS (Clinical Skills) Exam! The most memorable though was the chance to fly out in a private jet on a trans-state organ procurement surgery followed by the opportunity for scrub up for multiple surgeries to implant these harvested organs. I must say that it was certainly a rewarding and eye-opening 6 weeks, probably the most enriching time of my life! Here are some snapshots of my amazing time in the US: 1. Traveling and Exploring NYC, Boston, Washington DC before the commencement of my elective at Duke

Tell us about your path to Duke-NUS. I went up to Oxford in 2004 to read Biochemistry. While I was a student at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, I had several incredible tutors who were leaders in the fields of biophysics and structural biology. In my four years there, I was greatly influenced by their work and developed a strong interest in understanding the structures and functions of biological molecules. Upon graduation, I was keen to further my training in this field, and one of my tutors recommended me to a friend of hers, Professor Randy Read, at the Department of Haematology in Cambridge. It was in Professor Read’s laboratory that I pursued a PhD, where I learned to use X-ray crystallography to elucidate protein structures to angstrom resolution.