“It’s a great way for us to make connections with our professors,” said first-year student Mr Lucas Hou.

During this last session, some teams even included quizzes as part of their presentations to liven the atmosphere. They challenged their peers with research-focused questions as well as light-hearted trivia about their presentation, keeping the audience on their toes.

Through “Research in Action”, the students profile a total of 12 mentors by the end of the series, delving into key milestones of a mentor’s journey and research. They also include words of wisdom from their interview subjects that they passed on to the Class in their presentations.

Beyond its practical uses of introducing students to potential mentors, “Research in Action” left many students inspired to imagine a career as future clinician-scientists.

“It gives us more insight on what being a clinician researcher is like,” shared Ms Zhang Boya, who interviewed clinician-scientist Associate Professor Johnny Ong for the recent session.

As for her team-mate Mr Lee Jin Wee, the experience has inspired him to dream bigger: “It makes you think that perhaps one day I could do something in a similar vein too.”

Other research mentors whom the teams interviewed over the three sessions include Master Academic Clinicians Professor Pierce Chow and Professor Ong Biauw Chi, endocrine specialist Professor Paul Yen as well as director of the Duke-NUS Health Services and Systems Research Programme Professor Marcus Ong.