Courage and curiosity lead the way at Duke-NUS’ Research Day 2024

“Rather than focusing on the project, focus on the skills that you’ll be acquiring in that short period of time.”

That was the attitude—and the advice from her seniors—that Ms Ruthra Maya Umapathi (Class of 2024) brought to her third-year research project, taking intentional care in choosing a mentor. And it paid off.

“I actually worked with Assoc Prof Monisha Nongpiur prior to coming to Duke-NUS, and have a very good relationship with her,” said Ms Umapathi. “I wanted to work with someone that had already harnessed a lot of skills in me and taught me a lot about how to write and how to formulate my own research questions.”

During Duke-NUS’ eagerly anticipated Research Day, held on 15 March 2024, Ms Umapathi’s, along with her cohort’s, hard work and achievements were on display in a vibrant showcase of the breadth of research conducted by the students. These ran the gamut of eight research tracks, from oncology to health services and systems, to ophthalmology and gynaecology. Filling the School’s Atrium with chatter, the fourth-year students enthusiastically shared their work. Even with the hurdles of having their work on display and speaking in public, the students were palpably motivated by wanting to help their juniors on their journeys and share their passion for their research.

Students thronged the Research Day poster exhibits in booths throughout the Atrium, with each student researcher explaining their work to onlookers.

The day, which brought together medical students across the year groups, research mentors and educators, was suffused with pride, especially from Professor Scott Compton, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and chair of the Research and Scholarship Committee, who presided over the day’s programme, and Guest-of-Honour, Professor Daniel Laskowitz from Duke University School of Medicine.

The event allowed students and faculty at wildly varying points of their research journeys to converge, opening dialogues and asking pertinent questions during the opportunities given in each of the sessions.

Post-event, Research Day attendees enjoy the delights of an old-school ice-cream cart, kindly sponsored by the Joint Office of Academic Medicine.

Besides the poster display in the Atrium, the Research Day included a series of oral presentations, in the style of larger-scale academic conferences, that emphasised the heart of why research is so vital, as well as talks and panel discussions on the vast opportunities available to Duke-NUS students.

As featured speakers, the students selected to present their projects got a taste of engaging the attending crowd of peers and juniors from the Classes of 2026 and 2027 and fielding their questions, both in-person and on a livestreamed broadcast. It was plain to see from the questions that the first- and second-years not only took a deep interest in the presented subjects, but also in the intricacies of research and mentorship guidance.

One of the main highlights of the programme was a panel detailing four students’ research experiences at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, which was moderated by both Prof Laskowitz and Prof Compton.

Describing what, for him, was the cornerstone of Duke and Duke-NUS’ partnership, Prof Laskowitz said: “The most important part of collaboration, between institutions, is the student research—putting our egos aside and working towards the best interests of the students.”

Reflecting on this invaluable opportunity, Mr Lim Hoe King, whose project was on patients with Alpha-gal syndrome, said: “The patient volume and surgical cases at Duke is incomparable, and I really benefited from having this experience overseas.” Other students described Duke as an extremely supportive learning environment, and having excellent resources for research and methodology.

For Prof Compton, the crux of the research journey at Duke-NUS is twofold: “The opportunity to engage in real, authentic, problems—all of our students’ projects are addressing material unmet needs by real patients, and that’s a great learning opportunity. The second is to spend a considerable amount of time with an established research institution and a mentor, and hopefully build a relationship where that mentor is an advocate for the rest of their career.”

While the panel discussion focused on the Duke experience, the flavour of the day’s presentations were wide-ranging. On one end, the audience heard about the hot topic of machine learning. Keynote speaker Professor Ong Sin Tiong, Director of the MD-PhD programme, elucidated upon how artificial intelligence could be used to save lives and money in predicting future cancer relapse rates, while Mr Jin Liyuan used deep learning to create privacy-preserving ways to interpret retinal pathologies.

On the other end of approaches to research questions, Ms Ong Ci Xin used mixed methodologies to discover that the impact of cadaveric dissection deepened students’ appreciation of moral and humanistic values, as well as notions of patients’ personhood. She also devoted a part of her presentation to addressing the Classes of 2026 and 2027 directly: “It was through consistent practice, learning from mistakes, and determination that I was able to achieve this. If an average student like me can do it, so can you!”

Prof Compton and Prof Laskowitz facilitate the panel, ‘Research Experience at Duke’, comprising Mr Lim Hoe King, Ms Chen Cheng Qi, Ms Pal Vipul Shah, and Ms Jennifer Teo Jiaying.

Ms Chen Cheng Qi explains her chosen project on a biopolymer gel that improves fat grafting reliability to Research Day attendees.

The event concluded with another highlight—an award ceremony appreciating the finest projects in each research track, as judged by both faculty and MD-PhD students. Apart from the Research Day awards, the AM-ETHOS Medical Student Fellowship LEAP Awards by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Joint Office of Academic Medicine were included for the first time. Across all awards, the spirit of courage and curiosity in undertaking a research project from scratch was well-evident. Universal, too, was the acknowledgement of the challenges—and attendant rewards—of taking on something that seems both daunting and worthwhile.

These sentiments were echoed by Prof Ong’s words of advice:

“And if you discover that benchwork isn’t for you, that’s good too. It’s the thought process that’ll be the gift that keeps on giving.

“Attitude is much better than aptitude for me.”