Third Spacing

In the first of this two-part episode we talk to Hazirah Mohamed (she/her), a public health PhD student at the university of Toronto. She is the author of “Kita dah cukup manis? (We are sweet enough?): Resisting the bitter pill of racialised health framing on the Malay community” in Brown is Redacted, an anthology of essays on race in Singapore. We discuss the uses of race in society and in medicine, and the importance of cultural competence.

[00:00:35] Introduction to Hazirah and Overview of her research on Malay issues

[00:06:13] Thoughts on public health campaigns and how their framing could influence health outcomes

[00:12:08] Why is race being seen in isolation problematic in healthcare?

[00:18:51] How can we be more culturally competent?

[00:28:27] How should healthcare workers and doctors approach the topic of race?

[00:35:41] How should we think about the reasons why people may or may not have health-seeking behaviour

[00:41:03] Final thoughts

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Jeremiah Pereira, the Medical Director of MaNaDr Clinic, who is one of Singapore's only physicians with gender-affirming care as their primary focus. We break down the meaning behind the term gender-affirming care, what it is commonly perceived as, and what it is not, the motivations behind pursuing this work, and the importance of acknowledging Singapore's history as a pioneering gender-affirming surgery centre in the late 20th century.

In this episode, we speak to Faith Nadine, a PGY2 who now practices as a locum GP and blogs at Chasing Faith and Love. We honestly talk about her reasons for walking down this unconventional pathway, mental health as a junior doctor, and her thoughts on her future.

In this episode, we talk to Dr Evelyn Wong, Associate Consultant and Founding Member of the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Services at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. She shares the challenges faced by her adolescent and young adult cancer patients as well as the development of her app, AYABytes, which hopes to improve the health literacy of our patients in Singapore. Through this endeavour, she hopes to better support her patients in their journey and inspire change for other patients in need.

[00:00:30] What is functional abdominal pain?
[00:02:17] What is the difference between functional and idiopathic?
[00:03:37] What is the patient journey like through the healthcare system from their family doctors all the way until you see them in a hospital as a specialist?
[00:05:39] Walk through the approach of helping patients once they are in front of you.
[00:07:50] Navigating the shift away the biomedical model to the biopsychosocial model.
[00:09:40] Response to understanding functional GI disorders
[00:11:25] How to reach out to primary care physicians, the first people who see these patients who present with a functional GI disorder?
[00:12:55] Difference in approach to a child that comes up with IBS versus an adult
[00:16:16] How to effectively build a therapeutic alliance?
[00:19:15] Role of alternative or complementary medicine in dealing with functional GI disorders
[00:24:14] Experience in building a multidisciplinary team to manage functional GI conditions.
[00:27:30] Developing a personal interest in functional abdominal pain
[00:29:05] Patient’s response to co-management with a psychologist
[00:32:14] General advice to interested healthcare trainees interested in functional GI

In this episode, we talk to Dr Renzo Guinto, who is the Chief Planetary Health Scientist & Co-Founder of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and A/Prof at the Practice of Global Public Health of the Planetary and Global Health Program of the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine in the Philippines. Having obtained his PhD in Public Health from Harvard, he talks about the power dynamics in Global Health, the tension between equalising that dynamic, while gaining credence from the Global North, and Singapore's potential role in promoting health in Southeast Asia.

In this episode we talk to Associate Professor Sophia Archuleta, the Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases in NUH and President of the NUHS Women in Science and Healthcare (WISH) initiative. She shares her experience of being a woman in healthcare, the need for advocacy to come from both women and women, for more female representation in healthcare leadership, as well as how we can start rethinking gender norms in healthcare.

In the first part of this episode, Dr. Lakshmi shares about her early experiences being involved in Global Health work and research. Her frequent visits to relatives in India exposed her constantly to the realities of poverty and inspired her to think of how public health and medicine can be used to address social problems as well. Dr. Lakshmi further elaborates on how to avoid the trap of "voluntourism" when executing Global Health projects overseas.

In the second part of this episode, Dr. Lakshmi compares her clinical training in Singapore to the very diverse backgrounds of her colleagues in the US. She argues that there are universal ideas such as implicit bias training and provision of culturally competent care that are also very much applicable in the Singapore context and therefore should also be explored. Finally, Dr. Lakshmi contends that because of the understanding that many different factors also contribute to therapeutic outcomes aside from general health, doctors also need to upgrade to be more than just doctors.