Third Spacing

In this episode, Dr Chen Zhi Xiong, deputy education and programme director at the department of physiology at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine shares his experience going into and developing medical education with us. We ask about Dr Chen’s work life balance and how that helps him as an educator. Finally, we discuss the implications of employing a reward system in a hypercompetitive setting, and what could be done to ease the arising tensions, particularly from a human sciences perspective.

Grace Chua, 3rd year medical student at LKC Medicine is also a badminton player with the Singapore National Team. We discuss the possibility of keeping up with professional sport training on top of medical studies, and Grace explains her time management strategies and prioritisation of interests. We also discuss how she pioneered the possibility of attending university alongside sport for others in similar positions.

Dr Sudesna Roy Chowdhury (she/her), developer of a translation website that has aided the fight against Covid-19 and Her World magazine’s Woman of the Year 2020, delves into her experience as an advocate for marginalised communities in Singapore, especially the migrant worker community. Centering on Dr Sudesna’s personal insights, we discuss the importance of advocacy and ways in which we can all make a difference as doctors and medical students.

Feel free to DM Sudesna on Instagram @sudezna if you would like to be involved / have any further questions for her!

Dr Leslie Tay, of ieatishootipost, shares his love of food with us and Dr Paul Tern of @AlternativeCV. Together, we explore the possibility of maintaining a hobby alongside medical practice, and Dr Leslie explains his motivations behind the food blog. We also discuss the role hawker culture plays in our collective Singaporean heritage, and ways we can preserve this unique piece of our identity.

In the second half of our two-part interview with Dr Shravan Verma, founder of Speedoc, we discuss how house calls, though anachronistic, might still have its place in Singapore’s primary care services. Dr Verma also shares how he overcame numerous challenges in the initial stages of setting up Speedoc. Given technology’s increasingly pervasive role in healthcare, he recommends some skills which doctors can pick up – beyond what is taught in medical school – to keep up with the changing norms.

Dr Shravan Verma is the founder of Speedoc, an advanced medical home care service. In the first of our two-part interview, we explore what it means to be a “clinical innovator” and how Dr Verma’s background in biomedical engineering and medicine has coalesced into his entrepreneurial venture, Speedoc. He shares about common obstacles doctorpreneurs might face and the mindset required to succeed for those who, like him, aspire to problem solve through innovation.

Dr Muntasir, a hand surgeon from Sengkang General Hospital, talks about his experience volunteering and translating at foreign workers’ dormitories during the height of the COVID19 Pandemic in Singapore. In our conversation, he shared ways we can build our sense of empathy and professionalism through finding positive role models during tough training, the humility to apologise when a mistake is made, and confronting our fear of the unknown.

Professor Christopher Cheng is the CEO of Sengkang General Hospital and author of I Thought I Knew, a book that chronicles his experience with prostate cancer and as a pioneer in surgical techniques to treat the condition. In this episode, we discuss authenticity in the doctor-patient relationship, complex adaptive systems, and self-forgiveness.

Dr Tan Yia Swam is the first female President of the Singapore Medical Association, a breast surgeon at Thomson Medical Centre, and a proud mother of three sons. In this episode, she candidly shares about the initial scepticism some expressed about her ambition to pursue surgery, the encouragement she received from supportive seniors, and eventually succeeding as a female surgeon. As President of the 61st SMA Council, she envisions to herald a revamp of the SMA, with a focus on increasing engagement with and improving representation for young medical students and doctors.

Leighton and Lucius are year four medical students at NUS Medicine. Leighton transferred from NUS Pharmacy, while Lucius was from NUS Nursing. They shared their motivations for transferring, the preparation process and practical advice for others considering transfer.