Dr Chan Wee Lee, William, MD (Duke-NUS), MBiochem Hons (Oxon), PhD (Cantab), MRCP

Dr Chan Wee Lee, William

MD (Duke-NUS), MBiochem Hons (Oxon), PhD (Cantab), MRCP

My journey

My name is William Chan Wee Lee. I am a final year junior resident in Internal Medicine.

My somewhat unusual journey into medicine began when I was reading Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. The undergraduate curriculum at Oxford has a strong focus on molecular processes and their relevance to physiology and disease. Keen to learn more about applying basic science to medicine, I went up to Cambridge after graduation, where I embarked on a PhD in the Department of Haematology under the supervision of Prof Randy Read, FRS. Prof Read and I worked on a series of experiments to demonstrate that it was possible to engineer serum proteins to function as molecular drug carriers by altering their ligand specificity, as well as their target site specificity by making changes to their amino acid sequences.

During this time, I found myself wanting to understand more about human physiology and how to formulate clinically relevant questions that can be answered by basic science research, something that I found difficult to achieve without clinical exposure. Whilst at Cambridge, I also became acquainted with one of Randy’s friends, the retired head of department Prof Robin Carrell, FRS FRCP FRCPath, who had himself taken a tortuous path to become a clinician scientist. Robin began his career as a physician and subsequently returned to university to study Natural Sciences and eventually completed a PhD. Prof Carrell became a mentor to me and encouraged me to pursue my passion and to continue my education upon completion of my doctorate to study clinical medicine.

Three and a half years later, I found myself back in Singapore, matriculated into the Class of 2017 at Duke-NUS Medical School. I subsequently joined the Internal Medicine programme at the National University Health System (NUHS), where today I find myself at the next crossroad in my career. I have enjoyed my time as a junior doctor and as clichéd as it might sound, most days I am able to go home feeling that I have made a positive difference in someone else’s life, however small that might be. At the same time, I am keen to return to scientific research, where this journey first began. I have applied to continue my specialist training in the NUHS Department of Haematology, which has a strong tradition in supporting clinician-scientists. As Niels Bohr famously said, “prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future”. I cannot tell what the future will bring, but with hard work and a bit of luck, I hope to come full circle and fulfil what I first set out to achieve more than a decade ago – to use my research as a scientist to solve clinically important problems that I encounter as a physician.

The importance of a good mentor, and how my mentor has supported me

To quote Queen Rania of Jordan, “good teachers teach, great teachers transform.” I have been very lucky to have had great teachers at every step of my education journey. Teachers like Randy and Robin, who transformed me and supported me when I decided to take the road less travelled. They demonstrated with their own lives what can be achieved with hard work and self-belief, which inspired me to do the same with mine.