Doubling Down: Precision Drug Discovery in a Life Full of Side Quests

5 July 2026

Danial Haqim does not do one thing at a time. Across both his studies and his sport, he has always kept two goals in motion—one academic and one athletic—and pushed to excel at both. Enrolling in the MSc in Precision Health and Medicine (MScPHM) was his way of doubling down: instead of narrowing his focus, he committed further to the field that had been pulling at him—drug discovery—in an interdisciplinary programme built for where the industry is heading.

From Sports School to Drug Design

Danial's academic route was anything but standard. It began at the Singapore Sports School, where he sat his International Baccalaureate in subjects including Physics and Chemistry. From there he changed tack, entering NUS as a Life Sciences major to explore the biomedical sciences, and was selected for the Joint Degree Programme between NUS and the University of Dundee in Scotland. That pairing let him build across biology, chemistry and computation, with a focus on drug design and discovery—the thread that has run through his work ever since.

By the time he finished, the ground was shifting. With artificial intelligence and data-driven methods reshaping pharmaceutical research, Danial wanted industry-specific skills to match. The MScPHM let him reinforce and broaden his foundations through the core curriculum, then follow his particular interest in drug discovery through the electives.

A Life That Won't Sit Still

For Danial, a full life outside the lab is not a distraction from the work but what keeps him steady through it. He files it all under "side quests," though the list is not exactly minor. He came to NUS as a former national fencer and went on to captain the fencing teams at both NUS and Dundee University, taking individual silver at the Asian Varsity Fencing Challenge in 2022 and winning the BUCS Scottish Fencing League title in 2024.

Beyond the piste, he served as Vice President of NUS Mountaineering, summited the 5,850-metre Baden-Powell Peak in Nepal, and competed twice at the BUCS National Bouldering Championships in the UK.

The instinct is the same in the lab as on the trail: choose a hard goal and commit to it completely. A national medal, a Himalayan summit, a place in a field reshaping medicine. For someone who cannot sit still, the MScPHM was never going to be a finish line—it was a way to double down.

Oh, and his next goal? An ultramarathon across the hills of Lantau Island in Hong Kong—over 2,500 metres of climbing, in November 2026.