I was in the thick of my paediatrics rotation when I read the email inviting us to apply for the newly-launched MBBS Intercalated Year Programme (IYP). As part of the IYP, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) undergraduate students take an academic year off and pursue another area of full-time study between Years 4 and 5 of the MBBS. In its inaugural year, applicants were offered the opportunity to undertake the Master of Science (Research) programme offered by the NUS Medicine Division of Graduate Studies. Since my graduation, the Master of Public Health by NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health has also been added as a programme under the IYP.

A grainy film photograph with Senior Research Fellow Dr Yang Zheng from the NUS Tissue Engineering Programme.

While I had never previously contemplated taking a Leave of Absence in NUS Medicine, undertaking the IYP was ultimately an easy decision for me. I have always enjoyed benchwork, taking up projects in research labs with A*STAR and NUS before entering medical school. As much as I enjoy Medicine, a part of me did miss toiling in a lab, running experiments with reagents and harvesting samples. As fortune would have it, the IYP allowed me to return to wet lab work once again. With the IYP, I had the opportunity to join an established lab, receive guidance from the best researchers and professors, and glean first-hand insights on a career in translational research.

During my year away from medical school, I joined the NUS Tissue Engineering Programme under Emeritus Professor Lee Eng Hin and Senior Research Fellow Dr Yang Zheng. Under their guidance, I studied cartilage regeneration in an animal model, operating on and manipulating cartilage stem cells to understand cartilage regrowth after injury.

The Master of Science benchwork was certainly challenging. Even going in with my eyes wide open, I would not have experienced the true pressures of wet lab research without doing it full-time as part of the programme. The days were unforgiving, success was never guaranteed and mistakes were costly. Working with stem cells, I desperately held back many sneezes knowing that contaminating a cell culture would set me back by weeks. Without the support of my lab mates and supervisors, more blood, sweat and tears would inevitably have been shed. The Graduate Dean’s Office kindly checked in on me over the last two years. They were quick to answer any questions and iron out teething issues, of which there were incredibly few. It was a great comfort knowing that support was only an email away.

A coffee break with Vice-Dean Associate Professor Kevin Tan (right) and Assistant Dean Associate Professor Heng Chew Kiat from the Division of Graduate Studies.

The benchwork aside, undertaking the IYP also came with other challenges—taking a gap year essentially meant that I was leaving behind (or was being left behind by) my batchmates who were proceeding to the final year of the MBBS without me. It also meant that I would be joining a different cohort for my own final year upon completion of the IYP. For some time, I did worry if this would mean losing much of my support network, a vital part of a final year medical student’s life. However, I soon realised my fears were unfounded. I am blessed every day with the grace of my old friends, who love me despite our lives being out of step, and the generosity of my new ones, who opened their hearts to me.

Emeritus Professor Lee Eng Hin from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital and I are posing with a skeleton knee after a year exploring cartilage regeneration in rabbits.

Standing on the other side of the road, having completed both the IYP and the MBBS, I would do it all over again. I have many treasured memories of working alongside my lab mates and supervisors, and of meeting accomplished and aspiring scientists who approached problems in creative ways. My year in the lab taught me grit and tenacity, and granted me greater ease with uncertainty. It has encouraged me to question my assumptions, and to think flexibly and laterally. Leaving the beaten path and emerging unscathed after a detour has also given me confidence in my own wayfinding. Returning to medicine after a short time away, I was not surprised to find that I still love doing what I do. With so many clinician scientists pushing the frontiers of medical science in Singapore, I hope that I too may one day practice in the realm between medicine and science, bringing together two of my passions.

As medical schools worldwide recognise the importance of translational research, many institutions are developing concurrent programmes in research and medicine. I feel greatly privileged to be part of NUS Medicine’s competitive offering, and I believe the IYP is an important step in the right direction, proudly demonstrating a commitment to the holistic development of our doctors.