{"id":4063,"date":"2018-10-01T09:07:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T09:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:08:12","slug":"at-your-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2018\/10\/01\/at-your-service\/","title":{"rendered":"At Your Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Like many who train to be doctors, Dr Brian Chan is passionate about saving lives. But unlike most people, he has committed himself to paying it forward to the next generation, even if he has to do things differently. \u201cI wanted to become a doctor to serve others when they are at their most vulnerable,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd not just to save the people of today, but also to place myself in a position that enables me to enact change for the future and improve the lives of tomorrow\u2019s patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Dr Chan\u2019s determination saw him through nine years of university. The 31 year-old first enrolled at NUS Science in 2008. After obtaining an Honours degree in Life Sciences, specialising in Biomedical Science, he decided to follow in his parents\u2019 footsteps. His father, Associate Professor Edwin Chan, is Chief Scientific Officer at the Singapore Clinical Research Institute. His mother, Dr Jennifer Yeo, is a general practitioner.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Dr Chan enrolled in Duke-NUS Medical School in 2013. He graduated last July, and has just completed his first year as a physician with SingHealth. At the time of this interview, he has just begun a six-month posting in the Department of Neurosurgery at the National Neuroscience Institute. \u201cThis has been a long journey,\u201d he admits. \u201cI had always wanted to do medicine but did not get in as an undergrad. It has given me the time and space to really think about what I want to do with my life. My undergrad training established a strong interest in research and the basis of medicine which I might not have had time to appreciate otherwise. And now I am in a position to guide others who find themselves at similar crossroads.\u201d Indeed, on the Duke-NUS website, you will find a helpful blog post from Dr Chan detailing seven things one needs to know when applying to the graduate medical school.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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“I wanted to become a docter to serve others when they are at their most vulnerable.”<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Taking a different route has its advantages. Desiring to make use of this \u201csecond chance to make a real and tangible difference to the Duke-NUS community\u201d, Dr Chan ran for and was elected class president four years in a row. \u201cDuke-NUS is still a young school and growing in so many ways,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to be see Duke-NUS make an impact in the way medicine is practised in Singapore.\u201d<\/p>\n

A SPIRIT OF GIVING<\/h4>\n

Giving back lets Dr Chan combine his two loves: medicine and community work. A proud \u201ctrue-blue ACSian of 12 years, from primary school to junior college\u201d, Dr Chan says that community service became a key part of his life thanks to the exposure his school gave him.<\/p>\n

It was during his junior college days that Dr Chan started going on overseas missions with his parents. \u201cMost of my work has been with Crisis Relief Singapore, a Christian non-profit organisation. I have at times volunteered with other organisations as well including other churches and NGOs. I\u2019ve been to Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Tibet, Mongolia and Sri Lanka, to name a few.\u201d Most of these trips are centred on medical care, he adds, as well as education and empowerment. These days, he still goes on trips with his family, organised by his church, to a fishing village in Batam.<\/p>\n

Medical aid is just part of these trips \u2014 the chance to bring hope to underserved communities through working with other organisations is especially satisfying for Dr Chan. \u201cOne of my most memorable experiences was in Mongolia,\u201d he shares. \u201cWe were partnering with the local arm of Campus Crusade for Christ to provide medical aid, education and counselling to the various military and prison installations. We were also involved with outreach activities to orphanages and commercial sex workers. Having the chance to work alongside an international team opened my eyes to what one can achieve through collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

This practice of serving the needy overseas continued during his years at Duke-NUS. \u201cDOVE (Duke-NUS Overseas Volunteering Expedition) is one of our annual volunteer projects. It\u2019s a joint effort between faculty, students and international partners. I participated as a first-year student and was inspired to return and lead the project in my third year. We work with NGOs in developing countries to enable sustained medical care and education. It\u2019s an expedition that focuses on clinics and health education. There is extensive training for the students and they really take ownership of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

His giving was not limited to overseas missions. During his medical school days, Dr Chan also volunteered with Runninghour, an inclusive running group of guides that provide support to disabled runners in Singapore. \u201cThose were some of my fondest memories,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to run competitively during my college days and Runninghour was a great way to give back to the community and continue my love for running. We would serve as guides to mentally- and visually-challenged runners. Sadly, I have not been with them for some time now due to the demands of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has every intention of returning to volunteer work, when time allows. \u201cI hope to get back in the game now that I\u2019m done with housemanship and I\u2019m looking into opportunities to serve communities and my school,\u201d says Dr Chan, who has two sisters: a designer and a medical student.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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ON THE WINGS OF HOPE<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Project DOVE (Duke-NUS Overseas Volunteering Expedition), organised by a team of medical students from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, first pioneered under the name of Project Karen in 2010. Since then, teams representing Project DOVE have travelled to Thailand and Vietnam annually to improve lives beyond Singapore, by providing sustainable medical care and health education to underprivileged communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A NEW PARADIGM FOR MEDICINE<\/h4>\n

While specialising in a field of medicine is the norm, what Dr Chan is really keen on is the future of medicine. \u201cMedicine is much more than just attending to patients. We would never progress if it were just that. The term \u2018academic medicine\u2019 refers to the combination of clinical practice, research and education to improve the care of patients. This is what most large medical centres, such as Duke-NUS\/NUHS, work towards. To make medicine sustainable, you have to keep pushing boundaries \u2014 that\u2019s research. And you need to impart knowledge \u2014 that\u2019s education \u2014 to the next generation. And, of course, you have to provide excellent clinical care.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that these days, most doctors don\u2019t just treat patients. \u201cA clinician-scientist, for example, is a physician who treats patients but who also devotes time to research. He has the opportunity to bridge the gap between clinicians practising in the real world and scientists who are researching in the lab. With the patient as the focus, we take a problem back to the lab, figure out how to solve it and bring that solution back to the real world. He quips, \u201cIt\u2019s easier said than done!\u201d<\/p>\n

Making things better for the next generation is a sign of appreciation to the previous generation, says Dr Chan. \u201cThe best way that we can say thank you to our family, friends, faculty, seniors, school and anyone who has blessed us, is to pay it forward to the next generation, whether that comes in the form of teaching, research, volunteering, financial contributions or counselling.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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AMAZING RACERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Winner of the APSN (Association for Persons with Special Needs) Bronze Award for Excellent Service in 2012, as well as the President\u2019s Award for Volunteerism (Informal Group) in 2014, Runninghour is an inclusive running club formed in 2009 by a group of fitness enthusiasts. They act as buddy runners to special needs members who are mildly intellectually-challenged every Saturday morning. The members are mainly students and ex-students with APSN. Runninghour has been supported by Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) as a Healthy\u202fLifestyle Club\u202f(HLC).<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Dr Brian Chan at a Runninghour event<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From running with the disabled to counselling sex workers, Dr Brian Chan (MD, Duke-NUS \u201817) has spent much of his life helping others around the world. Having taken an unusual path to a medical degree, he plans to continue exploring new ways of making a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4063"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7297,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions\/7297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}