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Why did you choose to do a PhD?
Yes, I would still have done my PhD. As a patient of childhood asthma and allergy, I wasn’t able to be as active as my peers and had to skip couple of physical education lessons. I wasn’t able to become a competitive athlete as well, so it had been my childhood dream to help discover novel therapies that can promote the resolution of asthma, not simply symptomatic treatments of today to relief each asthma attack/episode. I was fortunate to join the lab of Prof. Fred Wong which embarked my journey into asthma research. Upon graduation, I found another lab in Harvard Medical School, Prof. Bruce Levy, who is the current chief in pulmonary and critical care medicine, to explore resolution in inflammation in the airways. We are making new discoveries on eosinophils, a major cell involved in the pathogenesis of asthma, and like every other cell, it has dual roles or more. Targeting the right endotype of eosinophil may be key in promoting the recovery of asthma, based on our current research data at Harvard.
Why did you choose to do graduate education at NUS? If you received offers from other universities, why did you pick NUS?
Definitely. On a personal level, my parents suffers from high blood pressure and type II diabetes, so it was agreed upon with my brother for one of us to stay back in Singapore to be with them. Looking back, I believe I made the right choice. Since I wish to pursue a career on academia, completing my PhD at NUS allowed me to know many peers and staff beyond my own department, when I had chances during collaboration of projects. I had a better understanding of the research landscape in Singapore, and hopefully a better grasp on what’s needed to progress for my career. I would still choose to pursue my PhD in NUS, then obtain overseas experience in another laboratory overseas for my post-doc, before returning to NUS to apply for a faculty position.
Briefly share about your research or thesis (i.e. dissertation topic for Masters by Coursework students).
Vitamin E Isoform γ-Tocotrienol Alleviates Asthma And COPD
On hindsight, would you have chosen the same research supervisor for your graduate programme?
Yes, certainly. Completing my undergrad. in NUS allowed me to work with my PhD research supervisor during my honours project. This confirmed the good working relationship I had with him, and it was an easy choice to continue my PhD with him. He wasn’t simply my project supervisor, but he gave great advice for pursuing my career as well. He was both my research and career mentor back then, and I am still in contact with him today after leaving his lab – for potential collaborations, or even advice/tips for my next steps in my career.