Third Spacing

If healthcare worldwide were a country - it would be the 5th biggest greenhouse gas emitter. Climate change’s impact on physical health is obvious - but have we considered ways in which healthcare impacts the environment?  Together with @theweirdandwild in this series, we talk to individuals from science, architecture, psychology, and community organising to unpack the ways we can begin to se...

In this episode, we interview Mr Jerry Ong, architect with CPG Consultants, in a special collaboration with The Weird and Wild. Mr Ong shares with us his goals and responsibility as an architect to create a healing environment in his design. He also emphasises the importance of sustainable design, and discusses the multiple aspects in consideration when designing a healthcare infrastructure projec...

Professor Stefano Harney, who has held teaching positions at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business and numerous international institutions, talks about our understanding and measurement of intelligence, and how this might affect the effectiveness of our education system. We touch on educator’s roles in fostering creativity and critical thinking, and the way authority might affect our abilities...

In the continuation of our two-part episode, Dr Hakim shares more about why human health encompasses more than just physical conditions and how the loneliness epidemic highlights the importance of prioritising intentional connections.

In this episode, Dr Hakim Wee, who has worked in Afghanistan with Afghan Peace Volunteers for close to 20 years shares the meaning behind his name ‘Hakim’ and his journey from running a private medical practice in Singapore to working along the Afghan-Pakistan border. We ask about his biggest takeaways and what keeps him going in the face of endless destruction.

We talk to Dr Terence Huey, Senior Consultant in Hepatobiliary surgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Programme Director of the National Healthcare Group General Surgery Residency programme about changes in clinical culture since he was a student, the necessity of resilience, his philosophy of what makes a good surgeon and how they all influence the evolution of postgraduate surgical education.

In this episode, we invite Associate Professor Nga Min En from NUS Medicine to speak with us about Pathweb, an interactive Pathology teaching resource meant for students of medicine and the medical sciences. We explore her journey in creating the resource, from her initial motivations to developing and expanding the project onto various platforms. We discuss the importance of feedback in fuelling...

In the second half of our two-part interview with Prof Joseph Sung, Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in NTU, we discuss how medical education should adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Joseph Sung, Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in NTU , shares his experiences in medicine and how they have shaped his attitudes towards medicine and life.

In the continuation of our two-part episode, we speak with Dr Chen Zhi Xiong about the role medical humanities can play in bettering medical education. Linking this to current health programs at NUS we speak at length about developing medical exchange programmes to improve their effectiveness. Dr Chen shares his view on global health programs and the importance of teaching men to fish rather than...

In this episode, Dr Chen Zhi Xiong, deputy education and programme director at the department of physiology at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine shares his experience going into and developing medical education with us. We ask about Dr Chen’s work life balance and how that helps him as an educator. Finally, we discuss the implications of employing a reward system in a hypercompetitive setting, a...

Grace Chua, 3rd year medical student at LKC Medicine is also a badminton player with the Singapore National Team. We discuss the possibility of keeping up with professional sport training on top of medical studies, and Grace explains her time management strategies and prioritisation of interests. We also discuss how she pioneered the possibility of attending university alongside sport for others i...

Dr Sudesna Roy Chowdhury (she/her), developer of a translation website that has aided the fight against Covid-19 and Her World magazine’s Woman of the Year 2020, delves into her experience as an advocate for marginalised communities in Singapore, especially the migrant worker community. Centering on Dr Sudesna’s personal insights, we discuss the importance of advocacy and ways in which we can all...

Dr Leslie Tay, of ieatishootipost, shares his love of food with us and Dr Paul Tern of @AlternativeCV. Together, we explore the possibility of maintaining a hobby alongside medical practice, and Dr Leslie explains his motivations behind the food blog. We also discuss the role hawker culture plays in our collective Singaporean heritage, and ways we can preserve this unique piece of our identity.

Dr Shravan Verma is the founder of Speedoc, an advanced medical home care service. In the first of our two-part interview, we explore what it means to be a “clinical innovator” and how Dr Verma’s background in biomedical engineering and medicine has coalesced into his entrepreneurial venture, Speedoc. He shares about common obstacles doctorpreneurs might face and the mindset required to succeed fo...

In the second half of our two-part interview with Dr Shravan Verma, founder of Speedoc, we discuss how house calls, though anachronistic, might still have its place in Singapore’s primary care services. Dr Verma also shares how he overcame numerous challenges in the initial stages of setting up Speedoc. Given technology’s increasingly pervasive role in healthcare, he recommends some skills which d...

Dr Muntasir, a hand surgeon from Sengkang General Hospital, talks about his experience volunteering and translating at foreign workers’ dormitories during the height of the COVID19 Pandemic in Singapore. In our conversation, he shared ways we can build our sense of empathy and professionalism through finding positive role models during tough training, the humility to apologise when a mistake is ma...

Professor Christopher Cheng is the CEO of Sengkang General Hospital and author of I Thought I Knew, a book that chronicles his experience with prostate cancer and as a pioneer in surgical techniques to treat the condition. In this episode, we discuss authenticity in the doctor-patient relationship, complex adaptive systems, and self-forgiveness.

Dr Tan Yia Swam is the first female President of the Singapore Medical Association, a breast surgeon at Thomson Medical Centre, and a proud mother of three sons. In this episode, she candidly shares about the initial scepticism some expressed about her ambition to pursue surgery, the encouragement she received from supportive seniors, and eventually succeeding as a female surgeon. As President of...

Leighton and Lucius are year four medical students at NUS Medicine. Leighton transferred from NUS Pharmacy, while Lucius was from NUS Nursing. They shared their motivations for transferring, the preparation process and practical advice for others considering transfer.

Tan Jun Xiang and Goh Wei Sheng are fifth year medical students who form a handful of ex-polytechnic students in NUS Medicine. We find out about what inspired them to embark on this relatively unconventional journey and who were the key people they sought advice from before applying. We also discuss how their polytechnic education has prepared them for the rigour of medical school and the various...

Third Spacing is the yet to be defined space between cells and vessels, where fluid moves from one space to another. This podcast makes space to explore topics surrounding clinical medicine. 

Prof Chong Yap Seng, Dean of NUS Medicine, talks about the waves that are changing medicine and how medical students can preserve our core sense of humanity in clinical practice and research by tapping on the arts and social sciences. He also shares about the newly launched MBBS Intercalated Year Programme, which aims to prepare students for such disruptions and to navigate increasingly complex an...

In the second half of our two-part interview with Graham Matthews, A/Prof at the NTU School of Humanities, we discuss work by NTU medical humanities by both undergraduate and graduate students to the wider community but also efforts to engage and include experiences of illness from around the region in South East Asia.

Associate Professor Graham Matthews is Head of English and Coordinator of the Medical Humanities Research Cluster at NTU Singapore. In the first of our two-part interview, A/Prof Matthews provides a broad overview to the Medical Humanities, an interdisciplinary field that draws from literature, philosophy and history, to understand illness or the experience of disease. He also introduces us to dev...