Back to School: Turning Curiosity in Precision Health into Impact

Among the inaugural batch of 81 students who started their Master of Science in Precision Health and Medicine (MScPHM) programme in January 2024 are Lai Junhao and Ong Zhi Xuan. Coming from vastly different academic backgrounds and career tracks unrelated to precision health and medicine, Junhao and Zhi Xuan shared their motivations for joining the MScPHM programme—and their experiences thus far.

For both Junhao and Zhi Xuan, the journey started out as a curious exploration to find out more about precision health and the opportunities it offers. “After having been in the workforce for about four years, I was open to explore new possibilities. That was when I came across an email publicising the programme. It caught my interest even though I wasn’t very sure what precision medicine is about. Particularly, I was drawn by the opportunity to make an impact on patients through translating data into clinical findings,” Junhao said.

Similarly, Zhi Xuan said, “When I came across this course and saw that it has a substantial data science component as well as a chance to put my qualitative skills to good use, I was immediately sold.” She continued, “Actually I’ve been interested in precision medicine for a while now. During my honours year at university, I took a behavioural genetics course for social scientists. I also attended a career talk by a genetic counsellor from KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH). These got me really excited—but there wasn’t any course then for me to pursue the interest further.”

Four years later, Zhi Xuan is enrolled in the MScPHM programme today.

On to a Positive Start

An interdisciplinary graduate degree programme co-led by academics, clinical practitioners, subject matter experts and industry leaders, the MScPHM programme is designed to equip students with pertinent knowledge and skills that empower them to harness precision medicine and transform healthcare.

Reflecting on his journey thus far, Junhao said, “I went into the course not knowing what to expect. Along the way, I came to learn about genomics—not just the disease and clinical aspects but also population genomics and data. Seeing how everything interconnects is eye-opening and has deepened my interest in precision health.”

Zhi Xuan added, “It is the same for me. I did a minor in public health when I was in university—and went on to join a MedTech company after my studies. Healthcare has been a constant theme throughout my studies and career. At the same time, I have always enjoyed working with numbers and data. So this programme really is a convergence of all my interests—healthcare, science, and data.”

Looking to Gain Mastery

A full-time programme, the MScPHM offers three different study routes—one-year, two-year with capstone project, and stackable Executive or Graduate Certificates. Both Zhi Xuan and Junhao have chosen the two-year programme, comprising a capstone project.

Notably, through her previous work at the MedTech company and her current research attachment at Duke-NUS Medical School, Zhi Xuan is no stranger to working with large and diverse datasets. She also has working knowledge in machine learning and programming languages such as Python. “While I am familiar with these tools and know how to work with them, I am not too sure how they can be applied to genomics to answer the big questions in precision medicine—so there’s lots for me to learn,” Zhi Xuan explained.

“For me, my physics background has helped me to query deeply into the use of different models and how to best leverage them for our purposes,” Junhao said. “Presently, genomic biobanks around the world offer genomic data of different populations—but how can we take all the data and interpret them statistically to extract important knowledge that can help us to not only better understand population genomes, but also what it takes to improve population health.”

He added, “In the coming semester, we can choose our lab lessons—and I have mostly chosen the dry lab ones that utilise computer generated models and simulations to carry out applied or computational mathematical analyses. I would also be taking a course on causal inference. These will segue nicely into the year-long capstone project where I hope to be able to work with and learn from experts who are into data science statistics and analysis.”

Aspirations to Make an Impact

Although Junhao and Zhi Xuan are still in the early days of their learning and discovery about precision medicine, they have both professed strong desires to contribute towards advancing precision medicine and making an impact for Singapore’s healthcare.

Sharing his personal experience, Junhao explained, “I was sick with leukaemia before, so I know what it is like to be sick. More importantly, now that I am well, I would like to contribute towards the cause of healthcare. Currently, the thinking for diseases such as cancers is to offer treatment after diagnosis. But that is a simplified view. We are missing out on the opportunity to find the real cause of disease—such as genetic predisposition, environmental factors, socioeconomic contributors, etc.”

“My hope is that I can use my data science knowledge to help find these answers from the Singapore population genomes that PRECISE is currently collecting—in the not-too-distant future. But for now, I am focusing on improving my skills and abilities first,” he said.

Like Junhao, Zhi Xuan’s interest is also in data analysis. But unlike Junhao, she is specifically interested in the domain of cancer mutational signatures. She said, “To pave the way towards that, I am currently doing an attachment with the Department of Cancer and Stem Cell Biology at the Duke-NUS Medical School.”

Zhi Xuan elaborated, “Despite medical advancements, cancer as a disease is still very much mystified. The prevalent knowledge is that it starts from aberrant mutations—but the understanding of how mutations in the genome lead to further down cascades is limited. We know lifestyle factors could contribute to it, but how and what is the trigger? Is there a way we can intervene and change things before the cancer develops?”

“The obvious solution would be to identify persons at risk and screen them. But how do we know who is at risk and where should we put our resources? I am invested in helping to solve this—using a scientific approach that is grounded in data,” she smiled.