A Singaporean Doctor's Path to A Harvard Anaesthesiology Residency

Wow, there was many chapters in it.

It took a lot longer than expected, right?

No, that's a lovely story and I feel that one thing that really stands out was despite all the ups and downs, there was a really consistent or very determined part of you that said, I'm making it across the ocean, some way or another.

Right.

I'm wondering what was that driving factor and did it evolve across time? Was it the same thing that made you go at it the first time, the second time and the third time? And even I suppose the dream was probably even there when you were in your army uniform somewhere, right? So what was that dream and did it change?

Yeah, I think that's a great question.

as you progress through your medical career because medical careers are you know unfortunately very long uh your training is going to take up most of it right as you get older your priorities change so i'm pretty sure it's the same for both of you guys too that when you start off young right you have like all the energy in you and you probably want to do you know the toughest thing to get through the toughest challenges and rise to the very top of that peak of that mountain.

So that was what I was like.

I was considering crazy specialties like neurosurgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, general surgery.

I wanted to do surgery.

And at that time, my understanding, I want to argue that it's probably still true that the rigor of that training in the US is not really, it's just not comparable to training anywhere else.

It's just different.

I wouldn't say that the hours put in is longer.

I mean, the hours are crazy, but I'm sure in Asian systems, it's not easy either.

But it's just the system of residency that almost has a very unique attraction.

Just by being called a residency program, it has this draw, at least for me at that time.

So that was the initial drive.

And even, you know, going to the UK was part of the plan, you know, of how it was part of the plan of making the transition, you know, going to the UK and then going to the US.

It wasn't, you know, the end goal of staying in Europe.

So that never really changed.

But as I did surgery, you know, as I kind of interacted with the people around me, then I kind of realized that you change in accordance to the kind of community you're in, right? I mean, surgeons are very driven and I think they're remarkable people being able to operate in that sort of high pressure environment.

At the same time, they're pretty quirky, right? So in order to excel in that kind of environment, you're going to have to become one of them, right? And then it becomes a personal choice of whether, as you progress along the way, whether that's something that you're comfortable with.

I think, again, there's no right or wrong.

You can evolve as a person and adopt those features as you go along.

I think, deep within me, I don't see myself as having that sort of personality.