Student Stories
Brandon Ng Shi Yuan (Life Sciences Major)
Internship (May-July 2018): Office for Healthcare Transformation, Ministry of Health
Having always wanted to better understand the healthcare sector outside the classroom, I enrolled myself in the SPH3201 Public Health in Practice module during the summer vacation. I was given the opportunity to do an internship at the Ministry of Health Office for Healthcare Transformation (MOHT), a corporatised agency that was recently set up to shape the future of healthcare in Singapore.
During my eight-week stint at MOHT, I worked together with nine other interns to lay the foundations for the Healthy Campus Initiative. We conducted ethnographic research on the food and physical landscapes of Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore, and generated insights based on our findings for oral and written presentations to various stakeholders. Our supervisors provided us with adequate training in the areas of ethnographic research, design thinking and change management to enable us to perform our assigned task independently and effectively. They also provided us with various opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of Singapore’s healthcare system. These came in the form of a field trip to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, as well as networking sessions with government officials from different statutory boards.
In all, I am better able to appreciate the multidisciplinary nature of the work and skillsets required for a career in the healthcare sector, which would prove useful as I prepare for my transition into the working world in my final year.
