Lee Kong Chian Graduate Scholarship recipient
June 11, 2016
Kamonlawan Chomchopbun, a recipient of the Lee Kong Chian Graduate Scholarship
Receiving the Lee Kong Chian Graduate Scholarship changed Kamonlawan CHOMCHOPBUN’s life.
She said, “After graduating, it was a difficult decision between working and pursuing my Ph.D. The scholarship enables me to pursue my passion in research while freeing my parents and siblings from financial worries.”
Kamonlawan, a Pharmacy graduate student in the Ph.D. programme, is studying how to harness the therapeutic properties of medicinal plants to develop treatment options for malaria, an infectious disease that jeopardises lives especially in the tropical region. Drug resistance to malaria is also on the rise. In her research project, Kamonlawan extracts compounds from plants and tests them for anti-malarial properties, hoping to develop novel therapeutics and treatment options for malaria.
She added, “I hope to improve patients’ quality of life through integrative medicines. Through research in drug discovery, safety and optimal usage, I believe that my work is at least a small jigsaw piece contributing towards better patient care in the future.”
Kamonlawan’s positive experience as an undergraduate at NUS Pharmacy motivated her to choose NUS for her graduate studies. Through her learning journey here, she has grown academically and made many friends through numerous opportunities to interact with different people.
Kamonlawan said, “Giving does not only benefit the recipient of the gift. It has the potential to benefit many more. The scholarship allows me to pursue my dreams and to touch the lives of others through my research. Studying science does not merely equate to gathering more knowledge. It is about applying our knowledge to help others.”
The Lee Kong Chian Graduate Scholarship, established with donations from the Lee Foundation, Singapore’s largest private charitable foundation, is the University’s most prestigious scholarship award for graduate students who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership and commitment to service.
