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The science student who defies limits

December 19, 2024
Nicolette Koh Shi Jing / Year 3, NUS Science

Popping the Pill of Passion

Nicolette Koh first became intrigued by the world of pharmaceutical drugs due to the medications she was prescribed post-surgery. Diagnosed with profound hearing loss in her left ear and moderate hearing loss in her right ear at age two, she went on to have three ear surgeries to equip her with hearing devices to enable her to hear. Nicolette’s interest was piqued after reading up on how the various components of these prescribed drugs could help in her postoperative recovery.

Fuelled by her passion for this field, she later pursued a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, graduating with flying colours as the Valedictorian of the School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology. Choosing to read a Bachelor in NUS Pharmacy in the NUS Faculty of Science was a natural next step.

Having the Full Monty 

“My prior Polytechnic background helped me transition to a more rigorous University curriculum, expediting my learning process. I chose NUS Pharmacy as its holistic curriculum integrated all the pharmaceutical topics into distinct modules, with each focusing on a specific body system (i.e. gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory),” she exposits. 

In their first year, Pharmacy undergraduates also got to see cadavers and understand more about the fascinating features of the human body up close in Anatomy classes, while compounding laboratory sessions exposed them to the methods of making medications in the various dosage forms.

Local Insights, Global Perspectives 

Nicolette (front row, first from right) on her Student Exchange Programme at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Eshelman School Of Pharmacy, taking a selfie during a pharmaceutical compounding session.

During her University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Eshelman School Of Pharmacy Exchange to North Carolina, Nicolette had the opportunity to further widen her global perspectives. Delving into the complete drug development pipeline through lectures and biopharma company site visits, she gained valuable insights into the U.S. pharmaceutical landscape. In her spare time, Nicolette also immersed herself in the local culture, visiting the famous Carolina Basketball Museum, and sampling Southern cuisine with fellow exchange students.

Closer to home, her clinical attachment in Year Two at the SingHealth Polyclinics as well as her current National University Hospital (NUH) Pharmacy attachment in Year Three have honed not only her technical expertise but also exposed her to the key soft skills of patient management.

She recounted a memorable incident at the Polyclinic where she witnessed the frustrations of a hard-of-hearing patient who had missed hearing his queue number called. “The pharmacy technician was very patient and calm in managing the agitated emotions of the patient. It not only gave me insight into how our systems can continue to be improved, but also underscored the importance of extending basic courtesy and understanding to others, and finding common ground to work together,” she elaborates. 

Nicolette (second from left) with her team-based learning group from NUS Pharmacy at a Polyclinic clinical attachment.

In Year 4, Nicolette will have internship opportunities in both “direct patient care” internship, likely in hospitals, and “indirect patient care” internship with pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson. This approach allows students to experience both internship models, further clarifying their career interests and aptitudes.

A Time to Work, A Space to Breathe

Ask any pharmacy student at NUS what a week in school looks like, and they’ll most likely tell you that their schedule can be quite packed. For Nicolette, Mondays are filled with half-day tutorials, Tuesdays with Skills Lab, Wednesdays and Fridays with half-day lectures, with the remaining Thursdays to work on her Final Year Project (PR4191: SCI-PhI Project).

Despite her Third-Year Pharmacy student schedule, Nicolette takes time to unwind with relaxing mindfulness activities like painting and immersing herself in nature. “To destress, I like to do ‘Paint By Numbers’ and create soothing artworks in a minimalistic style. Greenery is also important to me. Prince George’s Park Residence where I am currently staying has great views, something I am appreciative of every day,” she shares.

A Listening Ear in a Quieter World

In spite of her hearing loss, Nicolette has not held back from living life to the fullest or uplifting others with disabilities. The passionate disability activist, who commits to giving 100 percent in everything she does, shares her motivation: “I want to see a positive impact for others at the end, whether it be my patients being able to better understand their medication and have better self-care, or in the area of disability activism as we support one another as equals, showing empathy and achieving our full potential together.”

Nicolette (first row, seventh from right) leading the Purple Parade 2023 Outdoor Contingent.

From co-founding NP Supportify, a club in Ngee Ann Polytechnic to promote inclusivity and provide socio-emotional support for students with disabilities, to becoming President of NUS Enablers, where she helped to organise and execute NUS’ first contingent at Purple Parade 2023, marching in support of inclusion for people with disabilities, the Goh Chok Tong Enable Award winner and NUS Community Impact Scholar strongly believes that kindness and understanding can go a long way to make our world a more empathetic place for all.

Living in My Skin

To build empathy and social inclusion in the NUS student body, Nicolette has also organised the Human Library, where NUS students with different accessibility needs become the “books” to be read by other students. As they converse with these human “library books”, students can learn more about what life is like for a student with disabilities on campus.

But Nicolette’s efforts do not end on our home shores. She has also represented NUS in the Inaugural Social Sustainability Leadership Forum (SSLF) in May 2024, joining student leaders from ASEAN countries, as well as India and China, to dialogue and put forth solutions on social sustainability issues clustered around five key themes. Under the topic of women empowerment, Nicolette and her team had proposed creating a company to help women ease re-entry into the workforce.

Nicolette (back row, second from left) with volunteers and participants at the Human Library during the Social Sustainability Leadership Forum in 2024.

On how the NUS population can best welcome and support their peers with disabilities, Nicolette suggests: “The first step is to treat them as equals. Extend your friendship and include them in your projects and activities as you go on the journey together. With good intentions, all things will work out well,” she reassures with a smile. 

Many Roads to Your Rome

Prospective students considering the varied options of majors at NUS Science can take heart. The 23-year-old advises: “Go for the option that can open doors for you and lead you to the career you want in the future. In addition, you may wish to closely study the curriculum style of your preferred major to determine if it is aligned with your aspirations and interests.”

For Nicolette, she found her personal sweet spot in the curriculum style of Pharmacy, which blended theoretical knowledge with experiential and applied learning, keeping open her career pathways of being a pharmacist or entering the pharma-industry space.

A Cocktail of Mix And Mingle

Instead of lectures, Pharmacy’s unique curriculum style features interactive classes. The entire cohort is thoughtfully curated into ‘Team-Based Learning’ (TBL) groups to intermingle a diverse mix of Polytechnic, Junior College, and International Baccalaureate students, ensuring a mix of students who have different subject combinations, to best facilitate peer teaching and learning. Experiential-learning courses, also known as Skills Labs, help students develop their soft skills in patient interaction and counselling, as well as clinical reasoning and drug information skills. Come Year Three, these TBL groups are reshuffled once more for a different student mix.

“This curriculum style really helps create more bonding and a closely-knit pharmacy class. What I like is how the culture in Pharmacy is pretty cosy, as we have a compact cohort of 140 to 150 students,” she observes.

For her Final Year Project, Nicolette and her partner decided to create a mobile scanning application that allows patients to quickly scan and access information on their medication, including its uses and possible side effects. The aim is to reduce the workload at polyclinics by empowering patients to independently obtain information on prescribed drugs. “While our app is still in its beta phase, we hope to eventually add more accessibility features to cater to different needs,” she shares.

A Wider Embrace, A Deeper Inclusion

The pro-tip for Pharmacy freshmen itching to dive deep into campus life? “Well, I would say the go-to place for student support, networking, and even industry visits is really the NUS Pharmaceutical Society. It is a great starting point for us all to get plugged in as seniors would mentor the juniors about university life and share their advice. Another option would be to participate in the Pharmacy Orientation Camp and Orientation Week.” Nicolette opines.

What Nicolette most cherished about her NUS experience is not only the very rigorous Pharmacy curriculum, but the peers, friends and mentors who have made her learning journey so memorable and enriching. In particular, staff at the NUS Student Accessibility Unit have been very helpful to Nicolette, such as encouraging her to develop her leadership abilities by becoming President of NUS Enablers, facilitating her learning needs by liaising with the respective teaching staff, and enabling auto-captions for Nicolette during her lectures. 

Nicolette (in front) at a bonding picnic with her friends from NUS Enablers.

“Don’t go alone on this journey. Lean on your mates for support as we grow to become better future pharmacists, survive challenging deadlines, and juggle heavy workloads. I also have to credit NUS Enablers and NUS Signapse for being such a big part of my growth journey. I have met many interesting people with diverse perspectives and from all walks of life across the faculties. Journeying together is simply more enriching!” she concludes.

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