With Passion Comes Synergy

Currently a House Officer, Dr Josephine Hendrikson has a background that is unique to many of her peers. Before attending medical school at Duke-NUS, she already had a budding career in medical research.

It was through repeated interactions with her former lab supervisor, Associate Professor Johnny Ong, however, that she began to consider pursuing a Doctor of Medicine.

She shares: “As a research officer, I always thought that my path would be to eventually pursue a PhD. But that began to change because of the way I was being trained to link back what I was doing to how it could benefit patients. That led me to think that if I really wanted to focus on translational research, it would be extremely advantageous for me to understand the matter from a clinical point of view.”

This was how three and a half years into her research career, she made the decision to apply for medical school.
 

Continuing her research journey as a medical student

Even though heading to medical school meant that Dr Hendrikson would have to leave behind her work and team, it wasn’t long before she would find herself back in the lab.

She explains: “One of the unique things about Duke-NUS Medical School is that in the third year, all students will need to do embark on an eight-month research stint. This was how I got to meet my mentor, Clinical Associate Professor Claramae Chia, and to be involved in research about improving the outcomes of patients with peritoneal disease who undergo repeated CRS-HIPEC* procedures.”

To further aid her on her research journey, Dr Hendrikson also got to benefit from several SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) research grants, including the AM-ETHOS Duke-NUS Medical Student Fellowship (MSF) and the SingHealth Medical Student Talent Development Award (SMSTDA).

For Dr Hendrikson, the value of these grants went beyond the financial, as it provided her opportunities to be more closely involved with research projects and to build up her research network.

“As an awardee of MSF and SMSTDA, I had the opportunity to present our research work alongside my mentor at an international conference and to the Surgery Academic Clinical Programme (ACP) community. This experience subsequently allowed me to join Surgery ACP trip to Duke University's campus in Durham, North Carolina, where I had the privilege of meeting some of the most prominent surgeon-scientists in the field.”

An opportunity not to be missed

Looking back, Dr Hendrikson is grateful for the opportunities she’s had to pursue research interests while at school.

“Medical school is probably the only time that you can get to explore research without needing to worry about the other responsibilities that you will have once you start working.

It’s also really amazing that as students, we got to experience applying for research grants. This is a really good opportunity to hone your grant writing skills, because in future, you are only going to be so much busier and will have to compete with a much larger pool for grants.”

Having successfully completed her Doctor of Medicine in 2024, Dr Hendrikson has aspirations to become a surgeon-scientist. Recognising that there is a long road ahead, she continues to lean on mentors such as A/Prof Johnny Ong and Clin A/Prof Claramae Chia, as well as others in her research circle for support and inspiration.

“I’m really grateful for all the people that have guided me along the way. They’ve shown me that there is not only one right path, and that the important thing is to just focus on how your research can benefit patients. Because when you have the passion, that’s when the synergy comes.”

 

Support for medical students interested in pursuing research

Learn about how the AM-ETHOS Duke-NUS Medical Student Fellowship (MSF) and SingHealth Medical Student Talent Development Award (SMSTDA) can aid you in your clinical research journey.

*CRS-HIPEC is a two-pronged procedure that employs extensive surgery followed by localised heated chemotherapy to remove tumours in the peritoneal cavity.