This past summer, I had the opportunity to participate in various health screening and advocacy events hosted by UM Medical Centre as a student scholar from Tufts University.
The first was a health promotion program at SMK Subang Utama. While the sky was still half-asleep, our small team of volunteers boarded a bus that took us from UMMC to the school. Upon arrival, we unloaded our equipment and assembled educational booths for the students. Inside the hall, Dr Catherine and other speakers addressed more than a hundred students on topics like digital addiction and mental health.
At my station—the Mental Health booth—I spun a colourful wheel covering common mental health myths, which I challenged the students to debunk. The students were surprisingly receptive to my advice on ways to manage your mental health, and all of them were more than eager to spin the wheel and showcase their knowledge! Nearby, other students learned about nutrition and the dangers of smoking and vaping. Seeing the students so engaged reminded me how powerful hands-on learning can be in making serious topics approachable.
The second event I participated in was the UM CLAP Charity Run health screening. We had five different stations set up near the track field: registration, anthropometry, blood pressure, glucose/cholesterol/haemoglobin levels, and consultation. I was tasked with measuring height, weight, and calculating BMI for the runners. Then, the dieticians at our station indicated on each runner’s slip whether each runner’s BMI fell into underweight, normal, overweight, or obese categories. Watching runners transition seamlessly from the excitement of the race to caring for their health was a reminder that wellness is multifaceted. Fitness is as much about awareness and prevention as it is about physical activity!
The final event I volunteered at was the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) health screening at the Batang Berjuntai Town Indian Muslim Mosque. Once again, I was stationed at the height and weight station, but here, I noticed something different: many of the participants seemed unfamiliar with measuring their height and weight, which indicated to me that regular health screenings were rare in this community. As someone who has been privileged to live in the city for most of my life, with the nearest hospital only minutes away, I realised how easy it is to take such access for granted. Volunteering here deepened my desire to bring preventive services to the communities that need them most.
When I first proposed my internship in Malaysia, my goal was to immerse myself in the academic rigour of research. Yet, ironically, what left the deepest impression was not the data, but rather the humanity in medicine. By the end of my six weeks, I found myself struck with a quiet sense of melancholy. Though my time with patients, families, doctors, nurses, and volunteers was brief, the diligent care they showed—whether to loved ones or strangers—left a lasting impression. Imagine my surprise, for instance, when I learned that the head of Kuala Lumpur’s only Parkinson’s association had kept the organisation alive all these years through sheer grit and community support.
My time in Kuala Lumpur has ended, but I don’t intend for my work to stop here. I intend to carry on the stories entrusted to me and to continue caring for others, not just within hospital settings but also in small neighbourhoods, screenings, organisations, and all the spaces that may be overlooked.
By Sandy Nguyen, from Tufts University, Massachusetts, United States.
Writer biography:
Sandy Nguyen is a fourth-year student at Tufts University in the United States. In the summer of 2025, she spent six weeks in Kuala Lumpur as a Laidlaw Scholar. During this time, she conducted data analysis for a retrospective study on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and their effects on frail older adults at the UM Medical Centre.
She also volunteered at health advocacy events and with the Malaysian Parkinson’s Disease Association (MPDA), and participated in the medical school’s Silent Mentor Program. Those six weeks were a transformative period that taught her the importance of humility and diligence in medicine, particularly in improving the quality of life for geriatric patients.
She was supervised by Dr Tan Kit Mun (Universiti Malaya Medical Centre), Professor Wong Li Ping (Universiti Malaya), and Professor Shayesteh Jahanfar (Tufts University).
Currently, she is completing her final year at Tufts and will go on to work at a global health non-profit before attending medical school.
You can find more about:
Her portfolio
LinkedIn
You must be logged in to post a comment.