Back

Inside Out: The Deepest Emotions of Community Service

Medical student Dana Chow’s spirit of community service has led her to Tanzania, UNICEF, HealthServe, and Duke-NUS Medical School. Last year, she and her fellow students started a new health screening initiative for Singapore’s migrant community.



Around 60% of Duke-NUS students participate in community service. As Student Council Vice President for Community Service, Year 4 MD student and Shaw Foundation Scholar Dana Chow helps to drive student-led initiatives to support vulnerable groups.

During her time in Tanzania during a seven-month research project, what Dana Chow cannot forget was meeting a 12-year-old boy in the paediatric ward.

Christian suffered from a congenital obstruction of his urogenital tract. This led to recurring infections that were inadequately treated for years, causing him to develop chronic kidney disease.

“When I met Christian, he was already in a delirious state caused by uremia, crying, semi-conscious and in the arms of his mother,” Dana shares. Christian would not pull through. He was the first paediatric patient that she saw pass away in front of her.

“It left a huge mark on me, not only because he was a child and I saw him deteriorate, but also because of the sobering limitations of a low-resource setting. Christian’s condition was treatable. His infections could have been treated with antibiotics, his obstruction treated with surgery. Even the uremia could have been treated. But there weren’t any dialysis machines suited for a child in the hospital.”

The incident left her feeling helpless, sad, but also indignant. It reignited a belief in the need to address health inequality in the world. “I want to do global health. I want to help, and perhaps hopefully I can contribute in some small way to saving a life.”



Dana with Sister Anna on a palliative outreach programme in Tanzania, where medical staff offer free home visits to those unable to access the hospital. 

Dana, a 25-year-old medical student and Shaw Foundation Scholar at Duke-NUS, has been exploring this passion for some time. In earlier years, she volunteered for UNICEF fundraising activities in London, and served as a clinic intern at HealthServe, a charity that gives medical help to the migrant community in Singapore. Her research project in Tanzania, Africa last year focused on helping young people, 10-24 years old, living with HIV. 

Janna Macomis, who worked with Dana as a clinic manager at HealthServe from 2018 to 2023, says she made a strong impression: “She is intelligent, yet humble to learn from those around her. For five years, I saw her good attitude towards peers and compassion towards the migrant community.”
Dana’s participation in Duke-NUS local and overseas initiatives, as well as support from the Shaw Foundation, have enabled her to pursue her passion for global health. 

A New Initiative to Help Migrant Communities

Dana is driven not just by a sense of duty, but also the joy of connecting with new communities. Close friends know well her “Why not? Let’s do it!” attitude to meaningful causes.

This sense of possibility led Dana and schoolmate Amanda Lee to start Healthy To Thrive (HTT), a student-led initiative for Singapore’s migrant community. In 2023, Duke-NUS students worked with My Brother SG to serve 300 migrant workers through health screenings and medical counselling.



Healthy To Thrive is a student-led initiative that provides health screening and health counselling to migrant workers.

“Amanda and I wanted to help our migrant brothers because they are commonly seen as outsiders within Singapore’s community,” Dana explains. “Many of the issues they face are systemic, rather than individual. Our migrant brothers leave their countries to provide for their family, or in search of a better life. But when they get sick, they face difficulties finding affordable healthcare or even face the prospect of being sent home.”

“When interacting with the migrant brothers, I found that they are genuinely interested in their health but just do not have many opportunities to learn about it. They ask follow-up questions, are keenly listening about how to change health behaviours, and we laugh together when we shed light on common misconceptions about healthy practices.”

HTT was held once more this April, extending its reach to 400 migrant workers. Dana hopes that the initiative will continue to attract students to help and raise awareness for migrant workers, and that the team can secure more funding to provide better health education materials, goodie bags, and new forms of support to the migrant community such as daily essentials (for instance, ointment for those with eczema). 



The Inside Out of Community Service 

Dana is not alone in her belief in health equity. Around 60% of her fellow medical students take part in community service. The wide-ranging programmes, which include overseas medical missions in Asia, cancer support initiatives, and more, are also made possible by supportive staff and faculty. Dana mentions many people, including “superwoman” Mary Ng, Student Affairs Officer, and Dr Ng Yee Sian, Associate Dean, Student Affairs, for always supporting and encouraging the Student Council. It was also a chance encounter with another Duke-NUS faculty, Prof London Lucien Ooi, Associate Dean, Admissions & Alumni Relations, five years ago during her undergraduate studies that first inspired her to join HealthServe.

Dana believes that their collective efforts can make an impact in two ways: “I think the most important outcome is if the community themselves actually benefit from it. At the end of the day, if they don’t feel like their lives have improved from taking part, then we may need to rethink what projects we are doing.

“For me and my peers, it also lets us rediscover why we are doing medicine in the first place. When you step back and see the impact you are making and the people who need your help, the stress and anxiety of the journey becomes easier. You see the end point, that you do help people.”

The popular movie Inside Out discusses the powerful emotions within us. Community service is the same. Compassion, joy, and even anger towards what is wrong in the world, are different motivations that drive people to want to make a difference. Whatever their reasons, Dana believes that what matters most is that we all hold onto the spark inside us:

“Continue to give, serve, and advocate for the causes and people you believe in. There may be times when it gets tiring or you question your efforts, but always remember that every life you touch, no matter how small, is changed for the better. Your dedication and compassion make a meaningful difference—keep shining your spark!”

About the Student Community Projects Fund at Duke-NUS

If you would like to support the Student Community Projects Fund, you can do so at our online giving page. Student community service initiatives at Duke-NUS include overseas medical mission trips (Project DOVE), initiatives to support families coping with cancer (Camp Simba), and other meaningful programmes. Your gift will help the vulnerable groups that our students support.