Medicine to Policy: Lessons I learnt from Dr Sean

When Euan, a fellow friend and the director of Charisma Movement’s Research & Advocacy Department, asked me if I would like to talk to Sean - a medical practitioner turned newspaper columnist who now serves as the Special Functions Officer to the Deputy Minister of Communications - I said an unquestionable “yes.”

Coming from a veterinary medicine background, I always felt out of place when I volunteered for different causes outside my field of practice. “What’s a vet like me doing here? I should be doubling down on my veterinary career!” The voices in my head rang loud while I worked on my after-work side projects in mental health and social impact. Yet deep within me, I knew I was in my element whenever I dabbled in different things and ventured off the beaten path. Still, that quiet restlessness lingered, the feeling that I am meant to do more, yet remain unsure what that “more” actually looks like. 

Hence, I knew having a conversation with Dr Sean will broaden my view on my doubts and questions about pivoting away from a traditional medical career. Listening to him made me realise that curiosity itself can be a form of service, where learning and contributing can happen at the same time.

“What’s your WHY; your north star?” 

“I have always just wanted to serve,” he said simply. That sentence carried a kind of grounded conviction that makes you pause. For him, joining student organisations and volunteering were ways to serve and create change. Even when the pandemic hit, that instinct stayed resolute. He wrote close to 200 articles over four years, covering medicine, mental health, disability rights, and public health. One of those pieces caught the attention of an editor, and later, a policymaker. Opportunities began to find him.

When I asked if he had always planned that pivot from medicine to policymaking, he laughed. “I just said yes to things that allowed me to contribute.” He admitted to feeling like an imposter at times, to learning policymaking through short courses and long nights, to figuring things out as he went along. “There are no natural-born polymaths,” he said. “You do the research, read, ask questions, and learn enough to form a view worth sharing.”

It made me think about how often we wait until we feel “ready” with the right credentials or title. Perhaps what we really need is to begin where we are and learn as we move forward. When I asked what advice he would give to someone like me, a practitioner crossing into policy or advocacy, he said, “Start by being involved. Volunteer with policymakers’ offices. Write something for the papers. Visibility matters. People can only bring you in if they know you exist.”

Even though visibility helps, he also reminded me that credentials carry weight too. Not because they define us but because they give weight to our voices within systems that measure worth through titles. “Your degree is a passport. It depends on how you use it.”

Towards the end of our conversation, he said something that stayed with me long after. “Be so good in your knowledge that whatever you say cannot be ignored. Do what is true, good, and necessary.”

It was the reminder I needed. As someone still navigating between worlds of veterinary medicine, mental health advocacy, and youth empowerment, I found comfort in realising that callings rarely arrive as revelations. They unfold through curiosity with lots and lots of trial and error. I may still be in the early stages of figuring out where I can contribute most effectively as of now, yet this conversation gave me a clearer sense of direction. And as long as I continue learning and serving, I believe the path ahead will take shape in ways I cannot yet imagine. Looking forward to the future!

By Yu Qi, CM Journalist