Dr Tay Zong Min, Associate Consultant, Infectious Diseases, National Centre for Infectious Diseases & Tan Tock Seng Hospital, NHG Health, Singapore

1) What does public service mean to you? Can you share more about your role in the public sector?

I am currently an Associate Consultant in Infectious Diseases at NHG Health’s Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in Singapore, with a special interest in managing Haematology and Intensive Care Unit patients who have infective issues.

In addition to patient care, I am involved in promoting antimicrobial stewardship within my hospital and also support colleagues at the Communicable Diseases Agency in strengthening public health and surveillance programmes on airborne and droplet diseases.

It is exciting and a great privilege to be able to contribute to healthcare on the individual, institutional as well as national levels!

To me, being a member of the public healthcare sector means being part of a safety net for patients – ensuring that everyone is able to access high-quality care that is relevant and empathetic to their needs regardless of their social or economic background. It also means being part of a community that is ready to respond to issues on a broader scale, be it in responding to disease outbreaks or planning for public health initiatives.

2) Tell us about a project you worked on. What impact did it have on the community?

I recently had the privilege of deploying as part of a team of clinical management and laboratory experts from the NCID, in response to a request for assistance from the Global Outbreak and Alert Response Network (GOARN) to support the dengue response in the Pacific Island countries.

Our three-week deployment provided us the opportunity to work closely alongside local counterparts to understand the systems and structures they had in place, as well as explore opportunities to strengthen clinical management and outbreak preparedness within their local and regional contexts.

It was a great experience getting to learn from each other and share best practices, and incredibly inspiring to witness the commitment and resourcefulness of the public servants in our host country.

We kickstarted the drafting of a contextualised dengue management guideline during our deployment, and it is our hope that this will grow to become a sustainable and meaningful local resource. We also hope that the relationships we built during our deployment will be the seed for sustained long-term collaborations between our institutions and countries.

3) As a young professional, how has your unique background or perspective allowed you to identify a solution that others in your organisations might have overlooked?

My comparatively limited experience has allowed me the space to ask questions that may perhaps be thought of as self-evident or silly! I have also had the benefit of being able to seek wise counsel from across a wide spectrum of mentors and juniors.

4) What is your personal strategy for maintaining your creative energy when faced with bureaucracy?

I remind myself that no one sets out to deliberately "do wrong" by our patients, and that we are all finding our own ways to give our best to the people we serve. This encourages me to keep the bigger goals in mind while seeking to build bridges and shared visions.

5) If you had just one area to invest in to accelerate transformation in the public sector (regulation, technology, talent, etc.), which one would you choose and why?

I would invest in building trust - both across divisions and agencies within the public sector, as well as between the public sector and the wider public which it serves. A strong foundation of trust and transparency allows for unconventional ideas to be considered constructively rather than being perceived as threatening.

6) What is your greatest ambition as you grow in your public service career?

I hope to never stray away from my initial motivations for my chosen career in Infectious Diseases - which are to comfort and cure my patients to the best of my abilities, be a good advocate for my patients and communities, as well as contribute to Singapore’s public health endeavours.

7) What is a “universal value” that connects everyone in your department – from interns to directors – and how do you use that to drive collaboration?

I think a common trait that unites Infectious Diseases physicians is that of curiosity - in our clinical work, we are often the ones drilling down to the smallest of details in our patient histories, and we enjoy getting to the bottom of otherwise undifferentiated presentations.

This fosters an environment where we are excited by varying perspectives and novel observations, as the ‘clue’ to unravelling our patients’ cases very often arises from small, seemingly ‘less important’ details. We also often sit at the intersection of various speciality teams and learn to navigate and coordinate varying priorities and interests. Translating this to other aspects of public service, we learn to work collaboratively with various stakeholders and are not afraid to scrutinise and tease apart the finer details.

8) What is the best piece of advice you’ve gotten as the next generation of public servants?

We are always encouraged to keep an open mind – be it when considering differentials for our patients or when designing new programmes or policies. Collaboration, opportunities and solutions may arise from the most unexpected of places, and this advice has encouraged me to always be humble, make time and to be willing to share.

9) Write a letter to your future self in 2035. Please keep it within 200 words.

To my future self,

I hope you have stayed true to your values and continue to find joy and excitement in work and in life!

May you continue to care deeply for every patient that crosses your path, while always setting time apart for your family and yourself.

I also hope you never lose your sense of wonder and curiosity and will continue to see beauty in the small details of everyday life. And no matter how the future pans out, I hope you will never lose your sense of humour!