Young doctor and aspiring clinician-innovator is the only Singaporean selected to join the 10th cohort of Schwarzman Scholars

Faye Ng Yu Ci, who is from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Class of 2024, is among the 150 Schwarzman Scholars embarking on a fully-funded master’s degree programme in global affairs at Tsinghua University in China.

NUS graduates have once again soared to new heights, bringing immense pride to the university with their extraordinary achievements.

Faye Ng Yu Ci, an alumna of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), has earned a coveted spot in the prestigious Schwarzman Scholars graduate fellowship programme. She will also fly the Singapore flag high as the only Singaporean joining the 10th cohort comprising 150 scholars representing 38 countries and 105 universities from around the world. These bright young leaders will attend a one-year fully-funded master’s degree programme in global affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Schwarzman Scholars are chosen through a competitive application process consisting of personal essays, a conversational phase, and finally, a board interview with CEOs, government leaders, university presidents, and non-profit executives, among others. These high achievers distinguished themselves through exemplary leadership, character and integrity, as well as academic aptitude and intellectual ability. They also embody empathy and intercultural competency, an entrepreneurial drive and spirit, alongside an open mind and unbridled curiosity toward the world.

Starting in August 2025, the scholars will engage in a graduate curriculum focused on leadership, global affairs, and China. They will learn from leading faculty from Tsinghua University as well as globally renowned universities, and attend lectures delivered by eminent senior leaders in business, global public policy, economics, and international affairs.

As part of the programme, the scholars can look forward to mentoring, internships, and experiential learning, as well as career development opportunities to help them excel in various fields upon graduation.

Newly-minted Schwarzman Scholar

Faye graduated from NUS Medicine in 2024 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. She was selected from a record-breaking pool of nearly 5,000 candidates worldwide to be a part of the Class of 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholars – this is the highest number of applications that Schwarzman Scholars had received in its 10-year history.

"Faye has never failed to delight me with her enterprising spirit and incisive worldview, as well as what she sets her mind on and commits to accomplishing. Her achievements in academic research, clinical innovation, and the medical humanities speak for her holistic excellence, and she continues to be an inspiration to her peers and juniors in NUS Medicine,” observed Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

He added, “I congratulate her on this opportunity to better understand the geopolitical factors driving our fast-changing world through Schwarzman Scholars and believe the programme will groom her well for future leadership roles in public healthcare as a clinician-innovator. She is a perfect fit for the programme’s global outlook and cross-disciplinary emphasis — I never doubted she would be selected by the committee.”

Mastering the balance: Doctor, innovator, poet, dancer and more

As an aspiring clinician-innovator, Faye hopes to use technology to transform healthcare, spearheading collaborations between physicians, engineers, and businesses. She believes in the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to augment healthcare practices, and is committed to developing clinical algorithms through evidence-based medicine. In addition, she aims to harness big data to deliver healthcare that is personal and personable, while creating solutions at scale at minimal cost.

Since graduating from NUS Medicine, Faye has started work as a house officer, completing her Internal Medicine as well as Obstetrics and Gynecology postings in the hospitals within Singapore’s public healthcare system. She is currently working as a house officer in the Orthopaedics department of a major tertiary hospital in Singapore. As a house officer, Faye oversees patients’ progress in the wards and attends to medical emergencies on-call, practicing her clinical decision-making and bedside procedural skills.

Beyond her role as a clinician, Faye is passionate about advancing healthcare innovation. She is currently a clinical fellow with the Duke-NUS Innovation Programme (D-HIP), which brings together multidisciplinary teams with backgrounds in medicine, engineering, and business to solve modern-day healthcare challenges. Together with her groupmates, Faye is working on a device to address the problem of rising myopia prevalence and progression in children, through implementing a novel peripheral blurring technology on smart devices to tackle the issue of increasing screen time.

“I envision a future in healthcare where treatment plans are optimised for the individual patient, and administrative workload is reduced to enable greater patient interaction,” reflected Faye. “Being a doctor is like being a firefighter – you put out fires one by one. Through innovation and enterprise, I can increase the extent and impact of my care.”

Despite her hectic day-to-day work, Faye carves out time to spend with her family and loved ones, write poetry and articles, and stay active by running and taking hikes on the weekends. Occasionally, she returns as an alumna to dance with NUS Dance Synergy – a dance CCA in NUS.

Learning with like-minded peers, forging lifelong friendships

Faye’s interest in the socioeconomic landscape and geopolitical development of China began during her pre-university days, when she was a bicultural studies scholar reading the subject “China Studies in Chinese” for her GCE A-levels. During the course of her studies, she was awarded both the Prime Minister’s Book Prize and the Lee Hsien Loong Award for Outstanding Bicultural Students.

Faye will be based in Beijing for a year for the Schwarzman Scholars programme. By situating herself at the heart of China’s socioeconomic and political development, she wants to better understand the intricacies of China’s society and systems, as well as keep her pulse on the latest biotech advancements and trends in the capital.

“Through my time at Schwarzman Scholars, I hope to attain an in-depth understanding of China’s healthcare system from within it, occupying front-row seats in its adoption of AI by plugging into Tsinghua University’s thriving innovation ecosystem,” she shared.

"I'm so pleased to see Faye Ng join us at Tsinghua University for the Schwarzman Scholars programme. This programme is highly competitive, and it only takes the very best students from around the world. Faye has shown a remarkable ability to adapt, innovate, lead and has the passion, energy and curiosity to do something different to make a positive difference,” commended Professor Wong Tien Yin, Chair Professor and Senior Vice-Chancellor, Tsinghua Medicine, and Vice Provost, Tsinghua University.

He opined, “She will no doubt have a great experience in Tsinghua and will have a first-hand experience in understanding China's healthcare system, and the challenges China faces. The network she makes, and the possible solutions she is involved in developing in China will be useful for NUS, Singapore's healthcare systems and Singaporean patients.” 

“Leveraging on my bicultural and bilingual background, alongside my intuition for healthcare as a physician, I hope to ride the wave of AI and innovation in the second-largest economy in the world. Through the scholarships’ abundant opportunities, I endeavour to gain a more holistic and birds-eye view of healthcare, from a systems and policy-making level, as well as a regional and global perspective,” Faye explained.

Faye also looks forward to meeting and being inspired by peers from all over the world and all walks of life with a similar drive and passion for creating positive change, be it through innovation, policymaking, the arts or humanities.

“I hope to form memories and friendships at the college that will last for a lifetime,” Faye affirmed.



News from: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-medicine-alumna-faye-ng-earns-spot-in-schwarzman-scholars-programme/