Aimen Ismail, MS-2 Medical Student Enrichment Program Summer 2011 Singapore, Singapore

History and Commerce Urbanized city-state off the southern tip of the Malay peninsula One of the four “Asian Tiger” countries World’s fourth leading financial center World’s top five busiest port World’s top three oil refining center World’s second biggest casino gambling market Fourth largest foreign exchange trading center after NY, London, and Tokyo “Easiest place in the world to do business” according to the World Bank

Culture and Religion Population of around 5 million, with 2.9 million born locally Fertility rate is 1.1 child/woman Three ethnic groups: Chinese (74%), Malay (13%), and South Indian (9%) Official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil 1/3 of Singaporeans are Buddhist, most of them Chinese Christianity>Islam>Taoism>Hinduism

Education and Research Educational stages: primary (6 yrs), secondary (4-5 yrs), pre-university (2-3 yrs) Two prestigious public universities: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS)  34 th in the world and 4 th in Asia, according to the Times Singapore Biomedical Sciences Initiative launched in 2000 to establish Biomedical Sciences as pillar of economy

Healthcare 6 th in the world according to WHO’S last ranking of world healthcare systems in 2000 Life expectancy 83 for women and 79 for men Universal healthcare system in which government ensures affordability through com- pulsory savings (payroll deductions) and price controls, while care is provided by private sector Supplemental insurance also provided by employers Medical tourism hub: 200,000 foreigners seek care each year  goal is one million foreign patients by

My Experience

Preparation Had wanted to visit for years Beginning in November 2010, began ing faculty at the Cancer Sciences Institute and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School After finding a mentor, started preparing application for Training Employment Permit for Ministry of Manpower No special vaccinations needed Found funding at UAB  MSEP and CaRES program

Accommodation Lived off campus in a (very) small studio apartment available for short-term lease Fully furnished with bed, desk, bookshelf, fridge, washing machine, dryer, microwave, toaster, television, hotplate, and cooking and eating utensils Adjacent to MRT station (20 minute train ride and 10 minute walk to work) Whopping 1300 USD per month

Food and Transport Expenses Abundance of food options Pizza Hut, Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Auntie Annie’s, etc… Spent about 400 USD/month on food and groceries Two transport options: MRT or taxi Spent about 80 USD/month on transport THUS, total expenses so far: = 1780 USD /month on just rent, food and transport

Sightseeing SINGAPORE– tourism is huge part of economy Singapore Zoo Singapore Bird Park Universal Studios Singapore Broadway’s traveling Lion King Musical Singapore flyer Marina Bay Sands Malls, malls, and malls! Lots of European designer brands Myriad signature restaurants and places to relax by the sea MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur  Petronas Towers and KL Tower Putrajaya, administrative capital Genting Highlands Cameron Highlands LANGKAWI!!

Singapore

Malaysia, Truly Asia