Helping Medical Students Navigate Their Future
At NUMed, we are all about helping you find your way through medical school and whatever comes next. If you are feeling a bit lost, we have plenty of career support lined up to help you figure things out.
21 May 2025
Raise your hands, those of you who still don’t know what you want to do when you graduate. Don’t worry; you are not alone. While the career pathways for a medical school student may seem obvious, the truth is, there are so many diverse areas in medicine that it can get a little overwhelming. What if you choose the wrong specialty? What if you never even knew a certain path existed?
This is exactly why NUMed hosts annual career events for our Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students. So you can explore your options and make informed decisions about your future!
Broader, Bolder, Bigger
Organised by the NUMed Clinical Team, comprising Dr Vasantha Priya Subramaniyam (Associate Professor & Assistant Dean of Clinical Affairs), Professor Dr Harinarayan Radhakrishna (Dean of Clinical Affairs), and Dr Mon Mon Yee (Associate Professor & Assistant Dean of Clinical Affairs), this year’s event was called Career Exploration and Development: Sculpting Your Professional Future.
The goal? To offer our Year 4 and Year 5 MBBS students insights into the diverse career paths within the medical field and help them visualise their future beyond the textbooks and clinicals.
“Graduating students usually have apprehension about future practice and life. Most importantly, their knowledge about possible career options is very limited to clinical practice. To broaden this vision and give them an opportunity to view the future from different perspectives, this workshop was conducted,” shared Dr Vasantha.
Compared to previous years, this year’s event united various career-related events like talks from alumni, medical associations, and experts under a single umbrella.
“This year, we wanted to make it a one-stop event for students to gather information. We also broadened the scope by inviting industries to brief students on the role of doctors in industrial applications and including research, preventive care, and management as career prospects,” she added.
Compared to previous years, this year’s event united various career-related events like talks from alumni, medical associations, and experts under a single umbrella.
“This year, we wanted to make it a one-stop event for students to gather information. We also broadened the scope by inviting industries to brief students on the role of doctors in industrial applications and including research, preventive care, and management as career prospects,” she added.
“We brought in a wider range of medical specialties, such as medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and gynaecology, as well as non-clinical careers like healthcare administration, medical education, and public health, providing students with more comprehensive career options.
“These enhancements collectively made this year's event more supportive, impressive, and insightful, providing our Year 4 and Year 5 medical students with a unique and valuable experience as they sculpt their professional futures,” elaborated Dr Mon.
The diversified breadth of the event was important not only to broaden students’ horizons, but also to reduce the risk of choosing a speciality without fully understanding its demands and opportunities.
“By exposing students to multiple career options, we hope to empower them to make informed choices, develop essential skills, and prepare for a successful and fulfilling professional future,” Dr Mon continued.
Overwhelming Response
The turnout exceeded expectations, and many of the students expressed their appreciation for the event. Among others, they were exposed to new-to-them information and benefited from personalised advice and support from experienced professionals.
Both Dr Vasantha and Dr Mon generously shared some thoughts on how students can choose their career paths wisely.
“Students have been given ample information about various clinical opportunities in Malaysia and the UK, personality traits which may influence career choices, work-life balance, and varied non-clinical options. I hope this information will help them,” said Dr Vasantha.
“My advice is to keep up with trends. Stay updated on the latest developments in the medical field,” added Dr Mon.
If you are still figuring out your place in the vast world of medicine, be sure to keep an eye out for NUMed’s next career event and check out the myriad of opportunities to see which one resonates with you.