Turning Curiosity into Impact: Celebrating the Class of 2026 PhD Graduates

Text: Christine Teh

Tenacity and curiosity defined LKCMedicine's Class of 2026 cohort of 19 PhD graduates. Two award-winning researchers share the ups and downs of their research journeys.

Every scientific breakthrough begins with a question.

Dr Konstanze Tan was driven by a desire to better understand cardiovascular disease, leading her to pursue research into the molecular mechanisms underlying heart disease. Meanwhile, Dr Sara Tasnim's journey into health economics began during her pharmacy training and evolved into a passion for generating evidence that informs better healthcare decisions and improves patient outcomes.

They joined 17 fellow PhD graduates in celebrating their achievements at the LKCMedicine Convocation ceremony on 1 August 2026. The cohort received congratulations from LKCMedicine faculty and management, including Associate Professor Sanjay Chotirmall, Vice-Dean of Research; Associate Professor Yusuf Ali, Vice-Dean of International Relations; Professor Kwek Tong Kiat, Vice-Dean of Clinical Affairs; Associate Professor Christine Cheung, Assistant Dean of PhD Studies and Professional Development; Dr Serene Ng, Chief Operating Officer; and their thesis supervisors.

Dr Konstanze Tan: Where research meets teaching

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from NTU Singapore, Dr Konstanze Tan continued her academic journey at LKCMedicine to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Assistant Professor Marie Loh.

Her research investigated how DNA methylation – chemical "switches" that regulate gene activity without altering the genetic code – influences cardiovascular disease.

Using molecular data from heart tissue and Asian population cohorts, she identified methylation patterns associated with heart failure and early cardiovascular disease, uncovering biological pathways in contexts that remain under-represented in global research. Her findings could one day contribute to better disease prediction, prevention and treatment.


Dr Konstanze Tan (right) with her supervisor, LKCMedicine’s Assistant Professor Marie Loh, on her graduation day. 

Her research excellence earned several prestigious honours, including the Toh Kian Chui Gold Medal in 2026, and the Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WiEST) Development Grant in 2025.

She credits Assistant Professor Marie Loh for believing in her potential. "Although I had limited dry-lab experience, Asst Prof Loh gave me the opportunity to join her research group. I remain deeply grateful for her mentorship."

She said: “As LKCMedicine was still a young medical school when I joined four years ago, it was inspiring to see the room given for new ideas and initiatives to take root and grow. My experience at LKCMedicine was much more enriching than I had expected. Although I had heard from seniors that the PhD journey would involve more than just my research project, I did not anticipate how many opportunities there would be for growth beyond the laboratory. During my time at the school, I travelled more extensively than I ever had before, and was exposed to many academic and professional settings that broadened my perspective.” 



Now a Research Fellow at LKCMedicine, Dr Tan continues to thrive in a challenging and intellectually stimulating environment.

"Every day presents opportunities to develop the technical rigour needed for this career. I'm constantly learning to ask sharper questions, approach problems more precisely and communicate research with greater clarity."

While research formed the foundation of her PhD, teaching became one of its most rewarding aspects. She conducted a practical tutorial during an international summer school aimed at building scientific analytical capacity among participants from low- and middle-income countries, teaching a data science topic she had once found challenging herself.

She also served as a Teaching Assistant for an introductory data science module, earning the Best Teaching Assistant Award from NTU's School of Biological Sciences, and as a Student Communication Coach at NTU's Language and Communication Centre, where she supported undergraduate and PhD students in developing their academic writing and presentation skills.

Beyond the laboratory, her PhD journey unfolded alongside major personal milestones, including getting married and preparing to start a family. "It reminded me that pursuing research doesn't happen in isolation from life, and the two paths grow together."

 

Dr Sara Tasnim: Research that informs better healthcare

For Dr Sara Tasnim, research has never been just about numbers or statistical models. It has always been about helping people make better healthcare decisions.

Now a Research Fellow at LKCMedicine, she graduated from the School's PhD by Research Programme with an outstanding record of achievements under the supervision of Associate Professor Joanne Ngeow. 

During her candidature, she received the NTU Graduate College's Research Excellence Award 2026, the SHBC Student Gold Award at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2025, the Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WiEST) Development Grant 2025, a travel grant to attend the 2025 International Health Economics Association Congress, and the Best Early Career Investigator Poster Presenter Award at the PRECISE-IHCC Conference 2024.

Trained as a pharmacist, Dr Tasnim joined the University of British Columbia's Therapeutics Initiative after completing her master's degree, where she led systematic reviews on the safety and efficacy of medicines to inform British Columbia's drug reimbursement programme.

She moved to Singapore in 2022 to pursue her PhD at LKCMedicine, where she focused on Lynch syndrome and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), evaluating the most cost-effective genetic testing strategies.

Her research centred on a fundamental question: when there are multiple drugs for the same condition, how do we actually know which one is genuinely the best?

“This became really personal for me when my parents, who manage several chronic conditions, started asking for my advice every time they got a new prescription. During my hospital rotations, I saw firsthand how much pharmaceutical marketing influenced what doctors were prescribing. It made me wonder, are my parents on the best medication, or just the best-marketed one? That curiosity is what pushed me to do my master's degree, where I was taught to look past the surface and dig directly into the clinical evidence itself. That completely shifted my perspective. I stopped just thinking about which drug to prescribe and started thinking about the bigger picture of healthcare decisions, like which diagnostic tests we should run, and which public health programmes we should actually fund. That realisation is what ultimately led me to pursue a PhD in health economics.”

Dr Sara Tasnim (centre) with her supervisor, LKCMedicine’s Associate Professor Joanne Ngeow (left) and co-supervisor, Assistant Professor Akshar Saxena.

The flexibility of LKCMedicine's PhD programme also broadened her perspective. Her first year included lab rotations and a clinical attachment at the Cancer Genetics Service at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, where she observed patient consultations, genetic counselling sessions, case discussions on referral pathways and multi-gene panel testing. That early clinical exposure directly shaped how she built clinical pathways into her models.

Her four-chapter thesis explored the psychosocial, clinical and economic dimensions of genetic testing. The first chapter, on psychosocial barriers to testing uptake, was published in Health Psychology Review, while the remaining chapters are under peer review. Her findings have also informed national deliberations on genetic testing subsidies for Lynch Syndrome and HBOC.

Her most memorable moment came when she discovered that her economic models were being adapted to support Singapore's health technology assessment process, informing national policy deliberations on genetic testing subsidies.

Dr Tasnim recalled: "As a PhD student, you hope your work will eventually make a difference, but seeing it actively taken up by the Agency for Care Effectiveness while I was still in the PhD programme was surreal. That happened right around the same time I received the Conquer Cancer® Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Having that local, real-world policy impact happen alongside international scientific recognition was incredibly validating."

Looking ahead, Dr Tasnim hopes to build a research programme at the intersection of health economics, cancer genetics and implementation science, extending the translational approach she pioneered in Singapore for Lynch syndrome and HBOC to other hereditary conditions and healthcare systems worldwide.

Congratulations to our PhD by Research graduates! We can't wait to see the impact you'll make as you push the frontiers of research and innovation.