FOR SOME medical students, their drive to help people and save lives pushed them into this tough and daunting career. However, for Dr Jeffrey Chew Yi-Zhung, it was life, luck, and opportunity that steered him to where he is today.
At the young age of 24, Jeffrey set out to help others by improving the way they live. His first step was to start his own company with a partner, Keith Koo, that focuses on nutritional medicine.
Seeing that you’re so young, I bet one of the first questions anyone would ask is what are your qualifications?
“I have a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), and a Bachelor of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Kuala Lumpur Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (KLATCM).
“Additionally, I have a Board Certification in Nutritional Medicine from Association of Nutritional Medicinal Practitioners Malaysia (ANMPM), and I am a Fitgenes Accredited Practitioner, from Fitgenes (Australia).”
How long did it take for you to get all these qualifications?
“It all began when I was 18, and I got all of them by the time I [reached] 24.
“The journey to get to this point was extremely difficult. So much so that I often questioned myself, why did I do all this. I also got very depressed, and felt that I plunged myself into an abyss of regret.
“I admit that I also succumbed to some of these negative emotions and energies. It cost me. I forced myself to cope, but in the end, it left me tired. It felt like I was driving a very old rundown car. It stalls and doesn’t run fast, and at times the engine doesn’t start.
“Fortunately, it all got better after the third year.”
So why did you take up this great endeavour?
“My initial aim was to study medicine and cure diseases. My thought was conventional and traditional medicine should not be two separate things, and that they can function in harmony.
“To do that, I had to study both of them. However I found that they, unfortunately, don’t seem to integrate well with each other.
“Another reason why I ended up studying both traditional and conventional medicine is that I hit some difficulties. To be honest, I always had Western medicine as my first choice, but the considerable education cost deterred me.
“However, one day I was introduced to an opportunity to study Traditional Chinese Medicine; it was affordable, and so I took it up by chance.
“Nutritional Medicine was a result of circumstance, but it became my focus of practice today.
“I think why I did all this was because of dreams and aspirations [I had] since childhood, [to] be non-biased and curious, and hot-blooded enough to seize the opportunity before considering the chances of failure. Of course, I also do believe that fate played some role in this.”
Were your parents supportive of your choices?
“My mum was incredibly supportive, but at the same time, she was very concerned about my well being. My dad, however, did not want me to pursue Western medicine due to the cost.
“Nevertheless he allowed me to do so, and of course, he did not want me to fail, because it would incur more cost.
“My siblings were quite neutral. After they all graduated and started working, they [considered me] lucky because I get to step into society later.”
What are the similarities between conventional Western medicine and Chinese traditional medicine?
“This is a fascinating topic to talk about, actually. Despite both medicines having the same aim to diagnose a person systematically, and to administer treatment effectively, they both are so fundamentally different that it makes them like ice and fire.
“Modern Western medicine is based on the study of health sciences and clinical trials. Therefore it is limited to the usage of pharmaceu- ticals, and findings have to comply with the basis of evidence-based medicine.
“On the other hand, the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on philosophical understanding, and consolidation of hundreds of years of observation, and preliminary studies done in the past.
“This kind of practice depends on the doctor’s level of understanding, and experience, which is limited by being harder to teach and reproduce, but boasts a higher versatility in practice.
“In essence, the integration of both modern Western medicine, Western nutritional medicine and traditional Chinese medicine will enable us to diagnose holistically, and treat a person, as these different systems of Medicine can cover each other’s blind spot.”
