Developing Disease Diagnostics by Chang Hee Kim (class of 1987) Inspired by his Singapore American School teachers, this alumnus had a distinguished research career before founding a company now on the front lines of COVID-19 diagnostics. I can absolutely say that Singapore American School made me fall in love with science! I particularly loved Mr. Michael Cox’s CHEM study program and the AP Chemistry course—CHEM study had some of the trickiest questions I have ever seen. I also loved Mrs. Abraham’s Biology and AP Biology courses, as well as Mr. Watson’s AP Physics course. These solid foundations in science helped me compete at top academic institutions later. Most of all, they instilled in me a love and passion for science, which you need to succeed in any field. Besides encouraging my interest in science, my SAS teachers were influential in my post-SAS decisions. After graduating from SAS in 1987, I studied for my bachelor of science degree in chemistry at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Mr. Cox was instrumental in this step, because he made chemistry fun and the author of his CHEM study book was Professor J. Arthur Campbell of Harvey Mudd. I was first author on 75
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two publications from Mudd, which next helped me get into the graduate program at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena, California. Mr. Bob Dodge always recommended CalTech, and I was happy to get into this most competitive research program. I did thesis research on RNA splicing, an important step in gene regulation, and received my doctorate in biochemistry from CalTech. I was then accepted into a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard. I joined the laboratory of Professor Jack W. Szostak, who was later awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the telomere—the
