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1. What is UTWC MAHSA?
UTWC is an abbreviation for its name, Under The White Coat, which is a magazine independently run by the students of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Biosciences, of MAHSA University, Malaysia.
Initially, it was solely run by the students in MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery) only. However, after the merging of faculties which occurred somewhere pre-COVID 19 pandemic, the society / club started welcoming students from the Nursing & Biosciences faculty to join. Nonetheless, it is still mainly run by medical students.
2. History Of UTWC
Under The White Coat was founded by Dr. Nakorn (second from left) of Batch 6 MBBS with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ganesh Ramachandran (first from left) in 2017.
The UTWC began a tradition of releasing 2 Editions of Magazine per academic year as well as the formation of the Yearbook.
3. When Did I Join?
I joined UTWC during my freshman year in 2017 after they have released their very first issue.
It was during Orientation Week when many Club / Society Representatives gave a brief introduction about the various clubs or societies available for us to join.
As you can see, the moment I heard “a magazine for the Faculty of Medicine”, my ears immediately perked up. The introduction and talk was given by none other than the founding father himself, Dr. Nakorn and I thought to myself, are you kidding me? Writing opportunities? Well, why not?
Hence, I remembered dashing out of the auditorium to catch up with Dr. Nakorn to apply as a writer because well.. I did not know a single thing when it came to designing. As for photography, I’m the regular “take a picture on Instagram Story with a filter”. Hence, nope.
4. My Role In UTWC
I was a rather passive person battling with low self-esteem issues.
I did not allow myself to take on heavy topics or bigger tasks as there were people in the club who, I felt were much more deserving and better. Hence, I found it rather intimidating.
Thus, most of the time, I remained a “silent participant” in the group. However, I never left UTWC. In fact, it was the only society I actually stayed in all throughout my 5 years journey in medical school.
In 2020, somewhere during the early phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I was approached by the Editor-in-Chief at that time, Dr. Divieya Kumari, of Batch 8, to take up the position of Editor-in-Associate. Basically, the second person in line to the Editor-in-Chief.
At that time, I had been dabbling in designing for sometime and found that I actually do enjoy it. Hence, I’ve switched my role from a writer to a designer where I find that I am able to serve better.
The Editor-in-Associate at that time was a junior of mine from Batch 10. Due to certain circumstances, she was unable to take up the position. Hence, it was vacant.
It seemed rather daunting to me at first as I personally would not know what to do and taking up this position meant that I had to do it for two issues. Nonetheless, being a “yes man”, I agreed to it.
I moved up to being in charge of most of the designs, the cover page of the issues, which I took delight in editing, dividing the workload to other teams in UTWC, writing emails and preparing the certificates.
After serving as the Editor-in-Associate for two issues, I moved up the role of becoming the Editor-in-Chief.
I also took on the role of becoming the Editor-in-Chief for the Yearbook of Batch 8 and the Yearbook of Batch 9, which is my batch.
5. My Contributions To UTWC
Apart from taking on the responsibility in designing most of the content for UTWC, I designed the cover pages as well.
Besides that, I took on the role of editing, arranging and designing the whole Yearbook of Batch 8 and 9. Thankfully, due to the massive contribution and efforts contributed by the batch in terms of content and acquiring funds, we were able to successfully acquire them in physical copies.
Both the Yearbooks are what I considered the greatest accomplishment of mine aside from taking multiple leadership roles in my class, projects or groups, roles in other societies and of course, graduating medical school and obtaining the title “Dr.” In front of my name.
Both the Yearbook projects started and finished at a time where things were rather hectic and I remembered breaking down multiple times and was even on the verge of aborting it if I could not gain enough contributions from the batch.
Thankfully, I did not.
The memories made and the friends gained during these period will always hold a dear place in my heart.
6. Experiences In UTWC
UTWC is not a large society / club. However, as I mentioned earlier, I was rather passive over here and did not interact much with the members.
It was not until I took on the role of the Editor-in-Associate that I learned about the other members in the team and formed strong bonds with them and till today, we still do keep contact.
A) Dr. Tan Wei Shern
Firstly, I met my best friend, Dr. Tan Wei Shern (Batch 8). Through his persistence and dedication towards me and the team, we managed to go on for as long as we did as we would’ve collapsed much earlier. He was the glue to our team for as long as he was there.
Our friendship grew when he reached out his hand as a mentor to aid in my studies and constantly fed me with advices and experiences in medical school.
Though our friendship was mostly virtual (till this day), we always check in on each other till now, regardless of how busy we are.
We worked together on his batch’s Yearbook which was released during his convocation ceremony.
B) Roshvin Pillai
Next, I met this lovely junior, Roshvin Pillai (Batch 12). I first met him during the recruitment period where we had a short interview with new members of the team. It was virtual via Zoom as we were in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Later that year, during Dr. Tan Wei Shern’s Convocation Ceremony, he aided us in storing the Yearbooks as he was staying on campus which was where the graduation was being held and also joined us during the distribution.
Besides being in UTWC, he is an active member in several societies in the university, namely AMSA MAHSA, where he has taken up various roles and responsibilities.
At the time of writing, he has just entered his clinical year and is a third year medical student as well as has taken up the role as the Editor-in-Associate.
Nevertheless, he is an amazing person, one full of prospects. All the very best to you, Roshvin! You are definitely an asset to your team in whatever chosen endeavours you progress into and you will definitely be a successful and excellent , not forgetting respected doctor which many will look up to for guidance and advice.
C) Dr. Simon Wee Boon Kim
In addition to that, I grew closer to another dear friend of mine who I call “My Brother”, Dr. Simon Wee Boon Kim (Batch 9).
Me and Simon met during our freshman year but we did not interact much till the later stages of our first year when we began sitting together.
Dr. Simon Wee is definitely my right-hand man in UTWC who always tries his very best to facilitate the progression and completion of the projects we were working on.
Apart from UTWC, dear Simon has helped me and is a person whom I would say has always “had my back” while I was struggling, be it in terms of projects, emotionally and even financially.
I am extremely thankful and grateful of our memories together both inside and outside UTWC and I hope and wish you the very best in life.
You hold a great portion in making my medical school life despite us separating into different groups during our clinical years.
D) Dr. Divyadharshini
Last but not least, Dr. Divyadharshini (Batch 9), my trusted designer.
Dr. Divya, is a person who gave her all when it comes to designing. Besides that, she was always willing to learn new things to aid us in the projects we were working on in UTWC.
We initially became friends through UTWC, mostly virtually, despite being in the same batch. We never really interacted physically until our senior year whereby we ended up being in the same group.
Together, we struggled with ensuring we met the deadlines of our projects and also our studies which contributed a lot to our sleepless nights.
Our friendship grew outside UTWC through our shared struggles and she became a dear friend who would always check in in me as I struggled with sleeping issues during medical school and tend to overwork myself, although I was not tired.
Looking back, maybe I was suffering from hypomania then. Whatever it was, thankfully, nothing major occurred and my breakdown happened after graduation.
The time spent with her, although our conversations were mostly virtual, is one that I will miss dearly. Seeing her in class brought a sense of comfort, knowing that I have a friend who supported me in my crazy ventures and also emotionally.
You’re a gem, Divya and due to your hard work and grace, you will be an amazing doctor in the future.
As you can see, the experiences gained from being in UTWC did not stay confined within UTWC but poured out into my personal life as well.
It was an immensely rewarding opportunity to have these experiences both mentioned and not mentioned in this article.
Under The White Coat, this is your ex-Editor-in-Chief, signing out.
Related Posts:
- 11 Lessons I Learned In Medical School – Non-Medical Advice
- 4 Reasons You Need An iPad / Tablet In Medical School
- My Morning Routine – While Awaiting My Internship As A Doctor
The Theoretical Doctor 
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