When Melissa Chua speaks, her voice is soothing and her language eloquent. This comes as no surprises since this young woman is a speech therapist.

"As speech therapists, we facilitate communication but our focus lies in rehabilitation."

Melissa conducts therapy for both adults and children.

"With the children, we work on areas such as language development, speech delay and swallowing difficulties. Some of them also have autism or Down Syndrome."

"With the adults, we help them with articulation problems, stuttering and even swallowing difficulties. These adults might have just suffered a stroke, cancer or met with an accident."

The 26-year-old stumbled upon this area of medical science quite by accident. After completing her A-levels, she applied for the Public Service Commission (PSC) Overseas Specialist Award (Paramedical).

Melissa had planned to study occupational therapy. However her interviewers convinced her of her suitability for speech therapy. And she has not looked back.

She spent four years in the University College of London (UCL) attaining a Bachelor of Science (Speech Sciences).

"I enjoyed living in London. I love the fact that you can experience the four seasons. My favourite time of the year is spring because it is more colourful," she said, smiling at the memory."

Besides nature, she also relished the opportunity to go for musicals, plays and do lots of shopping. Another aspect of student life she enjoyed was the opportunity to travel.

During short breaks, she traveled to other parts of the UK, such as the Lake District. During longer breaks, she visited countries such as France, Hungary, Italy and Greece.

But it wasn't all play and no work: "The course content was varied. Speech therapy is good for those who are interested in both the sciences and the arts. We studied subjects from both disciplines."

These include human anatomy and physiotherapy from the science discipline, as well as linguistics and psychology from the arts discipline.

As she delved deeper into speech therapy, Melissa came to realise that this was a career she would enjoy. Since her return to Singapore in 2001, she has been working at the Singapore General Hospital.

A typical day for her starts in the outpatient clinics, seeing either new or follow-up cases. The rest of the day is then spent on rounds in the hospital wards. Her work day ends between 5pm and 6pm. And unlike doctors, she does not need to be on call.

Speech therapy has become such a passion that she is now the president of the Speech-Language and Hearing Association Singapore (SHAS), a professional association for speech therapists.

"One of the challenges faced today is to provide a more holistic approach to healthcare and we hope to develop our capability in various areas under the paramedical profession. The scholarship offers an avenue for interested students to pursue their studies in health sciences."

"This is a good scholarships to take up. Besides studying overseas, you get to attend symposiums, policy discussions and get more exposure," she added.

Looking to the future, Melissa hopes to further develop the speech therapy profession. She speaks with confidence, knowing the patience cultivated from her training and association with her patients will help her achieve her goals.