5/11/23, 4:54 PM Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng Siew Ping, Chief Medical Physicist – Lee Yoong Shin

Lee Yoong Shin

Copywriter | Chinese and English Translator

Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng

Siew Ping, Chief Medical Physicist
I transcreated “Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng Siew Ping, Chief
Medical Physicist” for Sunway Medical Centre. The original article written
in Chinese had appeared in Oriental Daily.

Cold, emotionless rooms. The astringent smell of disinfectant mixed with fear,
anxiety and sadness. These are some of the common negative perceptions that
most people have when they think about hospitals.

Behind the doors of Sunway Cancer Centre,  a medical physicist is using her
paintbrushes to gently brush away the fear of cancer, one stroke at a time,
injecting a sense of calmness into the hearts of cancer patients.  

In comparison with doctors, nurses and pharmacists, the medical physicist is

not a widely known occupation. Essentially, medical physicists design
treatment plans for cancer patients based on oncologists’ delineated tumour.
Although these unsung heroes are generally not required to interact with
patients, the door to Sunway Medical Centre’s chief medical physicist Dr Heng
Siew Ping’s office suite is always opened, warmly welcoming patients to walk in
for consultations.

“I love to talk to patients and through our interaction, I found out that most
patients do not have a good understanding of their diagnosis and the radiation
therapy treatment planning,” Dr Heng Siew Ping explains. “It is not easy to
understand medical terminology, which is why I decide to draw comic to help
my patients better understand their cancer treatment.”

Dr Heng began her journey as a medical artist in the year of 2015. “Back then, a
woman had expressed her concerns over the side effects of radiotherapy,” she
recalls. “So I drew a comic about side effects for her. Her appreciation for my

https://yoongshin.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/of-colours-comic-and-cancer-dr-heng-siew-ping-chief-medical-physicist/ 1/4
5/11/23, 4:54 PM Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng Siew Ping, Chief Medical Physicist – Lee Yoong Shin

artwork inspired me to draw and upload more cancer-related comics onto my

own social media accounts.”

Dr Heng finds the lack of public cancer awareness worrying. Many people are
not aware of the effect that small details can play in the battle against cancer.
“For instance, do you know that a patient is required to either get their tooth
extracted or to get their cavities filled before undergoing radiation therapy?”
she asks. Her dedication towards raising cancer awareness drives her to
produce various cancer-related comic, and she gets an immense sense of
accomplishment when she imparts her medical knowledge with the public.   

Apart from helping cancer patients understand more about cancer, Dr Heng
also draws to ease the patients’ fear and anxiety. “It is normal to be afraid of the
unknown. Without a good understanding of cancer, it is only natural for people
to associate radiation therapy with nothing but the negative side effects.
However, it breaks my heart to see people give up on treatment because of
baseless, irrational fear. I want people to understand that the advancement of
technology has increased the survival rate, and I strive to bring hope through
my artwork.” Patients who are equipped with the necessary medical knowledge
are more willing to undergo treatment in a timely manner, thus increasing their
survival rate.

Dr Heng’s drawing blocks are filled with colourful illustrations. She

personalises human organs and cells, turning frightening cancer cells into
adorable cartoon characters. “Most information about cancer that we can find
online are written in English,” she explains. “That has prompted me to create
my cancer comic in the Chinese language. I want to help people who are not
proficient in English to grasp complex medical concepts. I create an easy-to-
understand comic so senior citizens, children and people who are not well
educated can learn more about cancer.”

“These days, most people prefer not to read long articles,” Dr Heng adds. “With
educational comic, people can gain medical knowledge quickly.”  

As a medical physicist, Dr Heng is always busy working. She usually draws

cancer comic during weekends. Due to the educational nature of her art, she is
very meticulous in her creation. “Whenever I get an idea for a comic, I will start
to research relevant information. After that, I will start to draft, sketch, and
colour it. I will reserve some blank space for my art so I can add on the relevant
caption with photo editing software upon completion. To ensure the accuracy of
the content, I always get an oncologist to check my work before I either share
my comic online or with the patients.” Usually, it takes at least two days to
complete a comic.

https://yoongshin.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/of-colours-comic-and-cancer-dr-heng-siew-ping-chief-medical-physicist/ 2/4
5/11/23, 4:54 PM Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng Siew Ping, Chief Medical Physicist – Lee Yoong Shin

During Dr Heng’s teenage days, there was a period of time when her mother
was hospitalised. Her frequent contact with the medical staff back then had
created a strong yearning for a career in the medical industry. After completing
her STPM, she started to apply for medical radiation courses and was
successfully admitted to the School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. To date, she had been working in radiotherapy for 15
years.

Dr Heng has drawn over 55 comics through the years and she has garnered
much positive feedback for them. However, she admits that she has stumbled
across a few obstacles on her artistic pursuit. “As a medical practitioner, I
understand cancer so well that I sometimes struggle to see things from the
patients’ point of view – I don’t know what are the concepts that they are
unable to grasp, or what are the information that they need. I would like to
hereby appeal to the public to share their medical concerns with me by reaching
out to me via my social media platforms. Request from the public motivates and
inspires me to keep drawing.“ She adds that she hopes to draw more
educational comic and collaborate with various medical specialists to publish
her own comic collection in future to enable more people to understand cancer.

As English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking once said, work gives you
meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. It is apparent that Dr Heng is
immensely passionate about her career and she is tremendously grateful for the
opportunity to combine her career with her hobby. With comic, Dr Heng is
showing the public that cancer does not have to mean the end of the world and
encouraging the patients to be brave in fighting cancer at the same time.  

Although cancer patients may view their world as black and white, this does not
have to be the case. With paintbrushes, Dr Heng is building a bridge of
rainbow, guiding the cancer patients into a warm and colourful world as they
embark on a courageous journey to fight cancer.

Advertisements

Occasionally, some of your visitors may see an advertisement here,

as well as a Privacy & Cookies banner at the bottom of the page.
You can hide ads completely by upgrading to one of our paid plans.
UPGRADE NOW DISMISS MESSAGE

https://yoongshin.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/of-colours-comic-and-cancer-dr-heng-siew-ping-chief-medical-physicist/ 3/4
5/11/23, 4:54 PM Of Colours, Comic and Cancer: Dr Heng Siew Ping, Chief Medical Physicist – Lee Yoong Shin

Yoong Shin Lee February 15, 2020 Translation & Transcreation

Health Edit

Leave a Reply

Enter your comment here...

Lee Yoong Shin, Website Built with WordPress.com.

https://yoongshin.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/of-colours-comic-and-cancer-dr-heng-siew-ping-chief-medical-physicist/ 4/4