Joel Tan, once a student with mostly Cs and Ds in high school, has defied expectations by earning a PhD in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard Medical School.

Growing up in Singapore, Tan’s interest in biology was sparked by watching his father’s fight against cancer. However, Singapore’s education system placed him outside the elite science track, limiting his access to advanced science courses and affecting his grades. After completing mandatory military service, Tan faced university rejections in his home country.

Determined to pursue higher education, he invested his limited resources into a single application to the University of Toronto (U of T), Canada’s top-ranked university. Despite considering his chances slim, Tan was accepted, largely due to his extracurricular involvement in volunteering and mentorship.

At U of T, Tan joined the Faculty of Arts & Science where he took biology classes and engaged in research early on. He earned an honours Bachelor of Science degree in 2014 and a Master’s degree from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine in 2019. His research experience included coordinating projects at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Tan credits his success at Harvard to the mentorship and opportunities he received at U of T. His doctoral work at Harvard led to identifying a novel group of bacterial defense systems, which he named Hailong, inspired by a mythical ocean dragon from Chinese folklore.

Now a 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow, Tan aims to apply computational biology and machine learning to neurodegenerative diseases. His motivation remains deeply personal, as his father currently lives with Alzheimer’s disease.

Tan plans to return to Canada to establish his own lab, aspiring to contribute to future treatments for neurodegeneration. His convocation speech at Harvard emphasized the importance of recognizing student potential beyond past academic performance, sparking widespread discussion on education reform.

Key Highlights

  • Overcame poor academic performance and university rejections in Singapore.
  • Accepted by University of Toronto due to strong extracurriculars.
  • Earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD degrees in biomedical sciences.
  • Discovered new bacterial defense systems during doctoral research.
  • Focuses on combating neurodegenerative diseases using computational approaches.
  • Advocates for education systems to value potential over past results.