By LIM WEI LI

THE path less travelled has led him to medical school.

Desmond Thiam, 20, is the first Singapore Polytechnic (SP) graduate to be admitted into the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

He is among a rare few who have taken this route. In 2007, The New Paper reported that two Ngee Ann Polytechnic graduates were the first poly graduates to make it to medical school.

Desmond obtained a diploma in biomedical science earlier this month.

He said that his ambition to be a doctor stemmed from watching his grandmother struggle to bring him up while she was saddled with many health problems.

He is the only child in a single-parent family.

His parents separated when he was in primary school.

His mother, who works in IT, was the sole breadwinner, leaving his grandmother to take care of him since he was two.