DON'T look down on her age - Ms Felicia Chua may be only 19 but she's already an active health advocate.
Growing up, she watched her older brother, Edward, go in and out of hospitals. Born with physical deformities on his right side, the 24-year-old endured painful operations throughout his childhood to correct the defects.
Although he has since recovered, her brother's experience left a lasting impression on Felicia, who is surprisingly mature for her age.
An alumnus of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, she is the poster girl of this year's National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign, which focuses on youth and health for the first time.
The campaign is organised by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and, as a youth ambassador, she helps to plan and run events and workshops for young people.
And perish the thought that she's doing it just to get Community Involvement Programme points - she doesn't get any - or for the sake of making her resume look good.
She's doing it purely out of passion. She said: "I believe in leading by example. People respect that and pick it up."
She means what she says. Fast food and fried food are no-nos in her diet, and she meticulously peels the skin off her chicken.
Thanks to her efforts, her family's diet has become healthier. Fatty meat rarely appears in the family menu and she drags her dad along with her for twice-weekly runs.
Off to Melbourne's Monash University next February to study medicine, the aspiring doctor aims to work herself out of a job.
"I want to teach people to take care of themselves so they don't need a doctor," she said.
"I'm more interested in nipping problems in the bud, rather than treating them when it's too late."
She admitted she does get ragged occasionally by some of her friends about her role as an HPB health ambassador. She said: "They sometimes laugh because they don't see the point.
"But it doesn't matter. They might not think what I do is important, but it will make a difference to others."
