My Pursuit of and Passion For Medicine

At three in the morning, the phone rang. A trembling voice relayed the news that my friend had fallen into a coma due to an inoperable brain aneurysm. A few days later, her family decided to stop life support after confirmation that she was completely brain-dead. The fact that nothing could be done for her in this day and age, despite all our technological advancements, was a great shock to me. In addition, the fact that she was younger than me made me realize how short and precious each life truly is. Her death inspired me to pursue medicine so that one day, others in similarly hopeless situations, would have a chance to survive. My dream is that one day, I will contribute to bringing medicine one step closer to curing someone with a currently untreatable disease.

In order to determine whether or not clinical medicine was the right career for me, I started shadowing Dr. Richard Turner in the ER. Through my experiences with him, I learned that medicine is a problem solving process. As I watched, he would take a patient's history and try to piece together the correct diagnosis by deciding which scenarios were more likely than others. I was attracted by the dynamic nature of each patient's diagnosis and the necessity for an open mind. My hobby of flying has taught me to look at everything in life with a new perspective and to assess the situation from as many angles as possible. Watching Dr. Turner has confirmed my perception of a medical career and the nature of the work involved. Since I love puzzles and problems, the problem solving aspect also increased my desire to become a physician.

Furthermore, I am interested in expanding the field of medicine through research. I began working with Dr. Tyrone Hayes after taking his e...

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...the opportunity to act as a triage nurse taking weights and blood pressures of our 1600 patients and seeing first-hand how hard it must be to receive quality medical care in their country. Many walked for hours and then stood waiting to be seen in the rain. To them, medical care is more a privilege than a right. This also seems to be true in the United States where the uninsured are turned away from many hospitals to ones, which often lack the resources for expensive operations. This experience has inspired me to serve the underserved.

My passion for medicine has been fueled and tested through these experiences. I believe that there is much that can be improved in terms of equality and treatment. I hope that through my future work and study, others will not have to face a similar situation as I did, but will have hope and promise for a better, healthier life.