Public Health Personal Statement

Public health is a term that many individuals use and hear quite often, yet it is a concept many people do not comprehend. Public health is not something that can be easily defined, since it is a field of study that pulls from various sources of information. Public health not only consists of an individual’s or population’s general health and wellness, but also includes the actions we take as a society in order to improve the group’s overall health. Since public health focuses on health improvement, public health practitioners take action by assessing the group’s current state in health and implementing practices to ultimately improve the health issues present. Therefore, public health is an essential aspect of life and one that I am interested in

This interdisciplinary approach to health is one aspect of public health I find quite interesting. In the future, I plan on pursuing medicine and to one day become a practicing physician. To be a successful physician, I believe that understanding the current state of public health and health care policy is essential. Many people who are aspiring physicians neglect the fact that medicine is not the only subject that matters. Instead, an understanding of a variety of different subjects are important to becoming a fully qualified physician, including public health. Beyond my future aspirations, I am interested in public health due to learning more about the field during my work experience. This summer, I worked in a research lab at Fox Chase Cancer Center where we studied Racial Disparities in Head and Neck Cancer. This research study focused on studying not only race, but also on an individual’s “quality of life” that led them to develop cancer. This connection between physical health to other aspects including mental,