Geochemist Personal Statement

Diabetes is a disease that can be devastating to some families, but it is not that bad as it seems. With the correct amount of exercise and moderation, it can be maintained with several different methods. A large part of the United States population has a form of diabetes. Today, there are many treatments that improve the lives of those living with this disease. With the correct understanding, it can be manageable and change the lives of the diabetic and his/her family. Some people may think of this as a bad thing for children to have but with the proper management and exercise, it can be maintained as well as bring a family closer to one another. As a brother of a type 1 diabetic, I know how hard it is to live with it and how to

I received my Bachelor’s degree in physics in 2009 in Vietnam while I witnessed two deaths of my two 65 years old uncles due to medical related errors. Their unnecessary deaths at that relatively young age struck all my family members. I asked myself whether, if someone in my family had worked in the health care field, it might have been possible to save my uncles’ lives. As a science major student in Vietnam, I felt an urge to apply scientific knowledge to improve the situation. Over time, I came to realize that, in order to make a difference, I would need to gain a deeper background in understanding the mechanisms and the principles behind the field of medicine, a pharmacy major.

My mom would pick me up after school and drive me to the medical clinic where I stayed until her workday was over. I spent much of my childhood there. My memories are still vivid: picturesque diagrams on the walls, dinging sounds from the monitors, oak-colored exam room doors, the clinic “smell”. I remember trying to interpret the pictures, each identifying a complex scientific system. I asked questions to whoever would listen, be it the doctors, nurses, or even patients, but still, it upset me that I could not understand the terminology. Inspired by this curiosity, I became interested in science. I enrolled in the Medical Science Institute at Midwood High School, and, subsequently, majored in Biochemistry at Hunter College. The material I learned in the classroom led me to question how it applied to real-world medical applications. Laboratory research became the platform that enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of how scientific processes interrelate with

My mother always told the puzzling story of how the cardiac catheterization performed on him before he passed away did not reveal any blockages or heart problems, and yet he passed away once he was put on the heart lung machine as a precaution after the procedure. During the many meetings my mother had with the hospital officials and doctors to figure out his cause of death, the probable cause of death was attributed to the drug “Rezulin”, the diabetes medication he was prescribed. That incident, the unexpected shock, the trauma, and the aftermath of figuring out the cause of his death, developed my interest in medicine and inspired me to study medical sciences. Even though both my parents are engineers, once they became aware of my interest in the medical sciences, they encouraged me to follow my developing

Leaded gasoline contaminates environment and atmosphere. Lead has been removed from the gasoline in the western countries and the leaded gasoline continues to be used in developing the world, huffing of the leaded gasoline could also cause the

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, or IDDM, is something that I have always had an interest and passion for. At the age of twelve, I was diagnosed with IDDM. At that time, my life changed drastically. I went from being what I considered to be a “normal” twelve year old to “different". The things that I have done and learned throughout the course of my life with diabetes, has allowed me to better relate to my patients and help them out during their time of illness. I am blessed and thankful that I am in the healthcare field and able to comfort my patients the way that I am.

I am writing on behalf of Laura Rezac. Laura Rezac was a phenomenal student in my Advanced Human Physiology 1 class, and went on to take Advanced Human Physiology II, the elective Physiology class that I had the pleasure of teaching – both classes she received an outstanding grade. Laura is a diligent, hard-working, and inquisitive student who consistently strove to further her educational development. Whether it was asking critical questions, further researching physiological topics, or attentively working on the group lab projects, there was never a question that Laura did not love to learn and further her education.

While I was in high school, both of my grandparents sadly passed away due to complications related to Hepatitis B . Understandably, our close knitted family was deeply affected; however, as the eldest between my siblings, not only did I feel the vast emptiness of their departure, but also I was motivated to prevent my family, and other families for that matter, from experiencing the sadness of losing a family member to similar virus-related diseases. Thus, upon graduating from high school and armed with great ambitions and the encouragement of family and friends, I applied to Umm Al-Qura University to major in Laboratory Medicine. I had chosen to specialize in this field upon researching how medical laboratory testing has a crucial role in the early detection, diagnosis and study of diseases, in addition to my dedication to study the role genetics, genes, microbes and viruses in the prevalence of various diseases in my country.

I was forced to leave my childhood an a early age. My mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer when I was eight years old. This moment I became the parent to my mother to nurse my mother back to health following her surgery and radiation treatments. My mother’s life was spared thanks to advancing medical treatments. Intimately witnessing the impact of cancer paved the road for my passion in biomedical research. Ten years later, I began my journey at Mills College, where I obtained a B.A in Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology. While at Mills College, I was confronted with another reality when I learned my father was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After immediate surgery and chemotherapy, his cancer was eliminated. Taking part in connecting science with medicine for medical advancements aimed to benefit human health became my focus and obtaining experience in the biomedical research became imperative.

In 1954, Hinkley, California was a sleepy little town located in the Mojave Desert. People went about their normal, daily lives without ever suspecting that they were in danger of chemical poisoning. Little did they know that natural gas compressor station was slowly leaking hexavalent chromium into the groundwater. Over the course of ten years, hexavalent chromium steadily spread over the town of Hinkley, unbeknownst to the citizens. The chemical, originally intended to prevent rust in water towers, was causing health issues in the unsuspecting citizens of Hinkley. For ten whole years, the leakage of hexavalent chromium was affecting the health and environment

“I no longer considered myself a person with diabetes; I was a diabetic…the disease was all that I was.” Those are the words that I chose to describe the vortex that this disease had pulled me into as I relayed my story to a reporter in 2002. Why was I inclined to expose that which I had kept hidden from friends, family and business associates for so long? It was because my reality had changed dramatically due to groundbreaking Canadian research and I now had the energy to help people understand the desperation that diabetes can cast upon a family and offer a glimpse into the freedom that scientific investigation could someday provide to everyone. In 2002 I became one of the initial group of 35 research recipients to take part in human

Moreover, there are no new entrants to this industry in the U.S. because it is banned here, and other companies have geared their research and production in the area of biofuels and other less harmful additives. Despite all of the regulation, the bargaining power of the buyers are the motivation for those that seek to profit in this industry. The developing world’s economy is supported by their automobile industry and they are paying whatever price that they can to keep companies interested in this area of production. Developing countries do not have adequate resources to create alternative fuel sources. Therefore they are dependent on the lead additives in gasoline, in spite of all of the public health concerns that it raises. As a whole, the industry is very unattractive. The best thing for companies to do is to research alternative fuel methods and to invest in the biofuels market because this is the industry that is most promising currently, and will continue to be in the future.

Mothers often wonder what the effects of the chemicals that are present in everyday products like plastic and aluminum, and inside of things like cleaning products and the meat we eat, and how it may hurt their families. No matter what product one may use, there seems to be no escaping the dark cloud of dangerous chemicals associated with it. Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, directors of the The Human Experiment, released in October of 2013, try to find the correlation between chemicals humans are exposed to in almost any product and the harmful long-term effects it has, as well as try to push “green” products that are free of these harmful chemicals. The directors adopt a very anxious tone, due to the fact that these chemicals are affecting millions of people everyday. Nachman and Hardy begin building their argument citing convincing facts and statistics and appealing to pathos as well as logos by showing real accounts of stories from outside sources, as well as a strong negative diction directed toward the industries producing with harmful chemicals.

The decision toward medicine has been reinforced with courses and academic experiences that have developed inside my dreams an intimate curiosity of passion about human health and rights. Courses as Physiological Psychology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Biochemistry, opened paths in my life to internalize about how physiology affects human behavior, how our body works, and how drugs and food affect our body at molecular level. This academic compendium, bring me the knowledge