FlexMed will afford me the opportunity to gain more theoretical and practical skills in global health and health policies and enhance my future career as a doctor devoted to the quality of healthcare in the developing world. Should I be selected for the FlexMed program, I would change my major to Public Policy Analysis/Biology, a special major that would offer me the opportunity to intern at a local public health institution during the fall semester of senior year. I hope to focus on the health issues of underserved populations in LA and develop projects with MEDLIFE Claremont to address the issues. In addition, I plan to learn Thai and go back to Thailand during a summer to start a health education program in the school I volunteered with last summer. The program would primarily focus on sexually transmitted diseases in response to the new rise in HIV/AIDS cases among young people in Thailand. Because of the flexibility the program offers, I am also interested in studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark as a junior to study the health system in Northern Europe.
I started my internship at Lopburi Cancer Hospital in Thailand with excitement and anxiety. “What stage is the cancer in?” I asked in an effort to leave a good impression of the attending physician as we rounded with patients. In my mind, the prognosis for cancer wasn’t a good one and making a patient comfortable was important. However, as I stood waiting on the answer to my question, which my attending had declined to
