As the music begins, I start to move; the pounding of my feet blending in with the ghungaroo(bells) around my ankles, the beating of the mridangham (drums), and the blood rushing into my heart. With the music, the fear of being on stage washes away and I focus on my movements and expressions—using them to tell a story about my culture, my heritage, and me. Learning Bharatnatyam, an Indian classical dance form, since the age of 5 allowed me to stay connected to my heritage and taught me perseverance and the importance of hard work —characteristics that will allow me to achieve my ultimate goal of becoming a doctor.
My passion and dedication for medicine parallels my early journey through dance and has been reinforced by memorable experiences …show more content…
In addition to Bharatnatyam, which enhances my tie to my own Indian culture, my clinical experiences strengthen my empathetic understanding of individuals from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. One such experience was when I participated in a Global Medical Brigade to Honduras. Most individuals from this community were plagued by parasites and had poor dental health. One of my favorite experiences to remedy this situation, was leading a charla(seminar) in order to teach the younger children about oral hygiene through made-up Spanish songs and a stuffed “Donkey” doll for demonstration purposes. Besides learning that Shrek is universally loved animated movie, I also realized that many health care problems stem from a lack of public health education and access to resources. With my continued volunteering at the Manos Juntas clinic in OKC, I again saw a lack in education and medical access. Diabetic education in Spanish, therefore, is an important part of my volunteer duties at Manos Juntas. For example, when I was triaging a Spanish-speaking woman with diabetes, she was under the perception that Metformin was a cure and not a treatment for her diabetes. As a result, she stopped taking her medication. Quite often this type of patient is classified as noncompliant, when in fact she simply misunderstood. Taking the time to explain her disease to her in Spanish was …show more content…
Mroczka at the University of Oklahoma, and studying how nicotine and hyperglycemic conditions affect gingival fibroblasts. I am so excited about the potential of this microscopic model, which serves to mirror how smoking and diabetes affect wound healing in individuals. In addition to my independent research, I was honored with the opportunity to research the pathophysiology and immunology of multiple sclerosis at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. I researched under Dr. Robert Axtell who taught me fascinating laboratory techniques and encouraged me to ask novel questions and push the bounds of scientific knowledge. I work to incorporate this mindset of novel scientific pursuit to other problems in my life and plan to use it as a tool for the rest of my career in
My passion and dedication for medicine parallels my early journey through dance and has been reinforced by memorable experiences …show more content…
In addition to Bharatnatyam, which enhances my tie to my own Indian culture, my clinical experiences strengthen my empathetic understanding of individuals from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. One such experience was when I participated in a Global Medical Brigade to Honduras. Most individuals from this community were plagued by parasites and had poor dental health. One of my favorite experiences to remedy this situation, was leading a charla(seminar) in order to teach the younger children about oral hygiene through made-up Spanish songs and a stuffed “Donkey” doll for demonstration purposes. Besides learning that Shrek is universally loved animated movie, I also realized that many health care problems stem from a lack of public health education and access to resources. With my continued volunteering at the Manos Juntas clinic in OKC, I again saw a lack in education and medical access. Diabetic education in Spanish, therefore, is an important part of my volunteer duties at Manos Juntas. For example, when I was triaging a Spanish-speaking woman with diabetes, she was under the perception that Metformin was a cure and not a treatment for her diabetes. As a result, she stopped taking her medication. Quite often this type of patient is classified as noncompliant, when in fact she simply misunderstood. Taking the time to explain her disease to her in Spanish was …show more content…
Mroczka at the University of Oklahoma, and studying how nicotine and hyperglycemic conditions affect gingival fibroblasts. I am so excited about the potential of this microscopic model, which serves to mirror how smoking and diabetes affect wound healing in individuals. In addition to my independent research, I was honored with the opportunity to research the pathophysiology and immunology of multiple sclerosis at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. I researched under Dr. Robert Axtell who taught me fascinating laboratory techniques and encouraged me to ask novel questions and push the bounds of scientific knowledge. I work to incorporate this mindset of novel scientific pursuit to other problems in my life and plan to use it as a tool for the rest of my career in