Osteopathic Medicine Personal Statement

The decision to pursue a career in osteopathic medicine is both one that I have only recently reached and the evolution and continuation of a goal I have been pursuing since childhood. The will to help others has always been a part of my character; today that desire has been focused into the goal of preventing the onset of major mental illnesses in at-risk individuals, both by building a strong clinical practice and through research to identify and refine evidence-based interventions for people at high risk of a first psychotic episode. I have chosen osteopathic medicine because working in partnership with and caring for the whole patient are of fundamental importance to the challenges I hope to address as a physician. I am particularly interested in TouroCOM because it values and promotes social awareness …show more content…
Since high school, I have suffered from intermittent bouts of depression, the most serious of which lead to a medical leave of absence in 2007. I have learned a great deal about myself and about depression, and my academic and professional performance have been consistently excellent since my medical leave, but the opportunity for such a recovery is not available to everyone. As someone who benefits from the privileges of being a highly educated, middle class, white man, I struggled to keep my life on track; this begs the question of how the cascade of pathology stemming from a single depressive episode must vary dramatically depending on socioeconomic factors. I am grateful that the availability of mental health services and the support of my family have allowed me, having experienced a disruptive episode of depression at 21, to recover and live a satisfying personal and professional life at 30. It is a fundamental matter of equality that another person, regardless of geography, poverty, or ethnicity, must have access to the same