During the summer of my freshman year in high school, I was diagnosed with a rare, malignant tumor that had been discovered inside my cranium, causing me to regularly visit MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, the largest cancer center in the world, for my treatments. From this ordeal, I found my calling for the field of healthcare policy/economics through my discussions with fellow patients and physicians about their experiences in dealing with insurance companies, evolving national health policy, and making decisions about which treatments would provide the highest value toward patient recovery. I was able to obtain an early glimpse of how a complex hospital system could save so many lives if logical thought was directed toward the utilization of
