Osteopathic Personal Statement

Growing up as daughter of two immigrant refugees, I learned to conserve my resources because we were not always financially stable and had to minimize household spending with methods such as attempting home remedies before going to a doctor. Like my parents, my grandmother followed the same tradition as she believed western physicians made patients sicker and therefore did not trust them. When she was suddenly admitted to the hospital for fluid leakage of the liver, the damage to her internal organs were too severe to be treated. Although at first I assumed my grandmother was being cynical about American culture of healthcare, I later learned that my hometown consisted of a large Vietnamese population that were not receiving adequate healthcare services, including individuals like my grandmother. My grandmother’s experiences have compelled me to pursue medicine to offer medical services available to underserved populations.
I was further exposed to the inconveniences associated with receiving medical attention in Dr. Jason Van Tassel’s otolaryngology clinic in a suburban city called Fremont, California. His clinic heals and cures diseases from patients from underserved …show more content…
Rather than becoming a physician that only focuses on treating the presented symptoms while ignoring the patient, I want to focus on healing with consideration to the mental states of my patients. Osteopathic medicine focuses on the body’s self-healing process by improving fluid circulation and increasing musculoskeletal range of motion while considering the mind, body, and spirit. Combining my interest to provide compassionate medical care and the medical sciences, I believe an osteopathic medical education will address my passion to serve my community in a way that revolutionizes today’s health