I want to become a physician-scientist because I want to work at the interface between basic science research, which has the power to elucidate new knowledge, and clinical medicine, which has the ability to translate scientific discoveries to a deliverable form that can directly help the patients in need. For three years, I studied the role of tumor microenvironment on breast cancer metastasis in Dr. Semenza’s laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As I studied the role of Hypoxia-inducible factor on integrin expression and subsequent cell motility, I learnt that cancer is a multi-faceted disease that consists of a web of multiple biological mechanisms as well as other arenas of science. Having exposed myself to
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Helping patients by spending time with them, talking to them, and assisting them broadened my perspective in medicine. I wanted to help patients feel better in a more direct way, with my passion in science. Additionally and unfortunately, at this point of my life, my grandfather was diagnosed with liver cancer. For the first time in my life I felt the indescribable fear and heartache that patients and their families suffer from a disease. I was a student of molecular biology who studied cancer, and a hospital volunteer who helped patients directly, but was left helpless when it came to the medical treatments of cancer. This life event reaffirmed my desire to practice medicine. At this point I committed myself to becoming a physician-scientist who reaches new scientific frontiers, and at the same time, is able to provide compassionate and effective patient care by the bedside. An M.D./PH.D. Curriculum would allow me to acquire the unique and critical set of skills that would allow me to become a bright researcher who appreciates the importance of rigorous data and innovative discoveries in the basic sciences, and a physician who is able to translate and deliver the interpretations and applications of research findings to patients with compassion and medical expertise. Having been exposed to the joys and frustrations of science and medicine, I am confident in my commitment to pursuing a path of becoming a
Helping patients by spending time with them, talking to them, and assisting them broadened my perspective in medicine. I wanted to help patients feel better in a more direct way, with my passion in science. Additionally and unfortunately, at this point of my life, my grandfather was diagnosed with liver cancer. For the first time in my life I felt the indescribable fear and heartache that patients and their families suffer from a disease. I was a student of molecular biology who studied cancer, and a hospital volunteer who helped patients directly, but was left helpless when it came to the medical treatments of cancer. This life event reaffirmed my desire to practice medicine. At this point I committed myself to becoming a physician-scientist who reaches new scientific frontiers, and at the same time, is able to provide compassionate and effective patient care by the bedside. An M.D./PH.D. Curriculum would allow me to acquire the unique and critical set of skills that would allow me to become a bright researcher who appreciates the importance of rigorous data and innovative discoveries in the basic sciences, and a physician who is able to translate and deliver the interpretations and applications of research findings to patients with compassion and medical expertise. Having been exposed to the joys and frustrations of science and medicine, I am confident in my commitment to pursuing a path of becoming a