Dream it.

For the past few summers, I’ve engaged in activities which were meaningful in helping me begin to forge my career path. As a participant in a course at Brown University on neurovascular science, I found the content captivating and my interest in medicine was piqued. In addition, as part of an ongoing public health initiative which I helped establish, I had the unique opportunity to engage with an indigenous tribe living in the Amazon region of lowland Bolivia, the country in which both of my parents were born. The people of the Tsimane tribe live in a constant state of infection-induced inflammation resulting from a lack of fundamental access to healthcare. They possess no basic sewage or freshwater resources and, as such, their hygiene practices are primitive. The average tribe member simultaneously hosts three parasitic organisms in their body. During my time with the tribe, I learned that diseases that are commonly treated surgically in industrialized societies, such as appendicitis and cholecystitis, often result in death when there is a lack of access to such routine surgical treatments.

In support of the tribe’s improved wellbeing, my parents (both of whom are physicians) and I founded a health initiative comprised of multiple projects which involved educating tribe members on the importance of personal hygiene, digging wells to tap into fresh water and constructing latrines to facilitate the sanitation of their water source. While conducting follow-up research on the tribe in the Journal of Gerontology, I was fascinated to learn that regardless of their numerous fundamental health issues, the people of the Tsimane tribe have much better brain heath when compared to the rest of western society. The research showed a seventy percent slower age-related reduction in brain volume compared to adults in industrialized populations, resulting in less brain atrophy and a lower propensity to forms of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease.

These insightful experiences have heightened my desire to pursue a career in medicine, with a special emphasis on surgery. Despite my limited exposure to medicine to date, after reviewing various medical specialties, I’ve developed a keen interest in surgery. I’m intrigued by process of applying a physical solution to a physical problem. In the Georgetown Pre-College program, I look forward to the opportunity to better understand the fundamentals of surgery as well as the career opportunities related to the field. I feel that my experiences would make me a strong candidate to succeed in the program. I’m intensely interested in the field of medicine and highly motivated to gain insight into surgical methodology.