Essay Category:
Essay Question:
Personal Statement
In November 2001 I was on the back of a motorcycle driving on a dirt road through sunflower fields in Thailand. As I entered the grounds of Wat Phrabahtnamphu (a Buddhist temple) the relaxed atmosphere I had come to associate with temples in Thailand over the past five months surrounded me. I asked directions and was led into a building containing about 70 hospital beds. In each bed was someone dying of AIDS. I massaged many of those people over the next week. On average, five of the 200 AIDS patients there die each day. Within hours empty beds are filled with new patients whose families are either unable or unwilling to care for them. These patients receive supportive care from the nurses and volunteers at the temple, but no AIDS medications are available. Without the support of their family, surrounded by people dying, I expected the patients I massaged to be silent with sadness. But most were optimistic, asking me about my life and cracking jokes. One woman, Soo, was infected by her husband after he went to prostitutes. Shockingly, she was not angry. She said that nothing productive could come of anger now that she was dying. As I massaged hands or a particularly sore leg, even the people who could barely talk due to severe respiratory infections showed appreciation through their eyes. The patients were thankful for any time I had for them, even a brief 'sawadee,' or 'hello' in Thai. All those I spent time with that week have since died, but their gratitude remains with me. I was so impressed by the effect of human touch at the AIDS temple that I went to a renowned massage school in Bangkok a month later to learn Thai massage. That week gave me a taste for how the care of one person can improve a life and be returned many times over through their gratitude. I have had a similar experience for the past three years tutoring Jessica, a disadvantaged 14-year-old girl, through East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring (EPATT). We meet twice a week to work on her homework and general academic skills. During the past three years we have become close and have learned about each other's community. I know her family and she has met most of my friends and even my parents on visits to campus. With hard work and my help, Jessica improved her grades and won a scholarship to a private school, filling me with satisfaction and reinforcing my desire to work with disadvantaged people. Inspired by the positive effects Jessica and I had on each other, I became more involved in EPATT as a Tutor Coordinator. Through this position I trained and supported more that twenty tutors, formed relationships with individual tutors, tutees and staff, and helped with the daily operations of a non-profit. Again, the tangible results from individual interactions gave me the greatest pleasure. I was thrilled when, after a meeting about how to get tutees interested in reading, a tutor talked with his tutee, jointly deciding to integrate reading time into every session. EPATT and my coursework at Stanford have given me the opportunity to learn more about East Palo Alto, a diverse, low-income neighborhood near my university. I took a Spanish class my senior year in which we discussed strategies for health outreach to Spanish-speaking communities. We organized a survey, discussion and presentation on health-related subjects of interest to a women's group at a church in East Palo Alto. The women's friendliness and interest in our presentation on ear infections was contagious. These experiences have furthered my interest and commitment to work as a primary care doctor in an immigrant community. While living in a lower middle class family in Ecuador for my sophomore year of high school, I learned about global inequities in health care and education. I encountered similar health care problems in Thailand and East Palo Alto. I think that I can be most effective in working towards social justice in my own country because of my understanding of our nations health care system. I would like to combine this knowledge with my interest in learning about other cultures and ability to communicate in a different language. This is especially important in health care because of the intimate subjects discussed and the significant decisions that are made. On top of traveling, tutoring and studying, I have spent time doing scientific research. My internships in a bacterial genetics lab and a psychiatry lab helped me understand how research in conducted and the guesses and failures that naturally go along with the theories and successes. For twelve months I tried to extract a never before purified Brucella protein from cultures of E. coli. While I did not succeed, I still enjoyed the project, learned from the obstacles I encountered and helped my lab. This experience and others whetted my appetite to learn more about medical research and its applications. Working with individuals as a masseuse in Thailand and as a tutor in East Palo Alto have been incredibly rewarding. I also realized that I thrive and enjoy my work most when interacting with people. Given my skills, passions and the need for dedicated doctors in immigrant communities, I'm convinced that working as a doctor is one of the best ways that I can positively contribute to the world.
