Writing Assignment 5
Throughout my life I have had numerous experiences that gave me a great passion for helping others, specifically through medicine. My introduction to the realm of medicine and medical research occurred at a surprisingly young age. I was ten years old when I first presented with my heart disease Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Moreover, I was much younger than typically documented cases of the disease, and the condition's existence itself had only received recognition about five years prior. As such was the case, the main hospital I was treated at, which was in an entirely different state than where I lived, asked to cite my case as a subject of study for medical students working there. Additionally, I have a chronic bleeding disorder that, when combined with POTS, cause numerous medical challenges. As a consequence of my diagnoses, I was unable to attend on-campus classes for two years during high school. The only way I could complete the second semester of my sophomore year, without failing, was to teach myself from home. Using the course textbooks, I studied the materials, completed the required course work, and took the necessary exams. With fierce difficulty, the journey of recovery exposed me to multitudinous aspects of medicine and medical research, including physical and speech therapy, Neurology, and Cardiology.
This journey, both the good and the bad, gave me an intense passion for education and medicine that inspired me to become a first-generation student and advance through medical. However, upon meeting my first biology professor at ODU my views of medicine expanded. Through his class I learned the true scope of medical research, both as it pertained to the class and as it pertained to the work he personally was conducting. Consequently, this professor set me on a path of intense research that resulted in me changing my major to Biomedical Sciences and deciding to pursue my Ph.D. instead of an M.D.
Within the focus of my future Ph.D. I have numerous interests; however, I am most interested in the study of bacteria, viruses, and genetic and chronic conditions. I had the incredible opportunity to job shadow and assist a team at Old Dominion University that studies Clostridioides difficile. This opportunity truly showed me the vastness of studying bacteria and viruses and made me intensely fascinated in continuing the work. Interestingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has emergency research teams which they dispatch to locations where there are outbreaks. The teams focus on identifying the species and determining or synthesizing any necessary vaccines, among other tasks. This, to me, is incredibly fascinating, especially considering there would be chances to work abroad. Working abroad is especially appealing as I am a Chinese Studies minor and I greatly enjoy learning languages in my free time. For studying genetic and chronic illnesses, I have a more personal interest. Due to the incredibly recent acknowledgment of the disease that I have, there is a lot to explore and learn about POTS. Before the COVID pandemic, I could not imagine how much viruses and chronic illness studies overlap. However, a growing body of evidence suggests a convergence of the two demonstrated by post-COVID POTS diagnoses. Following a path that focuses on studying conditions that have little research available, perhaps POTS specifically, would be wonderfully fulfilling and engaging to me. I aspire to receive my Ph.D., so that I can contribute to the medical field in a broad sense. I truly believe the aphorism that knowledge is power, both as an individual and as a collective. To contribute to collective knowledge through everyday work is both inspiring and fulfilling to me, therefore biomedical research is a career particularly compatible with my interests, passions, and aspirations.
By: Joy Brewer
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