WHY MEDICINE?

      My parents tell me about my first trip to the library, relentlessly pointing at an anatomy book so we could take it home. A childhood filled with "slightly" inaccurate drawings of medical structures and watching all 400 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy were the “hook” for my interest in medicine, but my real initial motivation lies within my family's history with heart conditions, especially my grandfather’s. Seeing his health decline made me want to do something-anything to help him and the other half a billion people in the world suffering from heart disease. After exploring physiology the summer after my 8th grade year, I turned the fear of losing him into a fascination with medicine and the cardiovascular system in particular. Immersing myself in a academic, research, and shadowing experiences have confirmed my interest in becoming a doctor. After having the opportunity to study cancer biology at Harvard Pre-college, basic infectious diseases at Seattle Prep, anthropology at Brown University, and attend/co-lead service immersions in the Dominican Republic, my main niche within medicine has been shifting towards infectious disease and global health.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

      Redefining what love of self, neighbor, community, and life easily makes the two summers I have spent in the Dominican Republic some of the most beautiful and enlightening experiences of my life. Although the immersions' service component was construction, the key takeaways were always the relationships one made with group members and community members, as well as the experiences shared between the host communities and immersion group. At Batey Libertad and Franco Bido, I was astounded by the disparity in healthcare accessibility and quality compared to Seattle, one of my hometowns. Combined with my Hispanic and STEM background, these experiences led me to commit to a career focused on bridging cultural gaps in the medical field and improving healthcare in Latin America, taking Dr. Paul Farmer as a role model. These experiences have also led me to explore anthropology coursework at Brown University. I am currently working on a paper examining Dominican Healthcare in Batey communities with a medical-anthropological lens which you can read below:

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      A story I love to tell is one of me searching for my friends in Franco Bido. At dawn, I ran up and down the hills of the Dominican Republic asking community members if they have seen the other boys in the group. Upon talking to Mr. Manuel, someone I had never seen before, he invited me into his house and graciously offered breakfast. We sat down, talked about my experience so far, and had a small breakfast together. This spontaneous hospitality was what redefined love of neighbor, particularly. Back home, I've tried to implement that same inclusiveness in my career-oriented, musical, and leadership activities found on this website. In the future, I hope to embody these attributes when interacting with patients and fellow medical professionals. Currently, I am fundraising for the organization responsible for catalyzing these relationships, Education Across Borders. If you feel compelled, any donation would be greatly appreciated.

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ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES

      The first academic experience I had the honor of enjoying occurred in the summer after my freshmen year at Seattle Prep, where I took Survey of Physiology (BIO118) at the University of Washington. As a rising sophomore, taking an online college course was challenging both academically and socially, forcing me to find new strategies for studying, organization, and managing mental health. Because of those lessons learned, I was able to partake in even more amazing experiences, the next major opportunity being the summer after my sophomore year, shadowing of Mexico's most prominent cardiothoracic surgeons, Dr. Patricio Ortiz, for 40 hours in Mexico City's National Institute of Cardiology and Mexico's #1 private hospital, Medica Sur. I was honored to assist Dr. Ortiz with creating reports for national meetings across 24 states and 1900 municipalities in Mexico for a heart-attack response program, "Codigo Infarto." I accompanied him to visit patients and even interpreted EKGs. The following month, I attended the Harvard Pre-College Program, where I took Intro to Cancer: Diving into Research (BIOS P-13511), an undergraduate-level cancer research course along with a residential experience at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Similar to my freshmen year experience, I had to develop new strategies to thrive in the college environment (this time, in person). This newfound knowledge of cancer biology and network of high school students would culminate the following year with my project, BioVision Innovations.

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BIOVISION INNOVATIONS

     After developing a hypothetical cancer-killing biotechnology with Jace Baptista Allan and Marcus Yeung, we cofounded a project committed to uniting STEM-oriented high school students around the globe for research and biotech projects. Leveraging our academic network and previous experiences, we were able to amass members from 7 countries to undertake 5 research projects, 10 articles, and 4 biotech projects over the course of one year. We are currently working on 3 biotech projects mixing artificial intelligence and other existing technology. Our initial development of the cancer-killing biotech became a National Finalist in North America's ExploraVision competition (6 national finalists/4000 total teams). We are now adjusting to college life and looking for students to rebuild our team.

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