As an undergraduate, I enrolled in graduate level science seminars and worked in laboratories, but I focused my studies in history, a seemingly atypical discipline for an aspiring physician-scientist. However the research I embarked upon as an historian taught me about something that went unmentioned in my scientific coursework: the often opined assertion that death and disease are the great equalizers of the world is false. Diseases exploit the bifurcation of wealth and resources that exists domestically and abroad. Yet I believe science has the potential to alter this phenomenon. I plan to pursue my PhD in one of the laboratories that focuses on the basic biology Plasmodium falciparum or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A greater understanding of the etiologic organisms will lead to increased intellectual and practical knowledge; it plaits my general interest in science and my desire for my academic work effect positive change. The labs I will rotate through this year focus on these pathogens' response to the human immune system through the development of genetic mutations that confer multi-drug resistance.
