Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

Why MD/PhD Essay Example #1
Why MD/PhD Essay Example #1
I saw the Large Hadron Collider at CERN long before the Higgs Boson was
discovered, when it was just a mess of defeated wires and metal, in repair only nine
days after it came online in 20XX. Fortunately, I met the researchers at CERN at their
best: hopeful and determined. Paradoxically, it was during my time here that I
became interested in the biology because I was most excited by the implications of
the work in physics for microbiology and nuclear medicine. At CERN, I also realized
the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of science and its power as a unifying force
that transcends national boundaries and language.
Once I entered college, I joined a lab to further explore this nascent interest in
biology. I began conducting research thinking that, as an undergraduate, I could not
possibly discover anything new. But, after a summer in the lab, I presented a poster
that changed the way the nuclear protein I studied was viewed. Yet, I also found the
limitations of research. Because my in vivo experiments in Drosophila contradicted
published in vitro predictions, I saw firsthand the limits of these kinds of
approaches. As a result, I began to think about the implications of taking an overly
simplified approach to understanding human disease. Indeed, this shortcoming can
be especially problematic in the field that I am most interested in—the molecular
and genetic mechanisms underlying developmental disorders.
This interest arose in elementary school when I read June Wood’s series of books
about a man named Punky, a character with Down syndrome. I subsequently began
volunteering at a center for the developmentally disabled in 20XX. It was here that I
began to realize that sometimes, physicians lack the tools to ease human suffering
because interventions for developmental disorders are too often analgesic and not
truly curative or preventative. After I began conducting research, I considered these
deficiencies in medicine as opportunities for the integration of scientific research
with clinical care. It is this synthesis of basic science and medicine that draws me to
a career as a physician-­‐scientist.
I see the duality of this approach to medicine and research as an incredible asset for
both the patient and the provider. Physician-­‐scientists are equipped with the
mindset of a clinician when working in the laboratory, as well as equally can
understand the practical limitations of treatment for patients and appreciate the
breadth of human biology. As a physician-­‐scientist, I hope to advance medicine
through the combination of the components that first drew me into research and
clinical medicine— innovative interdisciplinary approaches and collaboration.
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