Being born and raised in Vietnam, a developing country, I have been utterly fascinated by the human body and developed interest in bacterial, viral and fungal infections since young age. Moreover, I want to become a person who would be able to create good quality drugs with low cost. Thus, I have chosen microbiology as my major in college. Despite my passion for biology, never once in my childhood had I ever thought about pursing biology as a career path. Yet, as I grew up older, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. It was devastated to see the misery the disease brought to my grandmother. However, the cost of cancer treatment was exceptionally high, especially drugs. The reason was because those drugs were imported from other countries, …show more content…
During the time I volunteered, my father was having stomach problem as a result of eating spicy, acidic food and smoking regularly. Even though I insisted that it would bad for his health, he kept refusing to believe he had any trouble. Based on the knowledge I gained from the research, I knew that the situation would get worse if his stomach was infected by virus. Thus, I convinced him to check up with his doctor. After several failed attempts, he finally agreed and found out that he had peptic ulcer. As a consequence, he had to drink medicines for everyday in four months and reducing, if not stopping, his habit of smoking and eating acidic food. Yet, merely two months later, he told me that he quit because the drugs were not effective. I had to console him to continue taking medication for two more months. I told him that the virus could not be killed in a short period of time, and time was needed for the medicine to process in his body. After four months, my father got better and felt happy. Yet, I also felt happy as well; not only because my father health improved, but also because I have applied the knowledge that I learned to help him. This, again, strengthened my dream pursuing a degree in biology, especially