Medical School Personal Statement

Hi. Below is my personal statement for medical school. Please help correct it or provide comments . Thank you for your time and consideration.
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"No! Not another disgusting lizard, Grandma!"

I heartily protested as my grandma tried to pin me down and pry my mouth open to force a live house lizard sandwiched between two slices of banana down my throat. I grasped tightly onto her scarlet sweater, both eyes coated in tears, howling and kicking to dodge the four-legged creature. The more I resisted, the worse my coughing and wheezing became. My childhood asthma was overpowering and my breathing shallow. At last, I surrendered. With my eyes closed and breath held, I quickly swallowed the creature the second it tickled the inside of my mouth. It was already my third lizard for the day. The familiar pleasant taste and aroma of banana failed to disguise the unpleasant gecko sandwiched between.

In the rural village of central Vietnam where I grew up, basic health care was a scarcity and devouring a house lizard was the most effective for my severe asthma. My grandparents were too poor and medicine was too expensive for us to seek any mainstream treatment for my illness. At the onset of my symptoms, I could not turn to my mother for solace. I was only two when my family escaped Vietnam by boat. My parents reluctantly left me behind for I was too sick to endure such a perilous journey. Even with the love and care of relatives and friends, it just was not the same without my family and a place others called home.

I was reunited with my family when I was nine. For the first time in my life, I had a family doctor who attended to my medical needs. It was the absence of adequate medical attention in my early childhood that promoted and fostered my sympathy for the sick and the poor. Truly grateful for the comprehensive care that I received in America, I devoted my high school and college years engaging in different community services to give back to the community and help those less fortunate. Through my volunteer work, I was surprised and saddened to learn that health care inequality is not restricted to Vietnam alone but also exists even in the heart of America. In today's society, there are orphan children, homeless citizens, and immigrants who do not have access to adequate health care. These patients are often forced to sidestep hospitalization and expensive medication due to financial difficulties. For this reason, I am inspired to become a physician in order to provide holistic medical care to patients from all social and economic circumstances.

This inspiration had channeled me to the Emergency Department at San Francisco General Hospital, where I assisted physicians and nurses in providing clinical care to homeless and uninsured patients, addressing their myriad medical diseases as well as psychosocial problems. While shadowing the physicians, I noticed that a genuine gesture and a few words of comfort were always their initial responses to a patient's diagnosis. They helped me to appreciate that being a physician includes more than just diagnosing diseases and prescribing treatments. It embraces the patient's whole well-being, both body and mind. Their thoughtful actions gave meaning to William Osler's words: "The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease." I too wanted to become a great physician as I strived to implement Osler's teaching into my own practice at SFGH with some success. The hands-on interaction with patients had imparted greater meaning to my life and education as well as solidified my resolve to become a physician.

With this resolve in mind, I was determined to "leave no stone unturned" in the path to fulfilling my dream. At Berkeley, I explored different opportunities and took on many challenges to best prepare myself for medical school. In the classroom, I was a "biology bookworm," pursuing a complementary double major in Molecular Immunology and Integrative Biology. As a student of science, I was most interested in applying knowledge from the classroom into hands-on research to answer scientific questions. I soon found myself deeply engaged in cancer research in the Karpen Lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. With a pipette in hand, I conducted experiments to study how the cell recognizes and repairs DNA damage induced by radiation. At the 2008 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship conference, I gave a PowerPoint presentation on the functions of various tumor suppressor proteins in the DNA repair pathway. This research was promising because knowledge of how cells repair DNA damage can contribute to a better understanding, and therefore, potential treatment for diseases associated with damage to our genome, including cancer. I look forward to participate in the medical community's efforts, both as a future medical student and physician, in addressing today's and tomorrow's health problems.

In choosing to become a physician, I have found a career that unites my interest in science and medicine with my passion to help others. An aspiring medical student, I hope to obtain the opportunity to provide health education and medical care to patients; the opportunity to cultivate compassion and establish friendship next to a patient's bedside. To accomplish my lifelong aspiration of becoming a physician, medical school is the next important "stone" for me to assiduously and eagerly turn.