Hospital Of Special Surgery (Intro)
I really haven't properly introduced this section a bit yet. Anyways, this section is primarily to showcase my demonstrated interests of science and medicine. That is the eventual field I would like to go into when I'm older, and the major in college I would like to purse, molecular biology. Here, you would find stories of developing advances in medicine, or what my personal endeavors in regards to this field. This is kinda an intro to this section, so I'll start by explaining where this interest of science came from.
To be honest, it's really hard to convince people of my interests because of my Asian/Pacific Islander roots, more specifically Filipino. When people ask me what do I want to be when I grow up, I answer "I want to be in the medical field." 99% of the time, I get the response, "Oh, your parents forced you, didn't they?" with a grin, and again they ask the same question. After multiple encounters of this, I realized that I'm stuck in this hole of Asian stereotypes. The stereotype of Asian parents forcing their children to become doctors, nurses, engineers, or lawyers. Rightfully so, almost all Asians plan to pursue a science or engineering degree. But, this feeling I have and want to be in the medical field doesn't come from the dreams of my parents. I'm going to be honest, the whole "you should be a doctor" thing was engrained in my mind since the time when I could interpret things. Eventually, my parents emphasized that I could become anything I desired. With that knowledge, I still really had a desire to become one, I don't know where it came from to be honest. Actually I do.
February 13, 2016. The death of my bestest and closest friend. The death of a person I could relate the most to. The death of the person I called a mentor. My grandpa had suffered a heart attack in the Philippines. Sure, this could be the common story of a grandparent dying, but this was different. Every bad thing that happened to me after that date, I couldn't help but to be in tears. I couldn't help but to look back at the frozen in time pictures that portrayed ephemeral happiness of him. To feel an emotion like that one was truly devastating. I couldn't bare but to think of another person that might go through the same pain that I have gone through. You see, death is inevitable and cannot be prevented, but a tragic and early death can be prevented. I want to see a world in which everybody dies a peaceful death, in their sleep, at the right age. With these thoughts, medicine was my route.
Fast forward a few years later, the summer of 2019. I was invited to volunteer at a hair transplant surgeon's private practice in New York. This doctor was an alum and an interviewer of Princeton University, a desired school of mine, so this was a must opportunity. Before that, I was invited to see another surgeon perform a FUT on a patient, Dr. Benjamin Paul in New York. I was asked to put on a cap and gown for proper precautions and I was able to observe. My heart ignited, my interests rose. The way Dr. Paul was cutting so smoothly and beautifully into the patient's scalp was like watching an artist paint every little detail. It was truly fascinating to see. Years and years of practice allowed him to do this. This truly was my dream then, the surgical field. An hour passed, but to me seemed like 3 minutes. The Hospital of Special Surgery is a hospital designed to treat orthopedic problems, ranked #1 in the U.S for hospitals, that is the dream of mine one day. This is my dream.
