The lifeless body lying in front of me once had a brain tumor. “Over time, your aunt developed a brain tumor, she won’t be coming back,” my mom said. At the age of 11, I did not have a clear understanding of what a tumor was. All I knew was that my aunt was gone, and it was all because of a disease that I wished never took her away from me. I had never gotten the chance to spend that much time with her when I was younger, and the one time that I had that opportunity, it was snatched away from me.
My passion for oncology developed over a period of time, with my desire to be a catalyst in cancer research driving me. As a child, I was always fascinated by the wondrous workings of the human body. From picking up bugs to examine how they are able to walk to working and researching at Stanford University, UCSF Medical Center, University of San Francisco, and the University of Arizona, my love of biology has shaped my dreams and ambitions. During high school, volunteering on the oncology floor at the UCSF Medical Center gave me the opportunity to witness the transformations of patients that were diagnosed with diseases such as Brain Tumor, Breast Cancer, and Acute Leukemia. Simultaneously researching at Stanford University, I got to see the backstory to how the transformation came to be.
As a junior in college, I am more than halfway done with my undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. I have always been passionate about helping my community, getting my start through my non-profit organization, Education 2 Future, so it only made sense to pursue a public health minor alongside my degree in MCB. As a pre-med, I have heard many stories about how a person is very smart and medicine just comes “naturally” to them or stories about how medicine is just not for someone so they drop out. But here is my story, a simple girl that may not be the brightest, but uses her passion to drive her to reach her dreams. To anyone that is struggling and wants to drop out of being a pre-med, don’t. You never know where life will take you.