Drugs and health effects on population outcomes

Personal Statement: Regarding My Future Pharmacy Career

Even a casual reader of today's newspapers will know that the modern drug industry has been subjected to increasingly rigorous scrutiny and litigation. In the current climate, it is easy to forget what it is like to live in a land where antibiotics are not a phone call to the doctor away, and research dollars for drug research are scarce, not the subject of a highly theoretical media debate about ethics. In the country I grew up, the rare sight of the face of a pharmacist was always a welcome one. I remain infused with my childhood faith, now grounded in study and experience, of the power of drugs to heal the human body, not to harm them.

As a young girl in Southeast Asia I suffered from acute bronchitis. I was profoundly grateful for the relief that pharmaceuticals could bring to my suffering. As I grew older, and more acutely aware of the pathology and physiology of the human body in general, as well as the peculiarities of my own illnesses, I purchased a book, entitled The Little Doctor by one Dr. Vogel. This text inspired me to dream, despite the seemingly insurmountable difficulties of my country's political plight, and my own life circumstances, of becoming pharmacist who helped her patients by making and prescribing medicine to make them whole and well again.

In order to pursue a well-rounded education and gain more life experiences, I moved to the United States. I began the difficult, occasionally arduous process of adjusting to life in a new culture. Eventually, after an adjustment period that took its toll upon my mind and body, but made me stronger, much like a purgative cure, I triumphed. I eventually fulfilled one of my great life goals, to major in biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA I obtained the opportunity to participate in a valuable research project, a clinical study committed to investigating the efficacy of hormonal treatment in prostate cancer patients, one of the most common, traumatic, and life-altering forms of cancer in men today. My work on a database of PSA level and medical histories of these patients enabled me to recognize the importance of drugs in order to alleviate patient's health and overall sense of wellness. It confirmed my interest in the pharmaceutical field and the ability of modern medicine to make great strides in improving the quality of human life.

Often, people fear what they do not know, including drug treatments they were unaware of before entering their doctor's office. People who are sick, whether temporarily or chronically ill, are also in a state of nervousness and anxiety and thus often are unable in their doctor's office to fully absorb all of the information regarding their course of drug treatment. It is the pharmacist's duty and ethical obligation to be sensitive to such natural uncertainties, and to be a teacher as well as a technician and scientist. A good scientist must bring patients into a state of better mental comfort and awareness of the patient's physiology and how the prescribed treatment may alleviate the patient's illness. Only by doing so can a pharmacist be certain that a drug treatment plan, particularly if self-administered by the patient at home, will prove efficacious. My own adjustment to the United States has taught me sensitivity, compassion and an awareness of the diversity of cultural attitudes towards drugs, healing and medicine.

My own cultural and linguistic background also provides me with unique additional competence for the pharmaceutical profession. In addition to the strength and humility I have gained from my life experiences, I believe I have a strong grasp of the medicine and healing philosophy of traditional Southeast Asian medicine, combined with the scientific methodology of Western medicine. This can prove to be a powerful blend of different yet complementary attitudes.

Understanding different cultural attitudes and traditions in general is also critical for a pharmacist to speak the language, not just the literal language, but also the cultural language, of the pharmacy's patients. I was raised in a bicultural household rooted in both the Chinese and Vietnamese traditions. I spent much of my youth in Germany and later lived in Lyon, France. In addition to my native Cantonese and Vietnamese, over the course of my life's travels, I became fluent in English and French, as well as Latin. Thus I am versed in the languages of many potential patients, and also the ancient language of medicine.