Global Health Program Intent Letter

I believe my background and extensive business acumen, make me an ideal candidate for admission into your PhD program. As an international student, I believe that I also possess a unique approach to healthcare that differentiates me from other applicants to the program. The combination of a strong business background, unique skillset, and a passion for health will drive my continued success in the program. I will also help facilitate the growth of other members in my cohort through my diverse background from the Middle East.
To begin, I have a very strong track record of working together with others to derive mutually beneficial results within the healthcare industry. I have experience building entirely new healthcare departments, which requires vision, foresight, and strong communication skills. Through my leadership, I have also developed healthcare infrastructure programs design to provide aid to the poor and less fortunate. Here, I was able to deliver mission-critical aid to families that were hardest hit by economic disasters. These supplies were essential to these families and included essential products such as firm aid kits, anti-septic’s, thermometers, bandages, and more. In order to provide these items to the poor, I established an infrastructure system that relied on a diverse and broad supply chain. I collaborated with local business to donate supplies that were no longer needed by their employees. I also collaborating with local marketing firms to help solicit the help of non-profit organizations in the area to help store and organize the products. Finally, I solicited volunteers willing to help transport these goods to neighboring communities in need of help. Here, the idea was to help those most vulnerable at the local level with goods and supplies that they need. The ability to provide healthcare to those who can’t afford it, is a passion of mine. Growing up in low-income family, many of the benefits derived by those that were well-off did not accrue to me or my family. Instead, we worked extremely hard for the few benefits that were given to us. As a member of the PhD program, I will look to leverage these experiences to continue to help those in need of services.
My experience has allowed me to generate over two hundred thousand dollars of grants and investment into local healthcare facilities. Here, I collaborated with wealthy donors and venture capitalists to make donations to local organizations designed to provide healthcare services to the poor. My extensive background creating healthcare infrastructure has allowed me to connect with many prominent professionals throughout the industry. By leveraging these connections, I was able to generate direct investment into my immediate communities. These investments where ultimate used to benefit the community through healthcare instruction and seminars.
Although I have helped to create healthcare infrastructure for those in need and solicit direct investment in my communities, I was unprepared for the harm caused by COVID-19. COVID-19 is another example in which unprecedented strain on communities and organizations can cause enormous harm to the society at large. Many countries around the world were simply unprepared for the ramifications of a global pandemic on its citizenry. As a result of a partial combination of ignorance and hubris, hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world have perished. Many of these people contracted the virus simply through social contact with loved ones; individuals that harbored no ill will towards them. It’s an unpleasant stroke of irony that the one’s we care for the most, could ultimately be the cause of our own demise. The values of love, sacrifice, and sincerity; all of which I hope to bring to your esteemed organization as a PhD student, are being challenged at this very moment. After eight months of torment, the virus continues to ravage the developed world as cases continue to surge in America and Europe. My aim through admission to your PhD program is to be apart of the solution that limits the possibility of this destruction occurring ever again. As proven by my previous experience, I have a passion for helping others, particularly those who cannot help themselves. Although pandemics will undoubtedly occur throughout the course of my life, I hope to help mitigate its influence on the lives of others around the world.
I personally want to learn about better methods in which to collaborate with those with disparate views to arrive a greater solution. As I view the response towards the pandemic on a global scale, I don’t see the collaboration needed to properly combat it. I see many of the Asian countries who are characterized by a much more collectivistic mantra, combat the virus through coordination. As of this writing, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Iceland have only 17 deaths combined. This is stark contrast to the United States who now has over 200,000 deaths through November. As a member of the PhD program, I aim to learn the skills and character traits needed to bring varying cultures together to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution. I also aim to apply my leadership skills and unique global perspectives to the program to enhance its diversity of thought and opinion.
Capitalism is a dominate force within the world today. It is due, in part, to the pursuit of self-interest that many of the innovations in healthcare have occurred. Collaboration between business and global health initiatives is critical to help saving the lives of those around the world. As part of the PhD program, I will look to leverage and enhance my business acumen and combine it with my passion for health to ultimately benefit the communities I work in. As mentioned earlier, I have extensive experience building new departments, negotiating with NGOs to illicit investment, and have even helped developed healthcare infrastructure. These prior skills and abilities I believe would only be enhanced through admission into the PhD program. From a financial perspective, the health care programs of the future will need this diverse skillset in order to flourish in the coming decades. Many governments around the world are saddled with extreme and in some cases, unsustainable amounts of debt. Due to low interest rates, pension funds, social security funds, and other programs designed to aid with healthcare related expenditures are becoming strained. As a result, governments will eventually need to raise taxes, cut expenditures, or privatize assets to get them off their balance sheet. In all these situations, healthcare leaders with a multi-disciplinary approach will be needed to address the healthcare problems of the future. I believe through admission into the PhD program, my extensive healthcare related background, and my passion for healthcare overall, I am well positioned to lead in this capacity.