I was influenced by my family to pursue a career in medicine. My mother was an MD/PhD Pathologist in China. When we moved to the US, she first worked as a research scientist at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, and later she had her pathology residency at UTMB. She is now a surgical pathology fellow at Houston Methodist Hospital. My mother would teach me medical knowledge whenever she got a chance. I aspire to be a physician that is hardworking, passionate, and careful for the patients. I am determined and willing to put in the work to accomplish this goal.

In 2011, to pursue the dream of becoming a physician, I entered Baylor University with a Baylor Gold Scholarship and a Jones Scholarship from Houston Jones Scholars. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biology on the pre-med track in the Honors Program. First of all, I study diligently for each subject in the pre-med program. I am also taking music classes for a Music Minor, because I enjoy playing piano and guitar. Music has trained my patience and carefulness, and it has helped me quickly spot minor errors. Overall, I have maintained an Honors status throughout my college career.

Since my junior year, I have worked as an official undergraduate tutor at Baylor University, a spot I earned with high grades in classes such as Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. I was selected from hundreds of applicants through a highly competitive interview by the tutoring center. Tutoring can be challenging. In the most difficult sessions, I revisited and retaught material. This requires me to go over the material and also make sure the students understand confusing concepts. I have to be very patient and creative in my teaching. While this might frustrate some tutors, I fully enjoy my job as a tutor. Not only does it give me a sense of accomplishment when I have educated someone on a subject he or she previously did not understand, but it is also a good practice of patience and teaching styles I will need as a future physician.

I shadowed Dr. Sunil Jain, a pediatrician at UTMB, during summer in 2012. In the same summer, I also volunteered at St. Vincent's Free Clinic in Galveston both weekdays and weekends. Supervised by UTMB faculties and 4th year medical school students, I was in charge of the paperwork for reduced-cost medicine in low-income families. I also assisted in various medical procedures. I volunteered at Hillcrest Cancer Center. There, I got to know the cancer patients on a personal level and found out what kind of hardships they were going through. I regularly volunteer at the Waco Family Abuse Center. Working in medicine, I will master the skills of diagnosis, work continually to improve my quality of understanding of medicine, and educate my future patients so they can make choices for healthy lives.
My curiosity for the medical field has drawn me to the medical research happening around Baylor University. I use my spare time in between classes and the weekend working in Dr. Myeongwoo Lee's lab as an undergraduate researcher. My research project is generating double gene mutations of the pat-3(sp) mutation and the pat-3(+) mutation crossed with the SK4005 mutation on c. elegans nematodes. Many genes in c. elegans are homologous to human genes. To investigate the role of the above gene mutations in the development of c. elegans is to further understand the mechanism of human neurodegenerative diseases.

To open my eyes to different cultures in the world, I applied and was selected to be part of a pre-med study abroad semester in Maastricht, Netherlands. In Maastricht, I studied both for the classes taught by Baylor professors and the Maastricht University professors. I was introduced to the European culture in my free time. I visited many placesBerlin, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, Interlaken, Florence, and London. I marveled at the unique building structures, food, and customs each place had. I was impressed by the different histories of each country I toured.

I believe medicine is a challenging career. I am ready to face the hard work of being a medical school student to study the mechanisms of various diseases, continual learning, and educating patients. I look forward to sharing my knowledge with students as I coach them to practice strong study habits and academic success.