Staff of the Harvard Crimson - 50 Successful Harvard Medical School Essays

Hometown: Nanjing, China

Undergraduate School: Private, Williams College

Major: Biology

GPA: 3.86

MCAT: 36. PS: 10, V: 14, BS: 12.

Detention. The word filled me with youthful indignation. I knew I was being punished for tasting the alkali earth metal salts we were categorizing in the science lab, but from my 12-year-olds perspective, I was in legendary company. My hero, Dr. Shizhen Li, the 16th century Chinese herbalist from my history books, had famously risked his own health to locate and sample the thousands of medicines he exhaustively researched for his Compendium of Materia Medica. Though the punishment tempered my reckless tasting of lab materials, it failed to restrain my adventurous spirit. Like the relentless Dr. Li, my aspirations to become a physician-scientist have spanned the globe and led to unexpected journeys.

In my early years, two very important women inspired me to carefully question conventional wisdom. My grandmother was obsessed with the medicinal properties of food. Diagnosed with severe diabetes in her 70s, she ignored her physicians advice to begin insulin shots and successfully controlled her condition with diet and exercise. As a child, I eagerly followed her maverick example. I must have seemed an earnest little quack, prescribing all kinds of foods to cure my friends ailments. But it wasnt simply play. I still find myself resorting to some of my grandmothers herbal solutions. I even converted my undergraduate thesis advisor into the habit of drinking Chinese Tieguanyin tea to fight his Coca-Cola addiction.

My close relationship with my grandmother prompted an early interest in nutrition and natural remedies. But it was my admiration for my mothers work as a leading HIV/STD epidemiologist for Chinas CDC that introduced me to the essential roles of public outreach and research in battling diseases. As a teen, I took on the tasks of performing simple data analysis in my mothers lab and distributing handouts from the CDC detailing STD support resources in clinics. I particularly enjoyed face-to-face interaction with patients, and was intrigued by the close collaboration between doctors and epidemiologists. Moreover, I began to understand the stake we have in overcoming cultural taboos in order to prevent, detect and treat infectious diseases. Talking with young AIDS patients fighting uphill battles, I realized I didnt have the patience to wait until I received a physicians license to spread the gospel of preventive care. I felt compelled to act.

Recognizing that a Chinese medical education would focus almost exclusively on the hard sciences, I decided to instead pursue a US liberal arts education despite considerable obstacles. I yearned for the freedom to engage with the public to promote disease prevention and explore the diversity of factors affecting health. Williams College offered me the opportunity to connect my passion for medical science with my concern for the community through the student organization Public Health Alliance. First as a participant, and then as Chair, I worked with campus and community leaders to raise awareness of preventable and sometimes controversial health issues since my sophomore yearranging from sports injuries to HPV awarenessfacing the Williams community. My undergraduate years also sparked my love for the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience and deepened my interest in research. Rewarding laboratory experience, clinical shadowing, and mentorship from physician-scientists reinforced my aspiration to work at the exciting interface between brain research and medicine.