It is with great enthusiasm that I apply for admission to study part time towards the MPH Degree in your highly esteemed program with a concentration in global health. I am currently a Research Associate in the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases at XXXX Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. I hold a PHD in Microbiology and Medical Parasitology from the University of XXXX in Germany.
My central professional goal in life is to devote myself to research in the control of infectious diseases. I hope to make significant contributions to my local, national, and international communities, especially as concerns the most poor and vulnerable among us. I became fully dedicated to the battle against infectious diseases while still a student in Kenya. In 1997, I obtained a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and joined the Institute of Medical Parasitology at the University of XXXX where I authored my doctoral dissertation on the effects of various midgut microorganisms on the development of the malaria vector Anopheles Stephens.
I came to the USA in 2002 to better familiarize myself with state-of-the-art laboratory techniques, taking a one-year course on Biotechnology and Bioprocessing at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and subsequently becoming a permanent resident of the USA. I then obtained a postdoctoral position in Dr. Ward’s laboratory at Tufts Medical Center. My postdoctoral studies focused on investigating the molecular basis of the host-parasite interactions of Cryptosporidium. I have presented in several national and international conferences and published in 5 peer reviewed journals.
I am profoundly concerned with health care disparities between developed and developing countries and would like to contribute to narrowing this gap. Every year I go back home to Kenya and see young and old dying from easily treatable diseases, especially the devastating hand of HIV. In 2008, I applied for and obtained a Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship and initiated collaboration between Tufts Medical center and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, implementing a pilot study of the protective immune response to Cryptosporidium in HIV-infected adults in Kenya.
My experiences in Kenya as a Fogarty fellow have helped inspire me to apply to your program. I was recruited my study patients from a HIV clinic at Kenya National Hospital in Nairobi that sees 50-80 new cases of HIV infected patients every day. I was overwhelmed for the first few months by the tragically poor public health infrastructure. Soon, however, I realized that there were many things that I could do to help but that I lacked the methodology and world class training that your program could provide. I have also been inspired by my participation in monthly online conferences consisting of presentations by distinguished scientists in global health research.
I made my final decision to apply to XXXX when I attend the Global Health Clinical Research Alumni Symposium in September of 2010 in Washington DC and was especially inspired by the keynote speaker Dr. Paul Famer co-founder of Partners in Health and UN Special Envoy to Haiti. I want to attend XXXX’s MPH Program because it will provide me with the finest tool kit in the world for saving as many lives as possible.
MPH Personal Purpose Statement Public Health Africa
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