Letter of Intent for Admissions to Masters of Public Health
Hi,
I am applying for the MPH in Environmental and Global health to the USA. They are looking for my interests in pursuing the MPH at their school, and to describe how the program fits within my overall personal and professional goals. Also it should identify how I will use the skills and knowledge from my work and educational experiences towards achieving my goals, as well as demonstrating an understanding of the public health field. Any feedback is much appreciated!!
Letter of Intent
I am a neuroscientist working at the intersection of neuroscience and environmental public health. I find myself at this professional juncture because of my keen interest to discover the mysteries of the brain, and how its plasticity is affected by environmental exposures.
I come from a family of doctors and so, medicine, diseases and their treatments were common conversation. However, as I saw my grandmother succumb to Alzheimer's, the inadequacy of modern medicine to deal with challenges of the human mind became evident to me. There were many cures yet to be discovered and outdated methods waiting to be revised - all requiring unparalleled efforts to fill the void in addressing mental health related issues.
After completed an undergraduate degree in Bioengineering, and still, intrigued by the brain, I went on to pursue a Masters in Neuroscience from the ______, India's premier Centre for Excellence in Neuroscience. I learnt about subjects like neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, developmental neurosciences, cognitive neurosciences, computational neurosciences. Besides the biology, physics, and chemistry behind the working of the brain, I also learned techniques of viewing the brain as well. My fascination with the brain continued, and I enrolled in a PhD specializing in Neuroimaging. I acquired skills in mathematical modeling and computational platform design, simulating biological systems and techniques of neuroimaging such as MRI, EEG, and tractography, as part of several preclinical and patient-oriented research projects.
Through these research activities, I engaged in and obtained extensive experience working at public health care facilities. I learned to conduct patient assessment and data collection, and deal with patient overload at understaffed primary health care clinics. During this crucial period, I gained valuable insights into the nuances of public health and community-focused approaches. It also deepened my resolve to become a committed public health professional to help with India's critical mental health needs. I realised that along with translation of research into practice, there was also need for practice to inform research, if we were to make strides in finding cure for all kinds of brain disorders.
In the clinic, it perturbed me to watch children being brought in with severe stunting, an outcome of frequent diarrhoea episodes, or to see an infant cough up their lungs due to pneumonia - all outcomes of unhealthy environments, highlighting the vicious cycle of deprivation and intergenerational poverty. It reinforced the urgency of remediation needed. There was no dearth of evidence, albeit form the West, which established this correlation.
Given these experiences and interest, upon completion of my doctorate, I made the transition to the field of Environmental Health. I joined the ________ under the guidance of environmental health specialist, Dr _____. Dr ____ has further ignited my passion, while providing me with mentorship to nurture my interest and knowledge in this nascent field in India.
At ________, I have been actively involved in several technology-enabled, community-centric initiatives towards improving environmental health outcomes. As a part of the Mental Health team, I helped design the study for early assessment of cognitive development in children, using EEG and gaming tools. I am also collaborating with several NGOs and on-ground stakeholders on issues of urban resilience, disaster management, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child health and protection, especially of street children, so as to identify impact of such challenges on community health, especially on cognition of young children and thus, accordingly help design interventions.
I was recently awarded the TATA Trust Fellowship to conduct a landscape study in semi-urban/rural settings, to identify sources of environmental pollution, primarily indoor air pollution and pesticide exposures and associated childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, via locally developed questionnaires and culturally adapted cognitive batteries.
I must emphasise here that the challenges in India are quite unique as there is a gamut of these occurring concurrently, and given the allelic predisposition of the Indian population, combined with socio-economic stressors, our vulnerability is much higher. This is besides the issue that determinants of behaviour and health as an outcome are governed not only by cultural dogmas but also, infrastructure lacunae and governance failures, especially the implementation of policies.
Having worked in India, in field settings, for over the past 4-5 years, I have well understood these challenges and am keen to contribute towards the alleviation of such challenges and help in designing and implementing interventions in such low resource settings.
To add, grant writing is an integral part of my current job profile. I have structured and designed proposals for funding agencies such as the NIH-R03 scheme, Grand Challenges Canada, Grand Challenges Exploration-India, Government of India research grants and the Tata Trust, amongst others, several of which have been successfully funded. This has provided me the opportunity to review literature, become well versed in the ongoing research efforts globally and locally, gain an understanding of the calls of international research, and hone my communication skills.
I would like to pursue my MPH at _________ to follow this research aspiration. Given my extensive training and a keen desire to pursue community-based research on child cognition and environmental health, the program shall help me develop core competencies in conduct of public and environmental health research and practice. Becoming well-versed in social, developmental, and behavioral theories of health and their practical implications will help direct my future research projects and facilitate their translation. Learning about qualitative and quantitative methods will be valuable for me to become an accomplished public health researcher. I wish to learn about the field of environmental-neuro-epidemiology and _________ will be an ideal venue, providing me an opportunity to learn from some of the best researchers in this field. Upon my return, I will use my newly acquired skills to help build a robust research and intervention portfolio of activities in environmental determinants of child development at the ___________. Given my fundamental belief in the strength of community, I would earnestly work towards their empowerment and skill development, such that these individuals themselves become the researchers, implementers, validators and of course, the main beneficiaries.
All this has been an outcome of sheer perseverance combined with an unrelenting passion to understand the brain, that endows us with phenomenal intellectual and social abilities, while building communities that showcase resilience and strength.
I would like to end by quoting the philosophy that is the essence of my very being, by Vivekananda "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced."
