I am an international medical graduate residing in Dubai :) I want to pursue a career in public health and target the epidemic of non-communicable disease, especially when it is affecting the younger generation! (ie, people below the age of 50).
I want to apply for multiple universities in the U.K, and for that purpose, I have prepared this short personal statement, for which I anticipate your guidance to perfect it.
here it goes:
I'm concerned about health of younger generation
On a bright sunny morning in kindergarten, my brother who is only 18 months younger than I am, fell and injured his knee. We had to take him to the school infirmary to be reviewed by the school doctor and have bandage placed on the cut. That was the moment when I set my target on becoming the best physician out there, not to see him or anyone else ache from an injury or any other disease. I pursued that naïve dream of mine and watched it evolved into my current reality.
I graduated from Dubai Medical College, MBBS, with an honorary degree in 2015. Since then, I completed a 1-year training, as per the requirements. Throughout my short-term practice in a major tertiary care hospital, I had the opportunity to deal with various cases in both the medical and surgical departments. Most of the patients we treat fall within the lower to middle-income social groups. With the ease of access to the unhealthy foods, tobacco, and physical inactivity, there has been a massive growth in chronically diseased population, with an explosive the surge of the premature cases. All of which is raising red flags for control of the non-communicable disease epidemic, especially within the previously mentioned group. This only heightened my awareness on the significance of improving the healthcare policy to make an impact on the population.
During my stay in the hospital, though I enjoyed treating the patients, reassure them that "everything would be fine", provide them with the medical care they need, and sending them back home with a list of prescription medications to maintain the equilibrium we want them to maintain, I was still not content with my work. There was a hole in this never-ending loop of admissions and re-admissions. There is a substantial increase in admission rates, especially from the younger generation. More admissions of pre-mature myocardial infarcts, strokes, DKAs, etc. I wanted, no, needed to target the root of this growing epidemic.
Back in 20114, I joined the 4get-me-not non-profit organization to help raise awareness of Alzheimer's Disease. I have participated in many events including those on World Alzheimer's Day, where we have engaged children and the elderly in various activities to spread awareness about the disease. We have also hosted patients of Al-Mamzar Community Centre for the Elderly and had them participate with us on that day. I also joined this beautiful team on another event, 1st MENA Geriatric Congress, where I was assisting in spreading awareness and discussing with fellow physicians the advancements in medical care for those patients.
In 2016 I took part in the World Heart Day event, taking place in Rashid Hospital, where we screened the employees, patients and whoever wished to take part in this event, for the common non-communicable diseases. After each participant gets their parameters measured, they would move to my station (where I was joined by fellow senior cardiologists) where I interpret the results they received and explain to them the steps they should adopt to avoid or better control their health condition(s). I consider it a very successful event, as the people were quite anticipated to find out where they stand within the set health parameters and even more eager to improve their health. Luckily, we helped uncover undiagnosed cases and directed them to clinics for further management. What was even more interesting, was our discovering of 2 sub-acute MI cases which required immediate emergency care, and another case of a major STEMI which was taken directly to the cath lab within the hospital.
Earlier in 2017, I landed a job at ASG, a medical equipment company introducing the Consult Station to the medical market of the UAE. With this patented telemedical device, the company aims to provide the patients with remote accurate diagnosis and follow-up around the clock.
Most recently, I coordinated with my fellows at ASG a 5-week pilot for the screening of the employees of various governmental entities for the common non-communicable diseases including (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity). We had the opportunity to screen almost 500 employees, and the number of pre-hypertension and pre-obese patients was over 50%! I was in charge of the participants' history taking, examination, and result interpretation. I took this opportunity to enlighten the patients about the active healthy lifestyle which would not only aid in preventing or controlling a current medical condition, but it would also aid in maintaining their positive attitude.
My greatest challenge was and still is urging the people to accept the change to a healthier more active lifestyle, in contrast to the norm adapted in this community (sedentary lifestyle with a major increase of intake of the processed fatty food) which plays a major factor leading to the decline of their health. Genetics and family history also plays a role, but we have means to control the modifiable elements, so why not take the steering wheel and make a better health choice?
As a physician, it brings me joy when my patients take my advice and put the verbal/written plan in action. This was escalated to a new level when one of the employees not only did he adopt a healthier lifestyle, but he spread my word to the rest of his family members and friends. I was overjoyed with this news this employee delivered to me, as I was reassured that my hard work is paying off, and the word on better health is spreading!
I am intent on joining the Public Health MSc program at _______. I believe this course would not only help me in better understanding of the behavior of the population in regards of their health, but it would provide me with better resources understand, and later on, to implement health policies to enhance the general health of the people and contribute in the ending the growing epidemic of the non-communicable diseases.
Appreciating your assistance with this essay.
- JumanaHolt Educational Consultant - / 14,835 
4783 Jumana, skip the reference to your being in Kindergarten and then and there deciding to be a doctor. You are not fooling anyone. The reviewers know a hyperbole when they read it and that will affect the consideration of your application. Why don't you think of a more relevant and mature time when you were influenced to become a doctor instead? That will make for a better introduction than the exaggerated kindergarten story you have here. Remember, reviewers do not like exaggerations in application essays and they often disregard such applicants. So just base your opening statement on humility and reality.
About the reference to ASG, if you did not manage to make a significant contribution to the company and the further development of the device or, if you did not create a new device that was patented, there is no sense in mentioning that. You need to prove that you have achievements on a personal level and merely working at the company as a rank and file employee doesn't accomplish that. Even the device is not connected to you in any way so it is best to not mention it at all.
Your participation in the 5-week pilot program doesn't tell me how you stood out from the team. What did you personally accomplish and what effect did it have on the participants of the program? Would you consider your participation to be an achievement? Why? elaborate more on yourself instead of the group participation because the group is not the one applying for admission.
