My name is Essey Afewerki, and I've been driven to pursue Immunology, as my college major and career goal, for the better part of my time in high school. That's because I want to address glaring healthcare inequality, specifically widely neglected parasitic diseases affecting disadvantaged communities, like malaria, hookworms, and toxoplasmosis. My family is from Eritrea, a small country on the Horn of Africa that's one of many threatened by said diseases. In fact, one of them was almost responsible for me never being born. When my dad was only a few months older than I am now, he got sick with cerebral malaria. He was bedridden and came to the brink of death. It hit him when he was just starting college and threatened to upend his education, his only means of immigrating to the US and escaping decades of war in Eritrea. The stars aligned for his story to end on a positive note, but thousands haven't been as lucky. I have family members still in Eritrea who face this danger every day. So do almost 3.5 billion people worldwide. There's persisting global inequity responsible for leaving such a massive threat to human life and well-being unresolved. I want to pursue biomedical research, and work towards learning more about these overlooked parasitic diseases so I can change that. I ultimately hope to work towards contributing to the effort to develop preventative treatments for these diseases. To that end, I've pursued biomedical research opportunities in high school to gain hands-on experience. The first of these opportunities came during the summer before my Junior Year. During my Sophomore Year, my school's Life Science elective pathway was canceled due to low enrollment before I was far enough along to take the final class, which offered the only lab-opportunity currently available to me at my school. I was determined to find other opportunities, so that summer I reached out to the Jensen Immunology Lab at the University of California Merced, explaining my circumstances and asking for the chance to observe their lab. After some time working in an assistant role, they were impressed with my performance and dedication, and gave me the chance to conduct my first hands-on research project. Over the course of said project I learned to genetically modify parasites and knock out specific genes to observe their effects on virulence. It was a truly inspiring and formative experience, and significantly defined my career goals. It turned my simple interest in Biology into a passion that drives me and my undertakings to the day. The hands-on experience taught me invaluable skills including lab techniques like gel electrophoresis and growing cultures, as well as how to conduct scientific inquiries. It was like nothing I could have gotten in a classroom. Being able to ask questions and devise an experiment to find my own answer was an incredibly rewarding experience that motivated me to pursue a career in Biomedical research. Thoroughly engrossed by the research process, the next summer I looked for further opportunities. That's how I found out about and applied to the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program. I was accepted and got to conduct another research project. This time I learned to utilize computational biology techniques and built a machine learning model using the R programming language to analyze large patient data sets and determine positivity for Crohn's disease. It was another incredible experience that further attracted me to a research career in biomedical sciences. However, the biggest impact the Jensen-Lab had on me had to do with their greater mission. Their ultimate goal is working to develop vaccines against the parasite toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma - and parasites like it, including hookworms and malaria - have ravaged less developed tropical countries for decades while the rest of the world looks on. It coincided with my own family history and taught me how my childhood passion for biology could facilitate real change in this field. How I could help real people. I was hooked. To see other people so dedicated to addressing this issue that they're devoting their life's work to it was inspiring, and fundamental to me choosing to undertake this career path as I move into higher education. This research experience shaped me and my goals in high school, and contributed to giving me the biomedical experience I need to hit the ground running and get involved in undergraduate research in college. I'm thrilled to say that I'll be attending Yale University and working to earn a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology, where I look forward to learning from and alongside some of the brightest minds in the field. This scholarship can make a major difference in helping me afford this incredible opportunity. Then, following my undergraduate studies, I plan to pursue a Life-Sciences Doctoral Degree. Doing so will ensure I gain the crucial knowledge and experience to pursue a career in biomedical research, and put my passion for biology towards giving these neglected diseases the attention they deserve.

My family is from Eritrea, a small East-African country that's one of many threatened by glaring healthcare inequality, specifically regarding widely neglected parasitic diseases affecting disadvantaged communities, like malaria, hookworms, and toxoplasmosis. In fact, one of them was almost responsible for me never being born. When my dad was a few months younger than I am now, he got sick with cerebral malaria. He was bedridden and came to the brink of death. It hit him when he was just starting college and threatened to upend his education, his only means of immigrating to the US and escaping decades of war in Eritrea. The stars aligned for his story to end on a positive note, but thousands haven't been as lucky. I have family members still in Eritrea who face this danger every day. So do almost 3.5 billion people worldwide. There's persisting global inequity responsible for leaving such a massive threat to human life and well-being unresolved. I want to pursue biomedical research, and work towards learning more about these overlooked parasitic diseases, so I can change that, contributing to the effort to develop preventative treatments for these diseases. To that end, I've pursued biomedical research opportunities in high school to gain hands-on experience. The first of these opportunities came during the summer before my Junior-Year, when my school shut down the only biology lab opportunity available to me due to low enrollment. Determined to find other opportunities, I reached out to the Jensen Immunology Lab at UC-Merced, explaining my circumstances and asking for the chance to observe their lab. After some time working in an assistant role, they were impressed with my performance and dedication, and gave me the chance to conduct my first hands-on research project. Over the course of said project I learned to genetically modify parasites and knock out specific genes to observe their effects on virulence. It was a truly inspiring and formative experience, turning my interest in Biology into a passion that drives me and my undertakings to the day. However, the biggest impact the Jensen-Lab had on me had to do with their greater mission. Their ultimate goal is working to develop vaccines against the parasite toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma - and parasites like it, including hookworms and malaria - have ravaged less developed tropical countries for decades while the rest of the world looks on. It coincided with my own family history and taught me how my childhood passion for biology could help real people. I was hooked. Today I'm thrilled to say that I'm attending Yale University and working to earn a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology, where I look forward to learning from and alongside some of the brightest minds in the field. This scholarship can make a major difference in helping me afford this incredible opportunity. Doing so will ensure I gain the crucial knowledge and experience to pursue a career in biomedical research, and put my passion for biology towards giving these neglected diseases the attention they deserve.