I am pursuing a career as a Clinical Researcher. My goal is to be able to make a difference in people's lives by finding treatments and medications to help manage and maybe even cure certain illnesses, diseases, and disorders. I love biology, chemistry, and medicine, I love working with a team, but I also love helping others. However, I want to do more than just wait for people to walk through the doors of a hospital and administer the same treatments that are either not effective or not as effective as they could be. This career gives me the perfect balance of all of these things. As a woman I hope to pay more attention to how different treatments work in males and females. In this way I hope to be able to create treatments either specifically for women or that are equally effective in both men and women. I have a lot of family and friends who have unfortunately passed away due to cancer, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers. I couldn't help them then but maybe I can honor them through my work. I want to help those out there who believe that there is nothing left to do, that they are destined to die. I don't want others to have to experience the same pain of losing a family member or a friend to a disease like this in an age where science and technology seem so advanced. I also have many family members, including my mom, who suffer from chronic pain. It seems like no medication or treatment or surgery offered today is helping them and their lives have become bleak. I cannot remember a time, in all 17 years of my life, that my mom wasn't in pain. I know there has to be a better answer than popping pills or getting surgery or injections. There has to be a more effective way to increase their quality of life. And if I am not able to achieve this in my lifetime, I can help someone else achieve it in the future. I chose this career path in particular because I believe that with my set of skills and my history, if I did not do this, I could never forgive myself. I have the ability to make a change and help others in a way that not many people can. I have a responsibility to these people, these families, these daughters, sons, mothers, and fathers, to use my skills to change the course of their lives. I can give people hope, a cure, a new treatment, a life with little to no pain. All I need is a chance to learn a bit more, and I know I can make a difference.

Addiction has always been a part of my life, even when I didn't notice it. It started with my mother's alcohol addiction. As a child, I saw alcohol tearing my family apart. My parents would fight all of the time, sometimes to the point of the police being called. I remember one night when they were fighting, me and my sister had bunk beds at the time. We were so terrified that our mom would either hurt our dad or that our dad would call the cops that we took the entire silverware drawer and the home phone and we put them in my sister's top bunk, so that our parents couldn't reach them. Eventually, my mom was forced to get clean as her health started to deteriorate. As the presence of alcohol in our house dissipated, we saw our parents relationship slowly heal. Today I am happy to say that my mom is sober and healthy, and her relationship with my dad is better than ever. But, although they don't know it, my mom's addiction and my dad's response has taken a toll on my sister and I. So much so that we promised each other that we would never touch a drink ever and if we saw one another do it, we would slap it out of their hand and remind them of not only the promise we made, but what we were forced to endure because of this drink. On one hand this is a good thing, because alcohol is not beneficial to the human body anyways, but I am starting to notice the beginnings of a pattern of addiction stemming from this choice. In my life, I have become addicted to things only if I am not allowed to have them. For example, as a child we weren't allowed "junk food" such as soda or chips or things like that. See on the outside, this seems like a good decision. However, in middle school as we started to buy these things more and more, I realized I had become addicted to these junk foods. Not because I particularly liked them, but just because I could have them. This was the start of my long journey of disordered eating. Originally, it started as a binge eating disorder, but over time it turned into a restrictive eating disorder, as my food addiction started to shape every aspect of my life. Another factor that has played a role in this addiction for me is my ADHD, which has mostly affected my impulse control. And because of my impulse control issues, I would either eat everything in sight or nothing at all because I couldn't control my impulsive eating. So the fear of bingeging led to me restricting which ultimately led to me bingeing again and I found myself stuck in this never ending cycle. I was never taught the importance of balance, so I was forced to learn this concept on my own. Although I still struggle from time to time, I am happy to say that after years of therapy and hard work I have been able to address this addiction and formulate a healthier relationship with the food I eat. Now, this is great and all but it still leads me to wonder when I am allowed to drink, will I fall into this same pattern again. I can only hope that the skills and tools that I have acquired over the years and the support of my sister can help me to make not just the right decision, but the smart decision as well.