Starting my first internship, I had my sights set on going to medical school and becoming a physician. The internship involved researching Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) at UCSD under Dr. Loomba, and I thought it would be a great way to gain some experience participating in medical research so that I could get a taste for what my professional future may hold. From the first day, I began learning the research process from every angle and got to participate in hands-on patient interactions. One aspect I got to work with was the Fibroscan, a cutting-edge technology being tested to serve as a less invasive solution to diagnose liver diseases by measuring fibrosis (thickness) and steatosis (fatty change) of the liver. The ingenuity of the machine inspired me to combine my biochemical skills with the creativity engineering has to offer so that I, too, could add my own technologies to the world. Consequently, I decided to study chemical engineering as I entered college.With my career goal in mind, one area I have a heavy interest in is biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. While doctors have many tools at their disposal, there are some diseases that we currently do not have the ability to treat. I have heard stories, and have gone through the process myself, where people must witness their family members suffer from gruesome diseases, and I want to change the situation. I believe biotechnology and pharmaceuticals hold the key to preventing this adversity which is part of everyone’s lives.The other topic I have a passion for is energy. I want to work with energy because I’m tired of people complaining that our current energy usage is dangerous while making no real attempts to improve the situation. Finding the key to creating enough renewable energy for the world would be great, but any increase in our current energy harvesting methods could make a huge impact in sustainability.
Listed skills include Chemical Engineering, Leadership, Problem Solving, Resiliency, and 1 others.