Personal Essay: Innovative Cancer Research

Words: 695
Pages: 3

Essay #1
I am applying for YSFP because I would like to learn more about how innovative cancer research is conducted and what is currently being done in the field. Not only do I feel this experience would reaffirm my interest in medicine and research, I also believe this will allow me to grow as a scholar. I am always wanting to try new things and believe this experience will help me understand more about how breakthroughs in medicine are made.
By participating in this research program, I hope to gain experience in the laboratory and learn more about the cutting-edge cancer treatments that are currently being developed. In the future, I plan to study oncology, so I believe that this program would be highly beneficial for my career goals. I feel that a career an an oncology is right for me because it would be an intellectually stimulating job that will allow me to use my problem solving skills to help others.
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Two years ago, my uncle was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. This came as a shock to me and my family as we never had a family history of cancer. Since my uncle had limited English skills, my parents and I took a heavy share of the task of communicating with the doctors and researching treatment options for him. In order to better understand my uncle’s situation and treatment options, I did a lot of research on how cancer comes about and how different treatments work. I was intrigued not only by learning how traditional treatments work, but also seeing recent breakthroughs that could revolutionize the future of cancer treatment. One of the developments that I found was most intriguing was the possibility of using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing for immunotherapy or altering the oncogenes of tumor cells. Overall, I am highly interested in about learning more about the research that will change the future of cancer treatments and our knowledge of