I credit my father with my interest in healthcare. He's an occupational therapist who visits his patients in their homes. Many of his patients are children, and when my sister and I were younger, he would take us to work with him. We would travel with our father from house to house, watching as he gently cared for kids our own age with various disabilities, assisting them with therapeutic exercises and tasks. It was during these trips to work with our father that my sister and I learned not only about the importance of proper medical care but also about things that helped expel from our thoughts misconceptions about individuals with disabilities that many children harbor.

I am currently an undergraduate student, and my interest in healthcare still remains. My current courses of study are related to learning about the environment, because the natural environment is the ultimate source of human health. I'd like to discover more about how things like pollution directly or indirectly lead to the illnesses and disabilities I learned about as a child with my father. I hope to go to graduate school and become a public health professional, discovering more about how changes in nature affect our bodies.

Essay: Henrietta Lack's Immortal Cells

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American woman from Virginia, died of cancer. However, before the disease led to complications that would eventually weaken her body to the point of no return, a sample of the cancerous mass on her cervix was taken during a biopsy, and given to Dr. George Otto Gey without her permission. Dr. Gey soon discovered that Henrietta’s cells were “immortal,” meaning that they could divide endlessly without dying. This characteristic had never been observed in cells before, and was a breakthrough discovery, as multiple experiments could now be performed on the same line of cells. Dr. Gey shipped Henrietta’s cells, (thenceforth known as HeLa cells), to labs around the world.
HeLa cells have been instrumental in improving the lives of disabled people, from the moment of their discovery to the present day. For example, in the early 1950s, Dr. Jonas Salk utilized HeLa cells to develop a vaccine for polio, which threatened the lives of thousands of children. The vaccine was able to reverse the effects of the illness, including the gradual loss of mobility that occurred before permanent paralysis set in. As the decades passed, HeLa cells continued to be at the forefront of treatments that were life-changing to those with disabilities, including being used to develop treatments that combat the debilitating effects of cancer and AIDS. One can only hope that in the future, the ethical violation of Henrietta’s cells being used without her permission will be avenged by the possibility that maybe someday, someone who’s life was changed by her cells will go on to fight for the rights of those who are currently in the position that Henrietta was in when she first fell ill.