Admission Essay for Master of Public Health Bloomberg School John Hobkins
Growing up in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where 4-5 million people came at once from different corners of the world was often challenging, because the city lack a proper health system, although it benefited of good financial opportunities. I come from a good, low-income family, and while I was growing up, I was travelling with my father, who was a truck driver, to small villages. This is how I got to know the socioeconomic status of Saudi Arabia and I understood that people suffer and often died of preventable diseases. The lack of proper medical education brought me repeatedly in the emergency rooms when I was confronting with asthma attacks and almost led my little brother to losing his legs. The local healer treated his legs condition using only his hands and no analgesic, applying force, which ended up in a wrong fixation and a leg infection. Fortunately he recovered, but his screaming from the time of the fixation procedure remained in my mind and so did the fact that he could have been crippled due to improper health services. This motivated me to search for solutions to improve the local health in Makkah and so I become interested in studying medicine. I pursued my medical aspirations by joining the medical school as a volunteer, working with pilgrims and helping people with critical conditions, where I met various cases, which inspired me to communicate with people in a simple way, yet, expressing professionalism and transmitting trust, which I consider significant soft skills for doctors. Nevertheless, my experience in working with pilgrims from all over the world determined me to realize that their health problems need proper, practical and professional intervention, because the health problems cannot be corrected by sitting behind an office and treating patients individually. Such an intervention would be to inform people on a large scale about preventive measures and to develop health awareness programs and campaigns, by using mass media and community initiatives.
I am currently pursuing the Master of Public Health within Bloomberg School John Hobkins because it is the top MPH in the world and because I was impressed by this institution’s role in public and preventive health after reading its history. I consider that studying here will give me the opportunity to learn more about how to raise health awareness so that people from my country and from the third world countries to benefit of improved health opportunities.
I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 2010, and since then I was involved in various internship programs, where I had the opportunity to interact directly and practically with the public health environment. As such, during my internship programs, I managed clinics in Pediatric rotations, under supervision, I worked both with adult and pediatric in medical traumatic, emergency and code blue situations and I also had the opportunity of performing several basic medical procedures. In addition to internships, I also attended educational programs, for which I obtained certificates, such as Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Basic Life Support (BLS) and I passed the Saudi Medical Selection Examination. I followed my interest for public health by attending various symposia, workshops and presentations, which are detailed in my resume, and also by becoming a member in professional affiliations and community actions, or by involving in several volunteering projects, such as Teaching and Supervising the Third Year Medical Students (2010-2011) or enhancing awareness upon the smoking effects on human health, among others.
The faculty courses, the internship programs, the additional medical courses and the other medical related activities that I followed or attended contributed to the evolution of my interest toward public health. I consider that through its teaching and consulting methods, this Master program will complete my knowledge and will perfect my skills, preparing me to professionally, firmly and successfully promote preventive health in my country and in third world countries.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Hani Alsaedi
Works Cited
Alsaedi, Hani. Curriculum Vitae. Jeddah
