Science and Struggle: The Fusion of Research and Compassion
Parwiz Abrahimi(Age 23, Afghanistan & USA)
Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University Graduate School
Science and technology seem a world away in the vastly populated Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul. Driving along its single congested road, one can see laborers lingering for a day's opportunity to work, donkeys bearing loads of sun-baked bricks, and antiquated buses adorned with colorful streamers and poetic Persian decals. Where the paved street ends, cars are forced to a halt by giant mounds of gravel placed in the middle of the dirt road for nearby construction workers. Hidden behind the mounds of gravel, a hundred meters down a muddy alley lined with dilapidated adobe houses, is a gem lost in the bustle of post-Taleban Kabul: Marefat High School. On the days that I am not instructing the biology and chemistry laboratories at the American University of Afghanistan, I volunteer as a science teacher at this community-led high school. It is here I decided that scientific research combined with social awareness and responsibility could make the conditions we live in better and more sustainable.
Once, after a class in which I introduced blood groups and blood typing, a female student asked, “If my blood group is Rh negative and my fiancé is Rh positive, what steps can I take to avoid problems during child birth?” She was referring to rhesus-sensitization, in which a mother can develop an immune reaction when bearing a child whose rhesus blood group differs from her own. In a Western high school setting answering this question would have been easy, but in this case I did not know how best to respond. In a resource-poor country like Afghanistan there is little health care infrastructure to address problems such as this. I was reminded of the great needs and meager means Afghans have for health care, and thought long about what future applications of science and technology might do to enhance medicine and health education for Afghanistan and other developing nations. In my vision for the future of science there is greater fusion between scientific research and global health imperatives, creating a more prosperous world through improved health care delivery in the world's most vulnerable regions.
The marriage between science, which seeks to address a fundamental biological question, and global health advocacy, which seeks to reduce worldwide health disparities, is a vital component of my vision for the future. Scientific research must place more emphasis on diagnostic and therapeutic clinical interventions that can be transitioned for use in areas that currently lack human and financial capacity. This requires clinicians with an intimate understanding of basic science, and scientists who have a clinical end goal through which they can promote world health equity by developing culturally sensitive and cost-effective medical solutions that address local public health needs. I envision carving a role for myself at the center of the interaction between clinicians, engineers, and scientists. I am pursuing joint M.D./Ph.D. doctorates which will equip me with the clinical education and research experience to be a successful physician-scientist. I hope to partake in translational pharmacological and molecular medicine research in which I can combine my academic interests in medicine and science with my background in the developing world. I aim to study diseases and new drugs that can help alleviate the clinical burden on resource poor nations at the molecular level.
Through teaching, I have also come to see research and education as complementary. Science instruction in Afghanistan has traditionally been dominated by the look-and-listen pedagogical approach, and does not engage students' interests or encourage them to think critically. Like other schools, Marefat faces many technological limitations. When our electricity runs out, as it does often, we use a mirror and sunlight to illuminate objectives on our compound light microscope. Simple items such as salt, soap, water and rubbing alcohol become reagents to extract cheek-cell DNA. It is not much, but the students gain experience, build confidence in themselves, and are introduced to the scientific method. Accompanying this future direction of science, I see a vanguard of scientists who understand that science has a role outside of research centers, and will champion teaching, public outreach, and advocacy in addition to advancing scientific research. With the right support from scientists who are willing to serve as mentors and advocates, students like those at Marefat have the potential to become future leaders who can help further drive the direction of science in a positive way that benefits Afghanistan and the world at large.
Parwiz Abrahimi(Age 23, Afghanistan & USA
Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University Graduate School
Science and technology seem a world away in the vastly populated Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul. Driving along its single congested road, one can see laborers lingering for a day's opportunity to work, donkeys bearing loads of sun-baked bricks, and antiquated buses adorned with colorful streamers and poetic Persian decals. Where the paved street ends, cars are forced to a halt by giant mounds of gravel placed in the middle of the dirt road for nearby construction workers. Hidden behind the mounds of gravel, a hundred meters down a muddy alley lined with dilapidated adobe houses, is a gem lost in the bustle of post-Taleban Kabul: Marefat High School. On the days that I am not instructing the biology and chemistry laboratories at the American University of Afghanistan, I volunteer as a science teacher at this community-led high school. It is here I decided that scientific research combined with social awareness and responsibility could make the conditions we live in better and more sustainable.
Once, after a class in which I introduced blood groups and blood typing, a female student asked, “If my blood group is Rh negative and my fiancé is Rh positive, what steps can I take to avoid problems during child birth?” She was referring to rhesus-sensitization, in which a mother can develop an immune reaction when bearing a child whose rhesus blood group differs from her own. In a Western high school setting answering this question would have been easy, but in this case I did not know how best to respond. In a resource-poor country like Afghanistan there is little health care infrastructure to address problems such as this. I was reminded of the great needs and meager means Afghans have for health care, and thought long about what future applications of science and technology might do to enhance medicine and health education for Afghanistan and other developing nations. In my vision for the future of science there is greater fusion between scientific research and global health imperatives, creating a more prosperous world through improved health care delivery in the world's most vulnerable regions.
The marriage between science, which seeks to address a fundamental biological question, and global health advocacy, which seeks to reduce worldwide health disparities, is a vital component of my vision for the future. Scientific research must place more emphasis on diagnostic and therapeutic clinical interventions that can be transitioned for use in areas that currently lack human and financial capacity. This requires clinicians with an intimate understanding of basic science, and scientists who have a clinical end goal through which they can promote world health equity by developing culturally sensitive and cost-effective medical solutions that address local public health needs. I envision carving a role for myself at the center of the interaction between clinicians, engineers, and scientists. I am pursuing joint M.D./Ph.D. doctorates which will equip me with the clinical education and research experience to be a successful physician-scientist. I hope to partake in translational pharmacological and molecular medicine research in which I can combine my academic interests in medicine and science with my background in the developing world. I aim to study diseases and new drugs that can help alleviate the clinical burden on resource poor nations at the molecular level.
Through teaching, I have also come to see research and education as complementary. Science instruction in Afghanistan has traditionally been dominated by the look-and-listen pedagogical approach, and does not engage students' interests or encourage them to think critically. Like other schools, Marefat faces many technological limitations. When our electricity runs out, as it does often, we use a mirror and sunlight to illuminate objectives on our compound light microscope. Simple items such as salt, soap, water and rubbing alcohol become reagents to extract cheek-cell DNA. It is not much, but the students gain experience, build confidence in themselves, and are introduced to the scientific method. Accompanying this future direction of science, I see a vanguard of scientists who understand that science has a role outside of research centers, and will champion teaching, public outreach, and advocacy in addition to advancing scientific research. With the right support from scientists who are willing to serve as mentors and advocates, students like those at Marefat have the potential to become future leaders who can help further drive the direction of science in a positive way that benefits Afghanistan and the world at large.
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Ensayo ganador del 2009 International Essay Contest for Young People
Ensayo ganador del 2009 International Essay Contest for Young People
