The Benefits of a Foot Infection by Chase

The Benefits of a Foot Infection by Chase - February 2025 Scholarship Essay

Sophomore year, I acquired a serious infection in my right foot, and it was wonderful. The opportunity to observe the bacteria—and more importantly, understand it—gave me a sense of satisfaction I hadn’t felt in any other subject. Slowly, I broadened my biological scope into clinical volunteering, hoping to observe the principles of life which intrigued me. This experience fostered a love of patient interaction, and a deep care for older individuals specifically.

However, while volunteering at the clinic, a prevalent issue came to light. The amount of patients greatly outnumbered the amount of available physicians. Long wait times and a lack of serviceable rooms became commonplace, and many people in need were left destitute and without care. This problem isn’t localized to my clinic either. As our population ages, more physicians will retire, and more people will need medical services. Geriatric care is becoming increasingly rejected, as less health professionals seek geriatric specialization and turnover rates continue to grow within the medical field.

Despite this, the shortage has a solution. More attention needs to be brought to the shrinking number of healthcare professionals, and more students need to be educated in the fundamentals of health and living things. Studying biology fills that role efficiently, and equips me to serve a demographic I care deeply about. Such a subject of academia allows me to expand my biological scope further, enabling me to explore subjects of interest including microbiology and infectious diseases. The subject grants me applicable research knowledge, enabling me to explore age-related conditions. Whatever career I might follow, however, I know the fundamentals gained by studying biology provide a solid foundation to the curative and palliative care I hope to provide—from general medicine, to a foot infection.