I am a young woman and a dentist from India, 26 years old; I now live in the USA. I hope to be accepted to earn the DDS Degree at XXXX, in particular, because of my deep admiration for the research going on in your program dedicated to oral cancer and reducing the size of tumors. Since my own lifetime professional interest lies primarily in the battle against oral cancer, I feel strongly that I am a good fit for your program and that I will be able to learn many valuable things that will serve me well for many decades to come, practicing dentistry at the same time that I give my all to the battle against oral cancer. I see the XXXX as the optimal professional springboard, providing me with the best possible foundation for building my own research base for a lifetime of service in the effort to reduce the incidence of oral cancer in rural parts of India as well as the rest of the world.
My passion for service in dentistry is very much a product of my personal background. I was born into a middle-class family with many of my relatives in the teaching profession, raised by a single mother who is also a teacher with a great strength, a great sense of mission and purpose in her work, and her service to our community. She raised me from infancy to pick up her torch of social service. Thus, as a result of, my mother instilled in me the highest sense of vocation, mainly as defined by one’s service to the neediest among us, my guiding principle in life has always been to utilize the resources that I acquire to help other people, even in small ways, thereby achieving moral harmony and balance.
My extremely high level of motivation for making my mark in dentistry has been even further inspired by the fact that oral cancer rates in India lead the world, and the problem is especially notable in rural areas. I myself obtained my dental degree precisely from the rural area (Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh) of India that has the highest oral cancer rates in India. I became acutely aware of this great challenge very early on when one of my mother’s closest colleagues died at only 28 years old from the consumption of smokeless tobacco.
I am currently finishing up my studies towards the Master in Public Health Degree in Statesboro, GA, to acquire the tools that I need to wage war against tobacco use so that I can make my maximum contribution to oral health care. As much as my studies allow, I have also been shadowing Dr. XXXX, a pediatric dentist in Statesboro, GA, who has become my mentor over the last 12 months, a great inspiration to me in helping me to understand dentistry practice management in the US better and to help me better formulate my own career goals in the area of dental oncology & our war on tobacco consumption, oral cancer prevention in particular.
I have attended multiple seminars and conferences related to best practices in dentistry and current trends during my internships as a dental student in India, as well as assisting professors with research for publication in the areas of mucoepidermoid carcinoma, peripheral ameloblastoma, and oral lichen planus. I have also completed online courses in the areas of Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) and Principles of Public Health (both conducted by the University of California).
The crowning touch on my career path will be completing the DDS Program at the Center for Oral Health Care and Research in XXXX, providing me with the optimal foundation for my professional aspirations to practice dentistry and aim as high as possible as a researcher in the areas that I am most passionate about: Oral submucous fibrosis and oral cancer prevention.
I thank you for considering my application to your distinguished program at XXXX.
