Jerry's Story

When did you attend the BioQuest Academy?

2010 BioQuest Academy Session 3

What was your favorite lab that you participated in while you attended the Academy?

I enjoyed all of the labs equally but just in regards to ‘gore’, I’ll say that the mosquito dissecting lab was my favorite

How has the BioQuest Academy helped you?

One of the ways is that it has allowed me to develop a broader outlook. I look even further beyond helping the community and look for ways I can get involved or make a contribution to the global scene.

What are you doing now?

I’m a senior at Inglemoor High School, doing what I can to get into college.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

I enjoy playing tennis; I’m co-captain of my school’s varsity tennis team. I also play piano, viola, and guitar for my personal enjoyment and as a way to connect with other musicians. Looking up at the sky and stars is also something I devote my time to.

Now that you are a graduate of the BioQuest Academy, what advice would you give to an incoming student?

Try to get to know everyone. I’ve found to like all my classmates. Considering that all the students had to fill out an application to get into BQ, it’s likely that you all share a passion for science and other interests. This will make your time at BQ much more enjoyable and productive. Two weeks is a short time, and you may never see some people in person, which brings up the suggestion that you should keep in touch via Facebook.

What is your global health story? What experiences have you had with global health?

Every summer since the 8th grade, I’ve returned to my father’s childhood home located in a rural village within Baofeng of Henan, China. The purpose of this trip, besides visiting relatives, is to perform blood sugar and blood pressure screenings on the villagers there to test for diabetes and hypertension. Our trips have become progressively more serious as we’ve been bringing along other doctors and I’ve taken on a larger role and more strenuous tasks. At the village, the plan usually is, my father and his companions travel to local poorly-supported hospitals to give a diabetes talk regarding awareness, prevention, and treatment to an audience of doctors and whoever else may come (it’s a public event). My team, stationed in my grandmother’s compound, performs glucose and blood pressure tests on the villagers and others from surrounding villages. Many people have never had a check up before, and this screening will provide them the knowledge of whether or not they have diabetes or hypertension. One day was usually upwards of 6 hours and the number of villagers that came was above 100 each day.

Even though we were there to address mainly diabetes and blood pressure, some patients confronted us with other health problems that we’ve had to address. For example, one patient, completely paralyzed from a stroke, was brought in on a wagon, one mother’s child’s baby teeth were rotting, a person who smoked 60 packs a day was beginning to feel fatigued all the time, and one person had to keep her hand in a fist as it was too painful to open it. These are only some of our encounters, but they did prove to be interesting breaks in our routine of glucose and blood pressure screening. We keep a record of our patients each year and we try to keep track of the health progress of patients with an alarming A1C level or blood pressure. For patients with dangerous or potential dangerous levels of either, we give them medications that we bring along. In the end, we hope that we’ve made a positive impact on those we’ve treated but it also requires a lot of trust and faith in those patients as becoming healthier is a change they must make.

You have definitely done a lot to help underserved populations. How can other students get involved? What do you suggest? Could they contact you? How can students follow your footsteps?

I was lucky enough to have a dad who is a doctor and wants to give back to his native community, making it easier for me to get involved. For those unlike me, there are a lot of resources at your school. You can ask a counselor about what opportunities are available such as clubs or overseas volunteer programs. There are also various organizations that are dedicated to helping a specific cause. If there is not a club at your school supporting something you see needed, you can create your own. Within it, you can collect money or other items and send it to the organization.