My name is John
Kim and I am a student working toward a bachelor of science in biology. Name of
the project I’m working on is the global distribution of hepatitis B virus
infection, its viral genotypes, and vaccine coverage: updated HBsAg seroprevalence
estimates and analysis of determinants. When I was in elementary school, I had
a friend whose family member died of a liver cancer at a fairly young age. I
wanted to know about causes, symptoms, and treatment available for liver
cancer. When a student needed help translating and analyzing Hepatitis B virus
related article published in Korean, I found this as a perfect opportunity to
volunteer. My curiosity of the causes of liver cancer drove me to pursue the
translational research internship at the Inova Beatty Liver and Obesity
laboratory.
My ultimate
professional goal is a career in dentistry. This project fits perfectly into my
broader educational goals because it is helping me to better understand the
impact of infectious microorganisms on human and oral health. In studying HBV
transmission mechanisms, I’m intrigued by “patient-to-patient transmission”
during oral surgeries, which emphasizes to me the importance of decontamination
procedures. This project will be one piece of a growing base of my knowledge I
will carry over to my endeavors in dental school, dental research, and my best
clinical practices.
On a weekly
basis, I work on finding statistics related to hepatitis B virus(HBV) on
databases. For the past few weeks, I have been trying to find the HBV prevalence from different countries. As I was looking
for the prevalence rate, I realized HBV prevalence is still pretty high
especially in developing countries. Despite the presence of advanced hepatitis
B vaccine, significant amount of population are still suffering from diseases
and cancer caused by HBV.
