I believe that committing to diversity in healthcare is essential for succeeding in carrying out the primary purpose of healthcare: to better society as a whole. My background and experiences lead me to believe that diversity is enriching and desirable in all life aspects, especially so in the healthcare professions.

            For the first eighteen years of my life I lived in southern Germany and was fully submerged in the culture, the traditions and the convoluted historical perspectives in this area of Europe; my perspectives on life certainly were shaped by this background. My surroundings and cultural context drastically changed when I decided to attend college in the United States.  Immediately after I moved, I began interacting with cultures that were completely foreign to me. These interactions were not only interesting and wonderful, but they also made me re-evaluate a great number of the values, attitudes, and beliefs I had previously formed in a fairly culturally homogenous society. Through exposure to cultural diversity in the melting pot of the U.S., I was able to see the benefits that result when people from different backgrounds come together and exchange ideas shaped by different values.

While I have made numerous observations on cultural diversity, the ones I have experienced in the healthcare environment are the most impressive. Before entering graduate school, I worked as a laboratory technician. During this time I directly witnessed on a daily basis how cultural diversity in the workplace leads to more tolerant and educated people and, importantly, to improved scientific results. While working as a lab technician, I witnessed people from multiple continents and ethnicities interact, collaborate, and problem-solve constantly. While these processes are normal in any work environment, whether it is culturally diverse or not, I observed how cultural diversity improves scientific advances. People trained in completely different education systems were able to contribute to projects and were invaluable to the team in collaborations due to their unique backgrounds. Scientists from different cultures, more so than people from an identical culture and upbringing, are able to question the methods and ways of performing that are standard protocol in laboratories and challenge their colleagues to think about novel ideas they may have never addressed. A culturally diverse environment provides a more accepting and positive atmosphere and thus fosters collaborations and interactions with people from other continents, countries, ethnicities, cultures, and laboratories – ultimately brining together more people and more brainpower. I could witness daily how people from China, the Ukraine, Poland, India, Ghana, Great Britain, Germany, and Americans of different descents were able to collaborate and produce scientific work that would be hard to match by work that is being done by a culturally homogeneous group.

            I greatly appreciate the culturally diverse platform that the U.S. provides. Having experienced the benefits of cultural diversity first hand I undoubtedly will, if given the opportunity, create a work environment that is as culturally diverse as possible to create a better work environment, more tolerant individuals, and the best possible results.