“By being given this chance to study at Imperial, hopefully I can achieve my dream of preventing death caused by cardiovascular disease”.
I am an Indonesian medical doctor interested in cardiovascular disease prevention. I worked as a GP for three years in Indonesia and was a volunteer doctor in a floating hospital in a remote area of Indonesia (South Borneo). Before starting my Cardiovascular and Respiratory Healthcare MSc at Imperial, I worked on the front line during COVID-19 dealing with this challenging disease, particularly in the second wave. As a doctor, I dealt with hospital overcapacity every day and it was overwhelming to announce people’s deaths on each shift.
It’s so important to prevent a catastrophic event as early as possible. The COVID-19 era has highlighted that people with no chronic diseases or comorbidity, especially cardiovascular disease, survive stronger compared to those who have these diseases. This is the main reason why I chose to study at Imperial, because the course offers complete management of cardiovascular disease from prevention until rehabilitation, complete with innovation and technology involvement as well as its implementation on an individual and population level.
It is also not only about the theory, but also real-life clinical experience. I was very excited to have a clinical placement in Hammersmith Hospital during the reflective and evaluation of clinical practise module. I directly observed a cardiovascular risk clinic, a heart failure clinic, and a catheterisation lab, where I was really inspired by how the clinicians worked to tackle cardiovascular disease. I gained in-depth knowledge on how a patient-centred approach is also well integrated with the ongoing clinical research. I am so lucky and surprised because everything I wrote in my personal statement while applying to Imperial is coming true. I am so inspired, and hopefully I can implement this knowledge once I go back to my country.
By being given this chance to study at Imperial, hopefully I can achieve my dream of preventing the death caused by cardiovascular diseases with the best effort possible long before it becomes catastrophic. Because, is there any better happiness compared to having a healthy, tranquil, good quality of life while accompanied by your loved ones?