SP19 Non-IA reflection

The Institute for Chinese Studies (ICS) has been and will continue to conduct a series of lectures throughout the Spring 2019 term. Recently, on January 25, 2019, the ICS held a lecture, which was present by Qinghua Sun, “Air pollution on human health: A global challenge and the advancement of China.” Attending this lecture would fulfill a Non-IA requirement and, from listening to Sun talk, I realized that there is a lot I don’t know about the ailments that people are facing. Many people, I included, take simple things like decent air quality for granted. Sun’s lecture gave a brief look into the lives of people whom of which one of their worst enemies is the air itself.

The lecture discussed how particulate matter (PM 2.5) has become a significant and rising risk to several major diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In areas where air pollution has high levels, there can be major detriments to human health. In fact, Sun talked about hair PM 2.5 air pollution exposer can even affect and contribute to type II diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, hepatic diseases, etc. Being Microbiology Major on a pre-med track, I found all of the information to be extremely interesting. And Qinghua Sun, who is a professor and assistant dean for Global Public Health in the College of Medicine, seems to have done great work in analyzing and stabilizing air quality and control.

Personally, I gained a lot from going to the lecture. At the beginning of the year, my major was biomedical engineering on a pre-med track. I had chosen this field because I was still unsure of what I wanted to do: engineering or medicine. Just recently, I decided to switch my major to microbiology as I became more interested in medicine. Going to the lecture really reinforced my interest in medicine and in health. Also, not only did the lecture help to reinforce my passion in medicine, it also played to my interests in international affairs. The topic involved a discussion on different counties and how air pollution in one area can affect many areas around it. It discussed relations between countries and talked about the lives of people in different areas. Air pollution and particulate matter is a global problem. Yes, there are areas that are more so affected than others, but all should take an interest in global issues.

Although the event did not necessarily relate to much else I have learned in other coursework, I hope that, as I get further along within my major and start taking more medical focused classes, I can learn more about similar issues that can affect human health. Nonetheless, the event was very intriguing. Before hearing about the event in the IA weekly newsletter I did not know lectures such as this were held on campus and free for students. Looking at the list of other lectures within the ICS Spring lecture series, I would love to attend more. In fact, later this month, the Institute for Korean Studies (IKS) is holding a lecture, present by Han Chae, called, “A General introduction to Traditional Korean Medicine,” which seems interesting. All in all, the event was very interesting and I would attend more.

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