I am an African man who has chosen to devote his professional life to the study of Epidemiology. I have always been deeply concerned by the terrible loss of life that occurs in my native Africa as a result of the spread of contagious disease. I am particularly distressed by the way in which easily treatable and curable diseases kill so many hundreds of thousands of children each year. Thus, I am especially pleased to have had the opportunity to come to America and study so that I might be able to return to Africa some day and contribute to the struggle to construct functioning health care systems that are able to respond to the critical needs of our peoples.

 I currently live in Palatine, IL, on the north-west side of Chicago. I was born in Benin City, Nigeria, but I also hold German nationality. I was raised in Nigeria but I left my country in 1990 and moved to Germany because I got a job with an integrated mineral and agricultural product export and import company- XXXX Limited. I hold an Ordinary National Diploma in General Agriculture and a Higher National Diploma in Animal Production which is equivalent to a Bachelor of Science in Animal Production from the Federal College of Agriculture. I also hold an LPN- License Practical Nurse Certificate from XXXX College in Chicago, IL

 Since I work as a nurse supporting myself and my family and I enjoy my work very much, I want to study towards my Master in Public Health in an online program and to develop my professional credentials in the area of epidemiology, in particular. I am applying to your program at the University of XXXX because I am convinced that it offers the structure that is most conducive to my unique circumstances and interests. I hope to attain Masters in Public health and then to continue to study towards a doctoral degree.

 In addition to working in my native Nigeria, 10 years from now I would also like to develop an agency that is devoted to the health care needs of African immigrants here in the Chicago area with our own nursing home and assisted living facility.  At present, I am the founder and president of XXXX Healthcare Services, Inc., a home health agency based in Schaumburg, IL.

 Apart from Edo, which is my native language, I can read, write and understand both English and German very well. I am also experienced as a health care worker in the German language since I did voluntary work at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Giessen Germany for 4 years, serving as a nursing assistant in the Emergency Department. The strongest aspect of my application to your program is probably the fact that I have seen first-hand and spent many years studying how difficult it is to solve medical/ epidemic problems in developing countries. I have had the opportunity to travel around the world with my work, and to study in depth the vast differences between the problems and challenges that exist and the way that we are able to respond to them between developed counties, on the one hand, and the Developing World on the other. I am looking forward to fully immersing myself in the study of ways to better begin bridging ways to bridge this gap through greater awareness and research.