My Grant Writing “Why” | Firas Bafageeh
During my high school years, I wanted to be a doctor and decided to be a dentist after being inspired by my dentist and how he helped me, and other patients make us smile. So, I decided to be a dentist and help as many people as possible. During my undergrad courses, I love the idea of research and how that can lead to discoveries and change the scientific literature. Additionally, the positive impact on people, community, and policies. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Dental Medicine and Surgery (BDS) from King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. After graduation and during my internship, I got involved with different community works and research projects with my clinical training; some were required, and others I volunteered. I did that because I wanted to learn more about research, and at the same time, I started to like biostatistics and wanted to pursue that. Biostatistics is one of the main parts of research, and not many doctors and professors in my university have expert knowledge of the area. I know it is a challenging path, but I like to push myself. After my internship, I worked in a private university for around a year, then worked back at my university as a teaching assistant in the dental public health department, which focused on teaching research topics to the student like epidemiology, biostatistics, ethics, community, and practice management. In addition to that involved with the different departments in the field of research related to oral health and clinics and involves in organizing various events throughout the year on topics related to dental public health. Working with the department, I learned more about research, especially biostatistics, and decided this is what I want to do to help as much as I can. Also, I want to impact the next generation of learners through teaching and research.
After two years of work, I started my Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in epidemiology/biostatistics at Saint Louis University. During my master’s, I learned a lot and saw how little I knew about some topics and research areas. Also, I got to use different software for data management and analysis, which will be helpful for my future. At the same time, I got a new interest in topics related to physical activity and its relation to overall and mental health. Since during my master’s, I started doing CrossFit, which made me a better version of myself physically and mentally. Additionally, it is where I felt I belonged, met my brothers (Brian & Tyler), and started to have a second family and also be part of a great community. After getting my MPH degree, I felt like I was still missing some areas and weak in others to pursue and be able to be an independent researcher, which is why I applied for my Ph.D. program.
I started my Ph.D. program a year after my master’s program and was working back at home at my university then. It is a chance for me to be better at research and work on my research topics of interest. I saw the courses I will take, most of which I felt were missing and needed to reach my goals. One of these requirements is grant writing. I already have a love-hate relationship with it, and I will probably struggle with the class. However, it is something I know I need to learn from it as much as I can to get an idea of how and what it looks like to write one and be able to tell my story; even though I don’t still see myself writing a grant but who knows, everything can change, including me. If that happens, I know I can write or help with one if needed because I am doing one right now and learning to tell my story. I want to master and be proficient in every aspect of research as much as possible, which is one of the requirements I need to push myself and benefit from the experience as much as possible. Most importantly try to enjoy the process in everything we do.
