My name is Tarun Sudhakar.

I am a high school senior at Coppell High School, interested in medicine, research, technology, and especially pulmonary health.

My interest in lung medicine became personal because of my grandmother. She was first believed to have a fungal condition in her lungs. Years later, our family learned that she had been living with cancer. Her condition became so serious that part of her lung had to be removed.

That experience made me think about one question:

What if we could find serious lung disease much earlier?

Since then, I have tried to understand medicine from different sides.

I have spent 270+ hours shadowing pulmonology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, observing inpatient care, transplant evaluations, and pulmonary medicine. I have also gained experience in internal medicine, primary care, optometry, hospital nutrition services, and elder care.

Research has given me another way to explore medicine. I have studied molecular biology, exercise and cancer care, and the effects of blue light on the skin.

Each experience has strengthened my interest in combining medicine, science, prevention, and technology to improve patient care.