The world and its inhabitants will face a multitude of problems in the 21st Century, including drug addiction, deadly disease, violent crime, warfare and hostility, hunger, and homelessness to name a few. All of these critical issues have been present to some extent in the 20th Century and, left unsolved, will continue to plague society and mankind as we enter the new millennium. As we rapidly approach the next era, new issues of equal or even greater importance for mankind will almost certainly arise. I personally envision health issues, concerns related directly to medicine, as the central, most critical and comprehensive problem facing leaders of the 21st Century.
In my opinion, physicians and others associated with the medical profession will participate in one of the most vital and urgent roles entering into the new era. This is one of the reasons that I intend to pursue a career in the medical field after I graduate from The University of Tennessee. Of all occupations in the next millennium, medicine will be perhaps the most important and influential in combating the problems of mankind and in solving them.
People in the field of medicine will continue, as they have in this century, to address and participate in almost all concerns.
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