Expert: David Scott - 3/25/2010

Question
I am a student in highschool, and I am curious to know from an expert, which field of medicine would lead to the best cure: genetics, biochemistry, pharmaceutics, etc. Please give me a sincere answer, because I, as an asthmatic, am sincerely devoted to finding that cure.

Answer
If you read your question again, you'll see you didn't specify what you want to cure.  But, you said you are an asthmatic, so i assume it is asthma.  So, I'll address that.
Unfortunately, the exact cause of asthma isn't known. Researchers think a combination of factors (family genes and certain environmental exposures) interact to cause asthma to develop, most often early in life. These factors include, but are not limited to:

An inherited tendency to develop allergies, called atopy (AT-o-pe)
Parents who have asthma
Certain respiratory infections during childhood
Contact with some airborne allergens or exposure to some viral infections in infancy or in early childhood when the immune system is developing
If asthma or atopy runs in your family, exposure to airborne allergens (for example, house dust mites, cockroaches, and possibly cat or dog dander) and irritants (for example, tobacco smoke) may make your airways more reactive to substances in the air you breathe.

Different factors may be more likely to cause asthma in some people than in others. Researchers continue to explore what causes asthma.

One theory researchers have for what causes asthma is the "hygiene hypothesis." They believe that our Western lifestyle—with its emphasis on hygiene and sanitation—has resulted in changes in our living conditions and an overall decline in infections in early childhood.

Many young children no longer experience the same types of environmental exposures and infections as children did in the past. This affects the way that the immune systems in today's young children develop during very early childhood, and it may increase their risk for atopy and asthma. This is especially true for children who have close family members with one or both of these conditions.

So, understanding more about asthma, leads me to suggest that if you want to be a part of the cure for asthma, you will not go into biochemistry nor pharmaceuticals (both more likely to diagnose or treat the condition) and instead go into genetics, to help continue the research on asthma.

Note: you don't have to make your decision now, the crossroad of choosing a specific area in the field of medicine will not be asked of you for years and years!