Glenda Gray: An Influential Person In My Life?

Influence can be defined as, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.” Thus, someone who is deemed influential has the power to gain a following and consequentially impact the future of those people and possibly the future of those exclusive to their following.

An influential person in my life is my mother, Olivia Kalu. My mother is the breadwinner of and she does the motherly duties in our household. She works at Kilroe and Associates and controls all the admin-related duties.

My mother has a large impact in my life presently as she has been providing my brother and I with guidance, emotional strength and comfort in times

She has taught me to stand firm in my beliefs, she is constantly helping whoever she can and she has the ability to express her emotions. [300]

A person in South Africa who is influential is Professor Glenda Gray. Glenda Elisabeth Gray is a South African physician and scientist specializing in the care of children as well as in HIV medicine. Glenda Gray was awarded South Africa's highest honour and conducts research in developing microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV vaccines.

Presently, Glenda Gray has been active in furthering the search for a vaccine to prevent HIV/Aids to avoid babies dying from the virus. Due to her significant role in her mother-to-child transmission research, the number of new babies born with HIV has dropped from 600,000 a year to 150,000. I believe that Professor Glenda Gray has the potential to impact the future of medicine greatly. The HIV/Aids vaccine project is one, that if proves successful, will rescue South Africa as we have the highest infection rate, as well as the world from the burden of innocent lives being lost to this merciless disease. This project could also give rise to the cures for other various diseases as well as open up a whole new avenue in medical