appropriate to tell professor in email that I'm interested in researching a disorder because my dad has it?

[tissue engineer 2012]

I emailed a professor to show interest in working her lab, and she emailed me back telling me about where her research is going in the next few years and to ask what I am interested in. She mentioned a family of disorders, and I was wondering if it would be appropriate to tell her that I am very motivated to work in that field because my dad has one of those disorders. Would that be oversharing, or would it be...I don't know...humanizing? Make me more of a real person? Or would it be bad to show that I have some sort of personal motivation to finding "the cure" because it is so closely linked to me emotionally? Thanks for any responses, I just keep bouncing back and forth on this...

edit: or maybe I could just keep it vague and alude to it? Like..."I would be very interested in working with you on disease X because I have some family history with a disease in that group." Would that work?

Edited November 20, 2011 by tissue engineer 2012

[elem3nt]

No, this is second only to "I got a chemistry set when I was 5 and wanted to be a scientist ever since." Just say "I am very interested in working on the [biochemistry/molecular biology] of [x disease] and your research is exactly what I want to do."

[ktel]

On another thread, which I can't find right now, someone mentioned this. Apparently this sort of reasoning can sometimes cause the department to regard the student as a flight risk. If the only motivation to research something is to find the cure for a family member, the individual might quickly lose motivation when they see that is indeed not possible or if their research changes direction.

[gradschoolguru]

I agree with those who commented above. Keep your personal motivations out of discussions with a potential advisor. He/She will be more interested in your scientific ideas and your previous research in the area. These are the qualifications (not family circumstances) that will get you in.