A day in their scrubs: Huzefa Hashim
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Hometown: I wasn’t born in Dallas, but I was raised in Dallas my entire life. I live out in McKinney now.
Where did you get your undergraduate degree?: I went to UT Dallas. I just wanted to be close to my family. I got a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. I really felt like it helped me get a head start on some things I have to learn in dentistry.
Why did you choose to pursue dentistry? I knew it was something I wanted to do. It’s a typical interview answer, but I always wanted to help people. I wanted to go into something medical or science related. Then one day we were down in Houston at one of our places of worship. I’m Shia Muslim, and this was at the Dawoodi Bohra community. I met a gentleman who really inspired me. He was always coming down to the community center. He was in charge of the food pantry, and he was always the first person to go around asking for support for events to help others.
I knew that’s who I wanted to be for my community, and it just so happened to be that man was a dentist. So, that was the path I chose.
Tell me about being a new father: I got married back in December 2021 to my beautiful wife, Sakina. Shortly after I got into dental school, we took a trip out to Bali and discovered we were expecting! Obviously, it’s the greatest blessing in the world. His name’s Mohammed, and he’s nine months old now.
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What is it like becoming a parent during your first year of dental school? The baby came around the most intense time of the semester my first year, but it’s fun. Having a kid at home, something to look forward to, it motivates you even more than just your wife or your parents.
One thing I really appreciated was the support from my classmates and my faculty members. Without them, I couldn’t have made it through. They’ve been really supportive and told me, “Hey, life happens, and some things are bigger than immunology.” That kind of encouragement and positive reinforcement is the best thing.
Have there been challenges balancing school and fatherhood? I think I was talking to Dr. [Alicia] Spence about this early on after my son was born. The lack of sleep that a new parent gets, added to the lack of sleep a dental student gets … combine those two things, and you’re barely getting two or three hours a night. I remember I was here at school, studying for one of my major exams in Lab 30, and all of a sudden, I just felt so lonely … I felt so alone. It’s odd how alone you can feel with a wife and a new baby, and other students who are going through the same thing alongside you. This was at, like, 9 or 10 at night, and I remember feeling so alone that I closed my laptop and went to the library to find other students who were studying. Being around my classmates helped, and talking to them and telling them I was struggling, getting encouragement from them helped, too.
Just knowing I have that kind of class to support me through anything, you can’t ask for much more than that.
What are your plans for the future? I’m very interested in oral surgery. I love the diversity of that specialization, but I want to keep my options open. I also really love general dentistry. A lot of D1s come in thinking they know what they want to do, but then classes punch them in the mouth a few times.
Do you have any advice for incoming students or new parents?
If you asked me what’s the “main point” I want to come across with this interview, I’d say it’s that having family, having a baby, shouldn’t be a discouragement from pursuing your goals. It can only add to it. Starting a family is a blessing. Getting into dental school may seem impossible, and having a kid while in dental school may seem impossible, but we’re getting it done.
For new students, I would say if you know you’re going to have a baby during your first year, or any time during school, make sure you know the school you’re going to go to. Talk to students, see what the student body environment is like. Will they support you or not? I know some schools have a much more competitive environment rather than collaborative. One of the big things for me coming to this school was the student body. It really resembled a family atmosphere. Our classmates, our faculty – they’ll take care of you.
Is there anything you’d like to say to Mohammed when he sees this article someday? I would like to say he’s given me a whole new outlook on my academic studies and why I do what I do. When I come here and I’m studying here at 10 p.m., I think of him smiling at me, and it warms my heart and calms me down. It’s a different feeling, you know? It’s like, OK, I need to get through these 120 slides not because I need to get ready for this exam, but because I want to go home and spend time with him.
Parents always say they love their kid more than anything in the world, but you don’t really understand that until you have your own kid. He’s a bigger bundle of joy than I ever thought I could have.