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Student and Faculty Profiles

Meet Arshad...

Class: 2007
Hometown: Richmond Hill, Ontario
Undergrad: University of Toronto
Major: Human Biology
Graduate Studies: Dalhousie University, Health Services Administration
Program: M.D.

What is the measure of a good doctor? In this era of patient centered care and evidence based medicine, my definition has grown to encompass all that I have experienced. From my perspective, a good doctor is one who enjoys stepping into the lives of other people-even if just briefly, and trying to figure out what drove them to seek help, what it is that worries them, scares them, or disables them, and then uses what s/he has learned as a clinician to alleviate those feelings. At the very least, when nothing more can be done, a good physician is one who is able to acknowledge the needs and concerns of the patient. I have had a multitude of experiences in the many facets of medicine that have helped to shape my impression of “the physician” as well as my personal long term career goals.

Volunteering in an eating assistance program brought me in direct contact with patients, and allowed me the opportunity to affect the quality of life of those I worked with on a daily basis. Working as a member of a clinical research team focused on helping premature infants breathe easier not only helped to feed my scientific curiosity, but helped to demonstrate the bedside application of medical research and need for continued outcome measurement and evidence-based practice.

No one experience, however, has impacted me as significantly as my study of health services administration, and my subsequent employment in a large long-term care centre in Toronto. I feel as though pursuing my Master of Health Services Administration degree truly opened my mind to the holism of medicine. In analyzing the function of the health care system and the services provided there within, I learned much about the integral role of the physician as a member of the greater health care team. I was also able to see how the physician affected the health of the community through the continuum of care, that is, from health promotion/disease management to tertiary care level surgery. It was during my time at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care while working with a group of physicians in a strategic planning exercise that I truly realized the intimacy of the physician patient relationship, and the role of the physician in advocating for the patient. These physicians intricately understood the unique medical and psychosocial needs of the patient, and worked diligently to ensure that these were met. I felt that as purely an administrator, I lacked this special understanding, and was missing out on the very special relationship that was energizing the physicians. It was at this stage that I began looking at various medical school programs and came across the UConn School of Medicine.

UConn has a program that fit with the patient-centered philosophy of medicine that I have developed. The School of Medicine prides itself on early clinical exposure and decision making, dynamic basic science teaching using a multitude of techniques, and a well balanced supportive environment within which students are encouraged to explore. The aforementioned has created a unique learning environment for me where I have learned and experienced so many new things. In addition to being able to still play basketball and golf with friends, I have been able to teach health education to students in the Hartford Public School System, provide health care services to patients in shelters, participate in cultural shows, advocate for health care as the president of American Medical Student Association, sit on advisory committees, and try my hand at comedic film making. I feel that all of this commensurately has made my time at UConn very enjoyable, memorable, and well above par with respect to medical education. My classmates are very eclectic, and as such, I find myself learning from them and their varied backgrounds every day. I am very thankful I decided to attend medical school, and feel very fortunate to be a part of the UConn School of Medicine. At this stage, I could really not see myself at any other institution. Regardless of my Canadian citizenship, I have been warmly welcomed, and the UConn School of Medicine has become my home.