鈥淚 was so happy when I received the bursary last year because I could relax and focus on my studies more,鈥� says Experimental Surgery MSc student Dr. Shafic Abdulkarim.
Abdulkarim, who fled Syria with his family in late 2017 after finishing medical school, hadn鈥檛 been able to relax in a long time. To help support his family and pay for tuition and thousands of dollars in equivalency exams, he had been working nights and weekends as a doorman while studying full-time. 鈥淚 was doing courses or clinical rotations all day鈥攊t was hectic,鈥� he says. The bursary allowed him to quit his job and channel all of his considerable energy into finishing his master鈥檚 and getting into a general surgery residency program.
Inspired to help
The Hakim Family Bursary was created by Raymond Hakim, MDCM鈥�76, as a way of offering a helping hand to refugee and immigrant students at the recently renamed Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. 鈥淚 had read about how Canada was accepting Syrian refugees and that many of them had been in health care professions鈥攑hysicians, nurses, etc.鈥攊n Syria, but could not practise their profession here in Canada,鈥� recalls Hakim, a nephrologist and professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
鈥淭hey were trying to get recertified to practise. I knew that when they arrive, refugees are completely without any support, financial or otherwise, and going through a difficult time after escaping their country. So I wanted to support them to become productive Canadian citizens.鈥�
Hakim has long been a generous supporter of the Faculty, particularly through his sponsorship of the Hakim Family Innovation Prize awarded at the annual 黑料不打烊 Clinical Innovation Competition (CLIC). He also established the Catherine McLaughlin Hakim Chair in Medicine in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Nephrology Division in honour of his late wife. For Hakim, this bursary, like the endowed chair, is very personal:
鈥淢y grandparents were refugees who fled Turkey during the Armenian Massacre, so there is some resonance for me in the idea that our family should be doing more to help refugees."
Abdulkarim is exactly the kind of student Dr. Hakim had in mind when he created the bursary.
The young man had just written his final exams for his medical degree at the University of Aleppo when his family arrived in Montreal from the war-torn city, nearly two years after applying to come to Canada as refugees. 鈥淲e were looking for a new start in a safe environment,鈥� says Abdulkarim, whose medical degree was issued in February 2018 when he was already in Montreal.
Abdulkarim鈥檚 father and elder brother are dentists, while he and his younger brother chose medicine.听On the subject of attending medical school in Aleppo in the middle of a civil war, Abdulkarim is unequivocal:
鈥淭hat was hell. It was very frightening and chaotic and stressful and anxiety-provoking.鈥�
As part of the core curriculum, he did clinical rotations in the emergency department of a state hospital, which received many casualties from the constant shelling in the city. He also volunteered with the Red Cross and helped evacuate casualties of bombings.
Simply surviving in Aleppo, most of which has been destroyed by the conflict, was a major challenge. 鈥淢y building was bombed about six times. There was shelling and casualties everywhere, including in the civilian areas.鈥� The city had no internet for the last two years he was there. Water was also in short supply all over the city and had to be purchased. 鈥淲hen I came here to Canada, I said 鈥業 can never complain again,鈥欌�� says Abdulkarim.
鈥淚 feel really bad if I get annoyed or anxious about something and I say to myself: 鈥楻emember what happened in the past.鈥欌��
A new beginning
Upon arriving in Montreal, with a career in surgery as the end goal, Abdulkarim decided to apply to the MSc in Experimental Surgery with a Concentration in Global Surgery program at 黑料不打烊. During his master鈥檚, he was also working hard, applying to a general surgery residency. His odds weren鈥檛 great: the surgical specialties are extremely competitive, with only a few learners accepted each year. As a challenge, it was not insignificant, but Abdulkarim had prevailed through much worse. 鈥淚 told myself I shouldn鈥檛 lose hope. I鈥檓 living in this peaceful environment so I had no excuse not to try my best. I was very grateful to be accepted.鈥�
He started his master鈥檚 program in September 2018 and is currently working on finishing his thesis, which looks at the preparedness of nurses in critical incidents such as armed conflicts, pandemics or natural disasters, with regard to Basic and Advanced Life Support and other skills.
鈥淏ecause I鈥檓 from Syria, I noticed how a medical system can become overwhelmed, no matter how prepared you think you are."
His research can be applied, he says, not only to international settings but also to remote Canadians locations, such as the Far North, where nurses are often the only health care professionals on-site.
In parallel, early in his master鈥檚, Abdulkarim would show up at surgical rotations and introduce himself to the surgeons, letting them know he鈥檇 love to do a rotation with them. His tenacity and hard work paid off: he is now three months into his five-year general surgery residency.
Abdulkarim says he couldn鈥檛 have done it without the help of the Hakim Family Bursary. 鈥淚鈥檓 really thankful for the bursary and to 黑料不打烊 for the support,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t saved me a lot of time and helped me to study, and it really helped me in the process of getting into residency.鈥�
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Say it in verse
Rehabilitation Science PhD candidate Salman Nourbakhsh is another 2019 recipient of the Hakim Family Bursary (the third recipient was Ingram School of Nursing student Natasha Thomas). Says Salman, who emigrated from Iran and is now a permanent resident in Canada, 鈥淚 would love to praise this financial aid by quoting a poem by the great Iranian poet听Saadi:
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