51吃瓜

(Photos by Bruce Bottomley)

Malek Mahmoud spends a lot of time in the Faculty of Dentistry, but he鈥檚 not a dental student. At least, not yet. But he is confident that鈥檚 what his future holds.
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"Growing up as a kid, I always knew I wanted to be involved in health care," he explains. Both his parents are medical doctors and his older sister is a pharmacist, so the idea of "carving out a career that was my own" appealed to him, as did the ability to enjoy a profession that he could balance with hobbies and a family. He also had positive experiences with oral health care providers growing up. By grade 12, he knew he wanted to be a dentist.
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Mahmoud has lived in Halifax since he was five, but he was born in Saudi Arabia and his family is from Egypt. His father continues to work as a doctor in Saudi Arabia, commuting home every few months to see his family, whereas his mother gave up her profession to care for Mahmoud and his two older siblings. Mahmoud speaks highly of his parents鈥� dedication to their family.
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How the body works
Mahmoud鈥檚 biggest interest and hobby growing up was soccer. He has played his entire life 鈥� including for Dunbrack and Halifax City 鈥� and he and his brother are avid fans, particularly of the Premier League in the UK. He has also boxed, is a certified lifeguard, and has a black belt in Taekwondo.
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Physical education classes at Gorsebrook Junior High School in Halifax were an obvious favourite for him, but he also developed a passion for math and science, particularly biology, which he pursued more extensively as a student at Citadel High School. "I was really interested in knowing how my own body works," Mahmoud explains. "It was interesting because it was extremely relatable."
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Plans for the future
It was at Citadel that Mahmoud became involved in the at Dal. "It was a really good mentorship program," says Mahmoud. "We were able to experience a lot of different science fields, including dentistry, which I knew I wanted to go into by that point."
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The PLANS sessions enabled Mahmoud to meet some of the professors who were leading it, including Dr. Tanya Cook (DDS鈥�00). When he asked her about volunteering opportunities and part-time jobs, she suggested that he volunteer at upcoming PLANS camps.
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Now in the third year of his BSc in microbiology and immunology, Mahmoud volunteers with PLANS most semesters, helping with activities like tooth filling and making plaster models. Further introductions led to Mahmoud taking on a part-time job in the dental lab with Bruce Friis, which includes pouring the models that students use in their labs. He鈥檚 learned a lot, plus it鈥檚 helped him to build relationships with current dentistry students who answer his questions and tell him about their studies.
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A research opportunity
Thanks to a conversation with Richard Redhead, who also works in the dental lab, Mahmoud learned about the Imhotep Legacy Academy undergraduate summer research scholarships, which cover topics in medicine and dentistry. 听
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The dentistry topic, 鈥淏iosourced and bioactive nanofibres for tissue engineering,鈥� offered through , immediately appealed to Mahmoud because it was about materials that can be used to mimic the structure of tissues in the human body, such as skin, muscles, and even dental tissues.
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Mahmoud explains that his research involves comparing two different methods of making polymer fibres: centrifugal spinning, which looks a bit like making cotton candy, and contact drawing, which is a process of manually pulling the fibres electrically.
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"Each of these methods of making fibres can affect the fibres鈥� properties, including strength, and therefore their medical applications," Mahmoud explains, "for example, bone regeneration or dental repair."
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The results of Mahmoud's research will be published in an upcoming paper.
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Real life experience
In the first year of his degree, Mahmoud connected with Dr. Sura Hadad (DDS鈥�03) and was able to shadow her at her Clayton Park dental practice.听

"That gave me real experience of what the job is like on a day-to-day basis," says Mahmoud. "She would explain to me everything she did with a patient." Mahmoud also says he saw things he didn鈥檛 expect. "On Saturdays," he adds, "Dr. Hadad treated babies with twisted tongues. I learned that it鈥檚 a little operation a dentist can do."
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Armed with all the necessary prerequisites after the third year of his undergrad degree, Mahmoud has taken the bold step of applying for admission to dental school in September 2025.
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"I feel like I could have a chance of getting in," says Mahmoud. "The students I鈥檝e met through my work in the Faculty have given me a lot of advice and tell me I have a lot of good experience that I can talk about if I get an interview."
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If it doesn鈥檛 work, he鈥檒l complete his BSc and apply again in 2026. What he has discovered through his experiences in the Faculty so far is that he likes the atmosphere and he likes the people.听

"Everyone knows each other well and the staff and the students are very connected," he says. "It鈥檚 an amazing community to be around."

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