From an early age, Zafrin Islam knew she would pursue a career in Canadian health care. But it wasn’t until she attended the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine and developed a wide range of skills that prepared her for treating diverse patient groups that she found her true calling: Family medicine.
Now, as she readies herself for her future as a much-needed family doctor, Zafrin says she’s most excited about the prospect of building meaningful relationships with patients of all ages, to learn from them and be a partner in their care.
“I value being able to develop longitudinal relationships with patients, providing care over the course of an individual’s lifespan, and really getting to know my patients and their families, to better understand their experience of illness, and learning what is important to them so that I can provide the best care possible,” she says.
Training Canada’s next generation of medical leaders
At the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, Zafrin earned the confidence of student colleagues. She was selected by her peers to be class president of the MD2024 Anglophone stream during pre-clerkship (first and second year) and served as president of the Aesculapian Society in her third year.
“Getting to connect with my peers while also doing my best to make sure their feedback and concerns were presented to the Faculty was a great experience that gave me the chance to get to know my colleagues while working to make our student experience better,” she says.
It doesn’t end there. Her student colleagues also chose Zafrin to be the MD2024 Anglophone valedictorian at this year’s convocation. She participated in intramural sports, was a co-stage manager for a MedShow musical, and volunteered with the Ryan Séguin Peer Support program. She also served as a clinical extern at The Ottawa Hospital.
Dr. Marc Zucker, the Faculty’s undergraduate medical education program’s Clerkship Co-Director, Anglophone stream, describes Zafrin as a “proven leader.”
“She made a positive impact on our program while demonstrating excellence as a medical student in her own studies and in her development as a physician. Zafrin is an impressive medical student who has a bright future ahead of her,” Dr. Zucker says.
Following her childhood dream
How did her passion for medicine begin? It started with her youthful fascination with her pediatrician.
“I deeply admired my pediatrician growing up, and I would tell my parents that I wanted to take care of other kids like my doctor did when I grew up,” she recalls. “I would wear the stethoscope as part of dress-up in preschool, ‘listening’ to the heartbeats of my friends, and even included the goal of being an aspiring pediatrician in my list of ‘ten things about myself’ that I shared with my class at the start of 9th grade.”
Zafrin did far more than daydream. Starting in high school and continuing for roughly seven years, Zafrin began to prepare herself for her future career by volunteering at her local hospital in Mississauga, helping the healthcare team and getting to know patients and their loved ones.
Exploring different paths
Her love of science and biology led her to McMaster University for her undergraduate years, where she was part of the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization program. She was introduced to basic science research and became intrigued with delving into mysteries at the molecular level. Her educational journey next brought her to the University of Toronto for a Master of Science degree. At U of T, she drilled down on bacteriophages and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a drug-resistant pathogen that is a persistent scourge in hospital settings.
While she enjoyed benchwork and loved learning from skilled medical researchers, she began to miss building relationships with patients and their families and understanding human illnesses from that perspective.
“I realized how much I missed working with patients and the ability to integrate the knowledge of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the human body and diseases at a cellular level, with the ‘who’ of individuals, understanding how diseases impact a patient’s life and what we can do to prevent or treat them,” she says.
This realization brought Zafrin to medical school at uOttawa where she says her years of training will allow her to “integrate my passions for working with people, continuing to engage in life-long learning through my career, and apply our knowledge and understanding of diseases to support my patients and community in taking charge of and managing their health.”
Negotiating obstacles amid the pandemic
One of the major challenges of completing her degree was working against the headwinds of the global COVID-19 pandemic. She was used to hands-on learning in labs so negotiating Zoom-powered education during the height of Canada’s lockdown restrictions was not easy.
“Managing this transition while being away from home, friends and family, and dealing with the uncertainties of the pandemic and its impact on our education was stressful and challenging,” she says.
It was tough, to be sure, but not overwhelming, thanks to the support of boosters including her uOttawa roommates and other classmates. For academic support, Zafrin says she benefited from the Student Mentoring Center and the help of “friends and upper-year mentors who provided the deeply appreciated reassurance that I would be OK.”
Looking forward to what’s next
In coming months, Zafrin will start her family medicine residency in a rural setting through McMaster University.
“I am looking forward to getting lots of great hands-on training and developing the skills and knowledge needed to be a confident and competent family physician,” she says.
In future years, she aims to build a practice where she’ll be able to practice “full scope family medicine, providing comprehensive and continuing care to my patients, while also continuing to work in other settings such as long-term care, inpatient care at the hospital, or working in my local emergency department.”
Ideally, she also hopes that medical education and mentorship responsibilities will also enrich her career.
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