(L - R) Bretton Hari, Saleem Al-Nuaimi, and Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk
When Saleem Al-Nuaimi was recently on a medical mission in Turkey, he met an elderly refugee from Syria, a farmer, who said to him, "people are like a house, and every house needs a foundation." The farmer reminded Al-Nuaimi that he, a psychiatrist specializing in children and adolescents, was providing an integral part of the cathartic and restorative process for refugees.
In recognition of the work Al-Nuaimi has done in Turkey in Syria, providing telepsychiatry services to refuges, the University of Alberta has selected him as the 2015 recipient of the Alumni Horizon Award.
This award is part of a larger celebration of alumni across campus who embodies the foundation upon which the university was built under its first president, Henry Marshall Tory. Like Al-Nuaimi, other members of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry are doing their best to keep the university's promise of "uplifting the whole people" through research, innovation and community support. These awardees were recognized Sept 24.
The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has been producing world-class health-care practitioners for the last century, and the winners of this year's alumni awards are shining examples of that tradition of excellence," said Richard Fedorak ('78 MD), interim dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "Across the spectrum, their dedication--whether to care of their patients or the communities they serve--is impressive and, as a proud alumnus myself of this faculty, I know how important this recognition is. I congratulate them all."
Bretton Hari, The Honourable Lois E. Hole Student Spirit Award
Fourth-year medical student Bretton Hari is a force of nature. The whirlwind of volunteerism is known for focusing his community engagement at home and abroad, but never putting himself before service to others. He has served as the executive committee member of the Affair of the Heart Gala (http://www.msa.ualberta.ca/en/GetInvolved/MedicalStudentInitiatives/Fundraising.aspx) fundraiser for the Stollery Children's Hospital; he was a co-leader of the MD Rural Ambassadors program (http://www.msa.ualberta.ca/en/GetInvolved/MdAmbassadors/RuralOutreach.aspx), and was an executive planner for the Medical Students Orientation Week (http://www.msa.ualberta.ca/OrientationWeek.aspx) in 2013. In Ecuador, he worked as a project co-leader for Help, Learn & Discover, where he worked with a group of students to fundraise for and build sustainable housing for small community.
"I've had to strike a fine balance between medicine and time for other activities, such as volunteer commitments," says Hari, but "I have found that volunteering within the field has helped me to broaden my perspective as a medical student and future physician.
"Many of the groups that I have been involved with are tasked with looking at issues facing the medical world today, which has certainly sparked my interest in big-picture, system-wide medicine."
Ray Muzyka ('92 MD) and Greg Zeschuk ('92 MD), Alumni Innovation Award
Like Hari, two of the faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's best-know alumni are also big picture thinkers.
The Alumni Innovation Award is shared by Ray Muzyka ('92 MD) and Greg Zeschuk ('92 MD), the founders of internationally known (and loved) video-game development company, BioWare. While they started out as practicing physicians, they segued the skills learned in medical school into a billion dollar business. "The real-world challenge of successfully applying what we learned during school was exceptionally rewarding, but the toughest thing about leaving practice was saying goodbye to our patients. It was a real pleasure taking care of people, and it was difficult to give that up," says Zeschuk, who practiced geriatric care. Muzyka, who provided locum services in rural emergency medicine in northern Alberta, says that medicine, like business, involves "lifelong learning, a collaborative team-based approach, and it requires you to be thorough and focused." About the university that recognized them as outstanding alumni, Muzyka says, "It's an exciting time here with many new developments in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and in the educational arena. I'm very involved with the U of A, currently serving on the Board of Governors, and both and Greg and I serve as mentors in-and I additionally chair the advisory board of-the University of Alberta Venture Mentoring Service (https://alumni.ualberta.ca/volunteer/venture-mentoring-service). In my 'third career chapter', I'm able to apply what I learned as a medical doctor and at BioWare as an angel investor focusing on social enterprise, medical innovations and IT at ThresholdImpact (http://thresholdimpact.com/)," which focuses on mentoring and investing in entrepreneurs in technology, new media, medical innovations in diagnostics and therapeutics, and social entrepreneurship and impact investment.
From medical students to doctors to entrepreneurs to leaders and mentors, two men's medical education has had impact across the globe.
Saleem Khaldoon Al-Nuaimi, Alumni Horizon Award
Like Eist, Al-Nuaimi spends his time navigating the mysteries of the mind. But while Al-Nuaimi was profoundly impacted by his medical missions to the Middle East, it the people's resilience and conviction that he admires and remembers more than anything else.
"I believe that the latest figures ballpark that about 80-90 per cent of medical infrastructure has been partially if not completely destroyed in Syria," says Al-Nuaimi. "That's when I really came up with the whole Telepsychiatry project," which will provide virtual support to any of the millions living in refugee camps. In addition, he has opened open a mental health facility in northern Syria with the goal to expand to other areas inside Syria, which Al-Nuaimi says is almost entirely absent of psychiatrists, as well as in neighbouring countries. Right now, Al-Nuami has six psychiatrists from across North America who participate in his project, through live psychiatric interviews, "providing a service that doesn't exist".
"Already we're more than what is in Syria."