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In our latest podcast episode, we delve into a story of transition, courage, and the unwavering human spirit as our guest, Yasir Essar, swapped his dentistry scrubs for a career in public health amid the chaotic backdrop of a global pandemic and geopolitical turmoil. Yasir shares how visualizing achievements can provide a push to overcome challenges and demonstrates the powerful role mentors and community support play in guiding career paths, particularly for international students and professionals in new environments. His career transformation teaches us that with resilience, the right mindset, and community support, we can navigate through uncertainty and emerge with renewed purpose and aspirations.
You’ll Learn
- How the COVID pandemic led Yasir to public and global health and steps he took to transition into the field from dentistry
- Yasir’s experience continuing his education and career as a refugee in Canada, how he persevered through the uprooting of his life, and how his background shaped his current interest in refugee and global health
- Building and relying on a social support group and mentors to achieve your dreams and other ways to visualize your goals
- Tips for international students and remembering to take the time to care for yourself in a new country
- Using LinkedIn with intentionality as a tool to network, facilitate advocacy, tell stories, and make an impact
Today’s Guest
Yasir is a former refugee from Afghanistan who holds an MSc in Global Health from McMaster University.
Prior to moving to Canada, he lived as a refugee in Tajikistan after fleeing Afghanistan. During his time as a refugee, he continued to share his lived experience of refugee life.
Currently, he works as a Research Assistant at Western University in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and as a Community Scholar at the University of Calgary. Additionally, he holds a visiting academic position with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton.
Yasir’s professional journey is marked by an unwavering commitment to knowledge and a passion for making a real-world impact. His scholarly work has been published in prestigious journals such as The Lancet, BMJ, and PLoS. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and holds multiple certificates from Wayne State University, the University of Geneva, McGill University, and the LinkedIn Learning Academy.
During his tenure as a Research Assistant at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center, he focused particularly on tuberculosis research, further enriching his expertise in infectious disease research.
Yasir is always eager to connect with like-minded professionals, share insights, and explore collaborative opportunities. He is open to guest lecture invitations on the topics of refugees, mentorship, and global health.
Resources
- Connect with Yasir on LinkedIn
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you dream and then you put in the right effort, it
is possible.
So you need a component of hardwork along with what you're
dreaming, and every time youwant to dream something or you
want to achieve something, justwrite it down on a piece of note
and just visualize how wouldyou feel if you achieve that
thing.
You will certainly, you know,come to a point that this is the
(00:20):
thing that you know I'm able todo, that if I put in the right
effort and the feeling you'llget from doing bad, things will
keep pushing you forward.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva fromPhSpot.
Hi, yassir, and welcome to thePhSpot podcast.
So lovely to have you here toshare your story and then for us
(00:55):
to actually meet.
I think it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thanks for having me.
Sujani Pleasure to be here.
It's been a long time and weare finally here after following
one another on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, and then I think we'll talk about that
right, like the power of socialmedia, especially LinkedIn, like
I'm more of a LinkedIn userthan any of the other social
media platforms, especially forprofessional growth, but I've
met some incredible people thatI think I would have never met
in.
Like my public health careerall thanks to LinkedIn, and this
(01:28):
is one of those examples thatYasser and I used to just go
back and forth in the comments,yeah, so it's nice to now
finally sit down and hear yourstory, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you so much again.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You know, when I sit down with my guests it's nice
for me to not know too muchabout them until the day I
record, because I get verycurious and very impressed by
their background and kind of thejourney that they took.
So you were a dentist rightLike to begin kind of that
professional career path.
Did you, I guess, know aboutthe field of public health
(02:04):
before wanting to pursuedentistry, or is that something
that you kind of discovered asyou were pursuing dentistry?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, so I have a very interesting journey.
After finishing high school, mygoal was to go into the
medicine, but unfortunately Icouldn't make it to the medicine
.
I ended up in dentistry.
I liked dentistry for the firstfew years and then, for some
reason, you know, as people say,that your career path can
change every now and then Ibecame interested in public
(02:32):
health.
It was when the pandemic hitAfghanistan.
I was really amazed at the workof our public health community
responding to the COVID-19pandemic and realized the
importance of community work,public health.
That's when I, you know, becameinterested in public health and
started reading about publichealth, the role of public
(02:53):
health, you know, in ensuringhealthy communities, and started
, you know, becoming interestedin research.
So the more that I, you know,indulged myself in public health
and COVID-19 pandemic, I becameinterested in public health and
then I left dentistry at allbecause I found something new.
So that's how I ended up inpublic health and then from
(03:13):
public health, slowly, you know,to global health.
It's been like, you know, ajourney of self-discovery.
I would say Started from thedentistry and now you know
global health, and it's one ofthe, I think, the good things
about discovering yourself.
You don't have to, you know, bein one specific path your
entire life.
(03:34):
There are things that canhappen in your life, or a moment
that you know you can just takethat as an inspiration or as an
opportunity to shift yourcareer path, and for me, that
was COVID-19 pandemic.
Honestly, that's how I ended up.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm guilty of this.
When I was younger I had thisperfect pathway imagined in my
head and it was, you know, I hadto do this, and then I had to
do this, and then I had to dothis.
And sometimes it's verydifficult for us to like
convince ourselves that it'sokay to explore outside of that
path.
And thinking that you wereprobably in your more senior
(04:11):
years of your dental educationwhen the pandemic kind of took
place and you're kind of seeingit unfold in front of you and
for you to make that decision,to say like maybe I won't be
practicing as a clinician, tomake that decision to say like
maybe I won't be practicing as aclinician and try this other
path.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Was that easy for you ?
It wasn't easy at all becauseall my classmates they were just
focused on dentistry and when Iwas seeing them, like you know,
doing the exam or doing thelectures, everyone was just
following a specific path and itwas only me and the entire
class focused on public health,self-educating myself about, you
know, public health, because wedidn't focus too much on public
(04:51):
health during our dentalprogram.
So, you know, for me it wasreally difficult at the
beginning.
It's more of a discovery andthen when I found LinkedIn and
followed people through LinkedIn, I took that as an inspiration
that sometimes it's just OK,that if you're alone and
discovering yourself, it's justthat you have to trust your gut.
So it wasn't easy at all and Iwould say that sometimes it can
(05:15):
be very hard if you see you knowyour classmates, your peers or
your friends following onespecific path and you're the
only one doing the oppositefollowing one specific path and
you're the only one doing theopposite.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, that takes a lot of courage to try to go
against what many people aroundyour social circle are doing.
So when you think back to thatmoment, can you identify certain
things?
I guess jumping onto LinkedInwas one of those things where
you kind of found a communitywithin LinkedIn where you saw
people exploring careers inpublic health.
(05:47):
Were there other like momentsyou can remember where it kind
of like made it okay for you tochange your path.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I think it was when I started learning about
academic writing and research.
Academic writing and researchwe started working on a paper
about COVID-19 response inAfghanistan and how it affected
the healthcare system.
When it was published, that wasjust a huge motivation for me.
That you know I'm building mybackground.
You know this is going to my CV.
(06:18):
You know I'm learning somethingabout you know this pandemic
and the response of my countryto the pandemic, about you know
this pandemic and the responseof my country to the pandemic.
So that's when I got, you know,extra motivation, that dose of
extra motivation that I cancontinue this career path.
Now I see the result, thereward that I have something you
(06:39):
know, of a major achievement, ascientific publication.
So that was a game changingmoment, I think, for me when, I
reflect about that.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Was that part of your coursework or was that extra
work that you picked up?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It was just extra work that you know I was doing
it with myself and some of thefriends that I made.
You know, through LinkedIn orthrough community no, it wasn't
in our coursework, or you knowsomething related to our program
.
All everything that I did, itwas my own self-discovery.
I started reading about it,about public health, you know,
with check videos on YouTube,courses on Coursera, edx, those
(07:12):
platforms where you can takecourses.
Those were all you know, little, little things that really
helped a lot over time in termsof producing something that I
can be proud of and continuethis path.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that's a really good way to kind of like test
out if you're ready to make likethat big decision.
To kind of really like changeor take a full left turn, right
turn away from your path is kindof like testing it out with a
side project.
Like that Did you say.
You met like collaborators onLinkedIn and that's how you
(07:46):
started this project.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, I mean, it was honestly the power of LinkedIn.
I didn't know about LinkedInuntil it was the start of the
pandemic, when I started usingit.
I took some courses aboutLinkedIn, to be honest, like I
wanted to know how I can usethis properly for my
professional growth from thevery early days.
So those were the early dayswhere people would post a lot
(08:08):
about the pandemic response indifferent countries and, you
know, I started building somekind of connections with some
professors, some collaborators,and started to learn more about
their work and work under thementorship of some professors,
and that's how I started tolearn more through collaboration
.
Like sometimes, honestly, whenI reflect about my own personal
(08:29):
journey, I've learned morethrough collaboration than my
you know traditional, you knowdental program.
Very true, very true.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Did you decide to like complete your dental degree
at that time?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I finished my program and that's when the crisis in
Afghanistan, you know, tookplace, the crisis in August.
I finished my program.
It was my first month of dentalpractice in the hospital but,
due to the condition, back homeyou know, we couldn't stay in
the country, obviously, so weleft the country with my family,
(09:05):
siblings, everyone.
We went to Tajikistan.
We became refugees.
That's when the challengesstarted to grow in my life,
because I wasn't prepared forall of this.
I had a very, you know,strategic plan that I'm going to
continue this public healthpath, you know, finish my dental
program and then do an MPHsomewhere abroad in the US,
(09:27):
europe, uk but it didn't, youknow, go through according to
those plans, because the crisistook place.
It was a humanitarian crisis,you know, occurred overnight.
So we left the country.
I became a refugee.
Everything that I had plannedcollapsed.
I couldn't take my diploma, youknow, from the university, so I
didn't have any documents whenI left the university.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
When.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I moved to Tajikistan .
I started contacting likedozens of universities.
None of them you know, repliedto me or showed, you know, their
interest in getting me intotheir master's program in global
health because I had mybackground, you know experience.
You know their interest ingetting into their master's
program in global health becauseI had my background, you know
experience, you know, finishedmy program but I didn't couldn't
, you know, get my documents.
(10:12):
We struggled a lot, honestly,even though I knew a lot of you
know professors in variouscountries.
We tried a lot.
It was only McMaster Universityat Canada, when I reached out
to Professor Pai that you knowthere is an opportunity at
McMaster University and I reallywant to, you know, start my
(10:33):
master's because I don't know,like, what am I going to do?
Like I have passion, like, youknow, I have energy, but I can't
, you know, study here inTajikistan because there were no
opportunities for the refugees,like no opportunity to work, no
opportunity to study.
It was all blocked so I reachedout to him.
He connected me with McMasterand McMaster just provided the
(10:54):
admission without asking anydocuments, anything like.
For me, that was alife-changing moment in my
career because I was almost likehopeless that this will not
work like I've studied fiveyears, it's just nonsense now.
Because I was almost likehopeless that this will not work
Like I've studied five years.
It's just nonsense now, becauseI can't go back to the country
to get my documents.
And here I have a list ofdozens of universities they're
(11:14):
not accepting me in theirprograms.
So, mcmaster, they justprovided me admission without
asking any documents.
Honestly, they just asked formy CV and a sample of writing
and I was enrolled in theirmaster's program and started my
global health degree withMcMaster.
And since then I've been in theglobal health space and I think
McMaster played a pivotal rolein changing my life, my career.
(11:38):
Otherwise I would have beenstuck in that situation for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I would have been stuck in that situation for a
long time.
That's incredible and I thinkwhen so much around you is
changing and you have absolutelyno control, like how do you
have the motivation to keeppushing yourself when every
(12:03):
university is telling you, no,the path that you had, you know,
imagined for yourself isnowhere in sight?
Like, what is it that kept youemailing one more person?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
for me, I was doing everything I could do in my
control, and the rest, if it wasout of my control, I would just
stay motivated and always startwith my friends.
I had the support of, you know,my family, social network.
That's when those are themoments that you realize that
you really need the support ofyou know, a group of people to
keep you going.
Otherwise you can't just do italone, and it was all honestly
(12:40):
all collaborators and professorsthat I knew through linkedin,
especially dr pie.
I'm very grateful to himbecause he would check every
time on me.
Like you know how you're doing,like you know, things will
change.
Uh, you will end up in canada.
You have admission, because Ialso faced like visa, uh delays
as well.
I, you know, didn't mentionthis I faced some visa delays as
(13:00):
well with can, canada, becauseI got admission.
Everything was really then Ifaced visa delays, so I had to
do, you know, a few months of mymaster's program through zoom
and it was so difficult due tothe time difference that I had
to stay awake till 2 am, 3 am tojoin the classes because of the
time difference, like 12 or 13hours time difference.
(13:22):
But I said, like you know thisis my opportunity.
I'm going to persevere and jointhe classes because this is
what I want you know in my lifethis master's degree, to get a
document and, you know, continuemy professional career.
So when I ended up in Canada,you know I realized the
importance of you know, havingmentors, a supportive university
(13:45):
, a program where professors oryour lecturers, they support you
in your journey.
Those people really played acrucial role in my life,
Otherwise I wouldn't have doneit.
You know myself.
You know sometimes you gethopeless, honestly, when things
are blocked or when you are in asituation where you're a
refugee, you don't have accessto opportunities and you have
(14:08):
people that support you.
That provides you motivation.
I think that keeps you going.
You should have faith in yourhard work that things will
change.
It won't seem the entire time.
It will change for the better.
You need to have that kind ofmindset as well, and that
mindset also helped me a lot interms of going through those
(14:28):
challenges during the migrationjourney.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Wow, I think this is an incredible story of
perseverance and, yeah, I'm justtrying to picture myself in
that kind of a situation and,yeah, I'm still trying to like
understand how you end up likepushing yourself every morning,
(14:52):
right, and I think, like yousaid, focusing on the things
that you do have control overand not getting demotivated by
the things that you knowfactually that you absolutely
have no control over, whenthere's that complete civil
unrest and you're asked to likeuproot overnight.
So you ended up moving toCanada.
(15:15):
Was it at the end of 2022?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it was at the end of 2022 that I moved to
Canada and joined my program.
In January it was winter.
It was very cold, but for somereason I was so focused on my
studies and program that Icouldn't even, you know, notice
the environment, the cold, andmy classmates?
They would reach out to me that.
(15:37):
You know, yasser, how are youdoing?
Like, are you adapting to theenvironment, to the cold?
It was very cold and for me,like me, like no, I don't care
about it.
Honestly, I just want to study,like for me, like I was out of
university for a very long timeand my only goal was to just sit
in the class, you know, next tomy classmates and you know,
just enjoy the lectures.
(15:58):
but yeah, I really enjoyedHamilton, toronto, and met you
met some friends there as well,some people that I knew through
LinkedIn a lot, who we met inperson.
It was a really nice time tospend the winter term and the
summer at McMaster and then Ihad the opportunity to do my
practicum at McGill under thesupervision of Professor Madhu
(16:19):
Pai, with his as a researchassistant.
I work on the tuberculosisprojects and, you know,
contributed to policy briefswriting and, you know, some
projects related to tuberculosis.
So I really enjoyed that time.
You know, being a student atMcMaster, with all the exposure
that I received and the goodthing about you know, I have
(16:41):
good memories from McMaster.
One of them was that I was andthe good thing about you know I
have good memories from McMaster.
One of them was that I was athealth policy class and I
reached out to my professor andI told him that you know I need
some time with you, know theassignment.
He said, like you just arrivedto Canada, take some time, don't
worry about the assignments,make sure you know you enjoy,
you know your time and then youknow, whenever you're
(17:01):
comfortable, you're settled,then work on the assignment.
So you really realize that youknow people give you the support
and it makes you very, you know, happy.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know in those moments that you know you become
more grateful of the communitythat you have around yourself
yeah, I always like to tellpeople like you can't do life
alone, like the completecommunity to like support you
during the highs and the lowsright of your life.
I think if you accomplishsomething that you're so proud
(17:34):
of, it feels so much more likejoyful to share that with people
, and equally so when you arelike stuck in your career or
don't know where to go in yourcase, like literally have no
other pathway like leaning onpeople should be the first thing
that you think of, and for thatI think you know a lot of the
(17:56):
things that you did right,knowingly or unknowingly was
like establish that strong, likenetwork of people, the, the
community that you built aroundyourself virtually, which then
ended up being so like, sohelpful for you yeah okay, so
you get into McMaster, you'reworking on your master's degree
(18:19):
in global health, and then youget to go to montreal to yeah,
on a great uh practicum with anincredible I guess mentor there,
and then you graduate from theprogram and then where does life
take you then?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
yeah, I mean after graduation I thought I might
take some risks, but I appliedfor a few job opportunities and
I ended up being selected.
The job opportunity was atCalgary.
So I was unsure whether I haveto make that big shift to
Alberta from Ontario.
I talked to a few friends andthey recommended me.
Just, you know, give it a try,Go there, get some work
(18:55):
experience, Canadian workexperience, because you really
need it in this country.
So I made that big shift, movedto Calgary and I worked with an
organization called ANGA,Alberta International Medical
Graduate Association.
I worked as project coordinatorand vaccine navigator.
So our project was focused onimmigrants and refugees and for
(19:16):
me I had that lived experienceof refugees and for me that was
a perfect role and job to workwith the population and
contribute to some of the youknow challenges that they face
in terms of resolving it.
So the project was funded byPHAC, Public Health Agency of
Canada and we had, likegovernment of Alberta,
(19:36):
stakeholders and some otherimmigrant serving organizations.
It was six-month project withthe community.
So I was working on the groundwith the refugees, checking
their medical records.
If they have any missingvaccines.
I would do some healthpromotion webinars for them in
the first language to build thetrust because they were also
(19:59):
facing those language barrierissues as well.
I really liked that experiencebeing on the ground with all
those communities and buildingthe trust.
We ended up vaccinating a largescale of refugees in Alberta,
something that I think wasaround 500.
Newcomers did be vaccinatedwith flu and COVID.
(20:20):
There were a lot of issues withmisinformation and vaccine
hesitancy.
I mean, I've read a lot aboutthose in the literature but when
you're on the ground you hearfrom the people.
It's a different experience andthat's when you realize that
you have to tailor yourinformation to every group, Like
every group requires adifferent approach, have to
(20:40):
consider the cultural nuances indifferent communities.
It was a fantastic jobopportunities but I'll be honest
, in the first one or two monthsI was a little bit under stress
because it was just right aftermy graduation that.
I thought I might go around alittle bit, enjoy Canada, but it
(21:00):
just happened.
I think I'm grateful for theexperience.
That experience was very usefulfor me in terms of building my
resume, my experience in Canada,because I was just the person
who talked with the government,with the PHAP, with everyone,
with the team.
So imagine the stress ofcommunicating with those
(21:22):
stakeholders.
But gladly, it was a contractjob.
It ended and then I moved toEdmonton.
Since then I've been workingwith various universities
Western University, universityof Calgary and University of
Alberta as well.
At the same time it's casual,you know positions, but I love,
you know love what I'm doingwith these departments and
(21:44):
working on some importantprojects related to the vaccines
, refugee health in Afghanistanand, you know, maybe you want to
start a career in public health.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
to now, I guess that's about two to three years
later actually doing the work.
What are some of thereflections like that you have?
(22:10):
Is it exactly as you imaginedkind of reading about it and
then being the person doing thework?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, of course, like I reflect about it and you know
, when I see myself, likesometimes I do ask myself, like
if I go like you know, fiveyears back, you know when I see
myself, like sometimes I do askmyself like if I go like you
know five years back, you knowwhat do I think?
Like where would I be?
Like I'm exactly where I wantto be.
I've worked, you know, onmyself and I think the belief
was very important because whenyou come from a conflict setting
(22:37):
a country that is, you know,affected by the war crisis for
almost four decades, sometimesit's very hard to dream big but,
you've got to trust yourselfand have that community of
people that supports you becauseyou can't do it alone.
So those were the little things,like you know, that I did, you
(22:58):
know, during my dental program,and then the support that I
received from people has helpedme to be here, you know, and
doing the work that I love to do.
So it's I think everything wasjust perfectly aligned and fall
into the right places for me tobe here yeah, how do you dream
big?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
yes, sir, you know, sometimes you have goals and the
goals seem very reasonable andsometimes you might not think
that you can do even more.
I'm curious to know, like, howdid you end up dreaming big?
Like what were some ways thatreally pushed you to do that?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's a very good question.
Thank you for asking that.
I read a lot of books likenovels.
I read about the books of somepeople that are really involved
in the space of global health,like Dr Paul Farmer, from how he
started doing work inhumanitarian settings like Haiti
and tackling all healthinequities.
So when you read about historyand the background of those
(23:59):
people from where they started,you ultimately come to this
realization that you can also doit if you trust yourself and
follow the path that they havefollowed.
And then I watch some movies aswell.
You take inspiration frommovies as well sometimes, to be
honest, and see how those littlemoments in your life or a
(24:20):
moment like pandemic that canchange your life as it has
changed mine.
So for me, dreaming is allabout like if you dream and then
you put in the right effort, itis possible.
But if you just keep dreamingand you're not putting the right
amount of work, I think it'snot going to happen.
So you need a component of hardwork along with what you're
(24:42):
dreaming, and every time youwant to dream something or you
want to achieve something, justwrite it down on a piece of note
and just visualize how wouldyou feel if you achieve that
thing.
You will certainly, you know,come to a point that you know
this is the thing that you know.
I'm able to do that if I put inthe right effort and the
feeling you will get from doingbad things will keep pushing you
(25:03):
forward.
So for me, I followed out thosekind of things and I always
follow my mentors.
You know my mentors they guideme what I have to do like a
right mentor person.
Can a mentor, can you know,shape your career through their
honest feedbacks, through,through their advices, thoughts.
You have to be willing toaccept what they say.
(25:27):
You know their honest feedbackand then you start to realize
that you know you don't have toexperience like you know
failures if you have the rightmentors.
You don't have to likeexperience like constant
failures If you follow aspecific path, a path that your
mentors have followed, and youtake inspiration for them.
And if you're stuck atsomething, always reach out to
(25:47):
your mentor.
So, those are some of the waysthat I believe dreaming big can
be possible.
You have people like you, haveyour social support, people that
can help you get to that dream,because you're not going to do
it alone.
At the end of the day, you needthe support from everyone in
achieving that dream, and for me, in my case, it was the support
(26:08):
of my program, mcmasterUniversity, support of my
professor, support of my parents, siblings.
Everyone played a pivotal rolein making this dream possible.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, I think something else you said earlier
on was mindset right, soshifting your mindset to believe
that you can do it possible.
Yeah, and I think somethingelse you said earlier on was
mindset right, so shifting yourmindset to believe that you can
do it.
And when you're reading books,listening to podcasts or
watching movies, instead ofthinking like I'd like to do
that one day, you kind of saylike I can do that, how do I
make it happen?
(26:39):
And like shifting that mindset.
And I think, yeah, gettinginspiration from the people,
shifting that mindset.
And I think, yeah, gettinginspiration from the people
around you, and I think that'swhy it's so important to
surround yourself with peoplethat you look up to, but then
also people who you can relateto, who kind of like, look like
you have had the same livedexperiences as you, because they
make it possible for you todream big, I think right.
(27:02):
Yeah, okay, so you've had anincredible journey and we talked
about, like, how mentorship ishuge, networking is huge,
leveraging LinkedIn, you know,has been incredible for you.
A lot of people that also comeacross PHSpot and some of the
tools and resources we put outare international students and,
(27:25):
you know, for me personally, I'mnot able to share a personal
story that could relate withthem, so I love having guests
like you who have the livedexperience and you can provide
advice for them.
Like heard the steps that youhad taken, but are there any
specific things that you wishyou had known while you were
(27:46):
kind of going through thisjourney as an international
student in Canada?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
yeah, I mean, since landing to Canada, like I've
been reflecting a lot about myjourneys and I, honestly, you
know, set myself one day and Istarted, you know, jotting down
all the experiences I have hadin Canada as international
students and I put put that inLinkedIn.
A lot of people resonated with,you know, some of the
experiences I've had in Canada.
(28:10):
I think one of the things thatI really wished I'd known is
making friends in Canada when Imoved there, like I thought it's
very hard to you know, hang outwith people or make new friends
.
It was just that, you know,assumption that I, you know, had
that I'll, you know I'll bealone in this country, you know,
just doing, you know everythingthat I have to do to achieve my
(28:32):
dreams.
But there are people here thatyou can, you know, make some new
friends, you know.
Go out with them, enjoy somemoments, because you also have
to take care of your mentalhealth, you know, and give
yourself some time to, you know,absorb things around yourself,
enjoy the community.
That's one of the importantthings that I realized that you
(28:56):
have to have that courage tomake new friends.
In Canada, if you are aninternational student, because
you need the support of, youknow, your friends, because this
is a new country for you.
Honestly, your friends, becausethis is a new country for you
when you land, this is a newcountry for you.
Culture is, you know,everything is different.
You have to work hard, but youalso need your friends to go out
with them, you know, have somefun, enjoy, you know, the
process, Because you have toreally enjoy that, because at
(29:18):
the end of the day it might getoverwhelming for you.
So it takes some time to enjoythat.
And there were some otherlessons that you know, I
reflected on, such as believingin yourself.
I have that belief in myselfwhen I landed in this country
that this country is full ofopportunities.
But how do you, you know,prepare yourself for those
opportunities?
(29:38):
It first starts with you know,having that belief in yourself
that you yourself, that I, cangrab those opportunities.
If I put in the right planning,study hard, you can get to
those opportunities.
So believing in yourself isalso very important.
Embracing the culture whenyou're in this country, have
that courage to embrace otherpeople's culture.
(30:00):
It's really amazing when youhang out with people and you
enjoy their foods.
You know their company, youknow.
Try some new stuff, some crazythings.
You you obviously you know.
Learn to enjoy the experienceof being an international
student.
Embrace other people's culture.
Take care of your health as well, because in this country, if
(30:21):
you're alone as internationalstudent, you have your studies
on one side.
You know the pressure of yourhealth as well, because in this
country, if you're a LawlessInternational student, you have
your studies on one side.
You know the pressure of livingalone, your finances.
It can put a toll on yourmental health.
But make sure that you also putsome time for your body, for
your mind, you know, take careof it.
Go for an exercise, for a walk.
I used to do that every timewhen I would get overwhelmed.
(30:42):
Just a simple, you know, walkor run can, you know, really
help you a lot in terms ofchanging the momentum in your
mind.
So, yeah, those are some of theyou know lessons that I came
across while reflecting about myexperiences with international
students, because I come torealize that there is a lot
(31:04):
going on.
You know, when you come to thiscountry, especially with the
housing crisis, with you know,financial insecurity, you can
just get overwhelmed, you know,in a few days if you just think
about all the you knowchallenges here.
But if you take it one at atime, one at a time, and you
have friends, you are connectedwith your family, you'll get
(31:25):
support from them as well.
You are able to overcome allthese struggles and make
yourself a new person, a newversion of yourself in this
country, and go for all thoseopportunities that excites you.
Yeah, take care of those things, say, for international
students, and I've alwaysadvocated for them, because this
country and everything that'sgoing on here can be very
(31:47):
challenging for you as well interms of you know your health,
your motivation, so make surethat you enjoy the process and
make some plans accordingly toyou know, follow your goals and
also take care of your health.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I absolutely love your positivity, yasir.
I think just listening to youand the way you frame every
challenge and the way thatyou're able to take a positive
approach on everything is very,very inspiring.
Thank you, I think I personallyneeded to hear that and it's
good advice for anybody I thinknot just international students
(32:25):
right Taking care of yourself,making friends, surrounding
yourself with people who aregoing to make you enjoy life,
because I think sometimes we canjust get so focused on, like,
achieving the next career goalsthat we forget the other side of
life.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, always good to take some time off, and at least
the weekends.
Yeah, absolutely Go outsomewhere and enjoy, breathe and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, linkedin.
So we heard the different waysthat LinkedIn has helped you
kind of with your professionalgrowth.
Are there any other areas orstories that you can think of to
really showcase the power ofsocial media?
If people are still hesitant toget on to LinkedIn they're
(33:13):
feeling shy.
I wonder if there are any otherstories that could really help
them like say, okay, maybetoday's the day I sign up for an
account or react to my account.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, I think LinkedIn has played a great role
in shaping my career, fromgetting the scholarship to
landing in Canada and connectingwith people through LinkedIn.
It's such a great way ofbuilding your profile using
LinkedIn and it doesn't reallyrequire a lot of effort if you
just, you know, use it withintentionality.
(33:45):
I always use the wordintentionality because every
time I go to LinkedIn, I usethat for an intention, for a
positive purpose to connect withpeople and, to you know, share
my story.
I like storytelling, so when Igive them an opportunity, you
know I write something about,you know, my country, or I write
something about a global healthissue that is affecting people
(34:05):
around the world, and it's a wayfor me to create awareness
about some pressing issues weface collectively, you know,
around the world.
So that's one way of, you know,putting yourself out there and
doing advocacy or the thingsthat you like to do, like for me
, it's refugee hell that I posta lot about it.
It's about health inequitiesthat you know I want to post
(34:28):
about it on LinkedIn to connectwith people, you know their
thoughts, how they feel.
You know about those things.
It's not only for, honestly,you know, seeking job
opportunities.
It's just one of the uses ofthe LinkedIn.
Then you can utilize that, youknow, for your own professional
group, but you can also use thatto build your communication
(34:49):
skill.
You know how you communicatewith people.
You know how you comment to thepost of people that you like
and you want to be connectedwith, and you know, obviously,
storytelling is a platform thatyou can openly share your story
and connect with people.
For me, it has helped me a lot.
Like I use LinkedIn like everysingle day, honestly.
Like you know, when I wake up,you know I check my feeds.
(35:10):
You know when I go to bed,before going to bed, I also, you
know, check my feeds and see ifthere's something interesting,
I bookmark the post and I canalways come back and read the
post and share my comments, myopinions, you know, with some of
the posts that I feel you knowconnected with, if you're
someone that wants to buildcommunity or communication
(35:31):
skills, their storytellingskills, networking, linkedin can
be, you know, a starting pointfor you and then obviously you
can slowly, you know, startbuilding connections with some
professors there as well, andthen maybe end up meeting them
in person.
After communicating with them,it's one of the best platforms
for young people, I would say,if they start using that with
(35:54):
the right purpose.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And you know, with the right goals, that I want to
achieve this goal and LinkedIncan be a contributing factor,
you know, in helping achievingmy goals.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
When I like run webinars or workshops.
A question I like to ask peopleis if you could describe what
you want out of your publichealth career in one word, what
would it be?
And every single time, everysingle year, I run it the one
word that keeps coming up themost frequently is the word
impact, and I think, as you'respeaking and you're kind of like
(36:30):
giving examples of how LinkedIncould be very useful, you know,
for storytelling, for engagingpeople on different causes that
you're passionate about, thatword kept coming to mind,
because I think it's a greatplatform to see impact in the
areas that you really feelpassionate about, right, I think
?
if you can put out that passioninto words on LinkedIn.
(36:51):
It attracts the people thathave similar interests and
passion and it connects you withthem, you with them, and
together you can probably go offand work on something similar
to what you did, you knowpublish that paper and see that
impact unfold right in front ofyour eyes.
Yeah, out into the world withouthaving to wait for like some
(37:15):
senior management person to likeapprove it and wait five years
for your program to actually berolling out into the world.
So I think it's a really goodway to like see impact.
If you're somebody that's likeokay, I really want to see my
work out there in the worldyou've said it, it right Sudan.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
It's how you put you know your work out there in the
world and connect people throughLinkedIn, and I'm very sure
that you've also had experienceusing LinkedIn and you know
connecting with your audience.
For me, it's also one of thosethings that you know, you find,
you know your people.
You know people you want towrite, you know for so and
(37:57):
that's also the beauty ofLinkedIn that people keep
following you, reposting yourcontent and you're also posting
a useful you know stuff for yourown audience and that's how you
know you know, continue growingon the LinkedIn and you see the
results of you know usingLinkedIn, you know your growth
for your audience and for yourpassion as well.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
So here's a challenge for anybody listening that's
feeling a bit shy to get ontoLinkedIn.
When this podcast goes live.
I want people to go and commentand say like I'm going to do X,
y, z on LinkedIn this month,that's your commitment.
So let Yasir and myself knowwhat you're going to do and tag
us in any of the projects orposts that you make Thinking
(38:39):
about the future.
Yassir, what are you mostexcited about with your public
health career?
Speaker 1 (38:44):
For me, visualization is a tool that I always
visualize and see myself in thenext five to 10 years.
What am I going to do?
Sometimes it's very difficulthonestly to answer questions
like these, because you are inthe path of discovering yourself
, and, for me, discovery I thinkI really like that word because
there's always something newthat you can go in, enjoy
(39:06):
yourself, challenge yourself andbecome a better version of
yourself.
What I'm really interestedabout my global health or public
health career is that in thenext five to 10 years, I want to
be somewhere that I can impactlocally and globally.
You know about some of thetopics or you know things that
I'm very interested in, forexample, the refugee crisis,
(39:29):
because right now, unfortunately, we see unprecedented crisis
happening around the world.
We see unprecedented crisishappening around the world and
(40:06):
for that we need young people tostep up and work on resolving
this crisis, because it's see somany young people displaced by
the crisis, whether it's climatecrisis, war, conflict.
Young people, at the end of theday, are the victims of those
crises and we need young peoplewith lived experience, affected
by those crises, to cometogether and advocate for those
issues and call on our worldleaders to make this world a
(40:30):
better place for all youngpeople, because I really don't
want to wish what I experiencedfor someone else, because it can
be very hard deteriorating foryour mental health, for your
physical health, and noteveryone can go through the same
challenges or would have accessto the same support network.
So I really wish that in thefuture we, as young people, come
(40:53):
together and work towardsbuilding a better world for
everyone.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I love that I'm going to speak on your behalf and
encourage anybody who has asimilar mission in their public
health careers to reach out toyou and connect and see how you
could work on that together.
Thank you so much, yasir, forjoining me, for sharing your
story.
It's incredible for me to getto learn about a lot of the
friends that I end up meetingand making on LinkedIn, and I'm
(41:21):
just so grateful to have apodcast like this to have an
excuse to talk to people and,yeah, build my network in my
community and then bring it outto the rest of the PH spot
community.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
so thank you very much thank you so much, susanne,
for having me.
It was a great pleasure to talkabout my experience and also
learning from you, because I'm abig fan of your posts on
LinkedIn, so you know things youpost about.
You know public healthcommunity job opportunities on
your page.
It's very resourceful and Ialways tune into your page and
(41:55):
follow what you post and reallyappreciate the work you're doing
for the public health communitythank you, hey.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you want to
get the links or informationmentioned in today's episode,
you can head over to phspotorgslash podcast and we'll have
everything there for you.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
meaningful relationships withother public health
(42:27):
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
meaningful relationships withother public health
(42:47):
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(43:08):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like-mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other, and with that I
(43:31):
can't wait to see how this isgoing to have a ripple effect in
the world, as we all worktogether to better the health of
our populations and just haveimmense impact in the world, and
I hope you'll be joining us inthe Public Health Career Club.
If you dream and then you put in the right effort, it
is possible.
So you need a component of hardwork along with what you're
dreaming, and every time youwant to dream something or you
want to achieve something, justwrite it down on a piece of note
and just visualize how wouldyou feel if you achieve that
thing.
You will certainly, you know,come to a point that this is the
(00:20):
thing that you know I'm able todo, that if I put in the right
effort and the feeling you'llget from doing bad, things will
keep pushing you forward.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva fromPhSpot.
Hi, yassir, and welcome to thePhSpot podcast.
So lovely to have you here toshare your story and then for us
(00:55):
to actually meet.
I think it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thanks for having me.
Sujani Pleasure to be here.
It's been a long time and weare finally here after following
one another on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, and then I think we'll talk about that
right, like the power of socialmedia, especially LinkedIn, like
I'm more of a LinkedIn userthan any of the other social
media platforms, especially forprofessional growth, but I've
met some incredible people thatI think I would have never met
in.
Like my public health careerall thanks to LinkedIn, and this
(01:28):
is one of those examples thatYasser and I used to just go
back and forth in the comments,yeah, so it's nice to now
finally sit down and hear yourstory, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you so much again.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You know, when I sit down with my guests it's nice
for me to not know too muchabout them until the day I
record, because I get verycurious and very impressed by
their background and kind of thejourney that they took.
So you were a dentist rightLike to begin kind of that
professional career path.
Did you, I guess, know aboutthe field of public health
(02:04):
before wanting to pursuedentistry, or is that something
that you kind of discovered asyou were pursuing dentistry?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, so I have a very interesting journey.
After finishing high school, mygoal was to go into the
medicine, but unfortunately Icouldn't make it to the medicine
.
I ended up in dentistry.
I liked dentistry for the firstfew years and then, for some
reason, you know, as people say,that your career path can
change every now and then Ibecame interested in public
(02:32):
health.
It was when the pandemic hitAfghanistan.
I was really amazed at the workof our public health community
responding to the COVID-19pandemic and realized the
importance of community work,public health.
That's when I, you know, becameinterested in public health and
started reading about publichealth, the role of public
(02:53):
health, you know, in ensuringhealthy communities, and started
, you know, becoming interestedin research.
So the more that I, you know,indulged myself in public health
and COVID-19 pandemic, I becameinterested in public health and
then I left dentistry at allbecause I found something new.
So that's how I ended up inpublic health and then from
(03:13):
public health, slowly, you know,to global health.
It's been like, you know, ajourney of self-discovery.
I would say Started from thedentistry and now you know
global health, and it's one ofthe, I think, the good things
about discovering yourself.
You don't have to, you know, bein one specific path your
entire life.
(03:34):
There are things that canhappen in your life, or a moment
that you know you can just takethat as an inspiration or as an
opportunity to shift yourcareer path, and for me, that
was COVID-19 pandemic.
Honestly, that's how I ended up.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm guilty of this.
When I was younger I had thisperfect pathway imagined in my
head and it was, you know, I hadto do this, and then I had to
do this, and then I had to dothis.
And sometimes it's verydifficult for us to like
convince ourselves that it'sokay to explore outside of that
path.
And thinking that you wereprobably in your more senior
(04:11):
years of your dental educationwhen the pandemic kind of took
place and you're kind of seeingit unfold in front of you and
for you to make that decision,to say like maybe I won't be
practicing as a clinician, tomake that decision to say like
maybe I won't be practicing as aclinician and try this other
path.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Was that easy for you ?
It wasn't easy at all becauseall my classmates they were just
focused on dentistry and when Iwas seeing them, like you know,
doing the exam or doing thelectures, everyone was just
following a specific path and itwas only me and the entire
class focused on public health,self-educating myself about, you
know, public health, because wedidn't focus too much on public
(04:51):
health during our dentalprogram.
So, you know, for me it wasreally difficult at the
beginning.
It's more of a discovery andthen when I found LinkedIn and
followed people through LinkedIn, I took that as an inspiration
that sometimes it's just OK,that if you're alone and
discovering yourself, it's justthat you have to trust your gut.
So it wasn't easy at all and Iwould say that sometimes it can
(05:15):
be very hard if you see you knowyour classmates, your peers or
your friends following onespecific path and you're the
only one doing the oppositefollowing one specific path and
you're the only one doing theopposite.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, that takes a lot of courage to try to go
against what many people aroundyour social circle are doing.
So when you think back to thatmoment, can you identify certain
things?
I guess jumping onto LinkedInwas one of those things where
you kind of found a communitywithin LinkedIn where you saw
people exploring careers inpublic health.
(05:47):
Were there other like momentsyou can remember where it kind
of like made it okay for you tochange your path.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I think it was when I started learning about
academic writing and research.
Academic writing and researchwe started working on a paper
about COVID-19 response inAfghanistan and how it affected
the healthcare system.
When it was published, that wasjust a huge motivation for me.
That you know I'm building mybackground.
You know this is going to my CV.
(06:18):
You know I'm learning somethingabout you know this pandemic
and the response of my countryto the pandemic, about you know
this pandemic and the responseof my country to the pandemic.
So that's when I got, you know,extra motivation, that dose of
extra motivation that I cancontinue this career path.
Now I see the result, thereward that I have something you
(06:39):
know, of a major achievement, ascientific publication.
So that was a game changingmoment, I think, for me when, I
reflect about that.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Was that part of your coursework or was that extra
work that you picked up?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It was just extra work that you know I was doing
it with myself and some of thefriends that I made.
You know, through LinkedIn orthrough community no, it wasn't
in our coursework, or you knowsomething related to our program
.
All everything that I did, itwas my own self-discovery.
I started reading about it,about public health, you know,
with check videos on YouTube,courses on Coursera, edx, those
(07:12):
platforms where you can takecourses.
Those were all you know, little, little things that really
helped a lot over time in termsof producing something that I
can be proud of and continuethis path.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that's a really good way to kind of like test
out if you're ready to make likethat big decision.
To kind of really like changeor take a full left turn, right
turn away from your path is kindof like testing it out with a
side project.
Like that Did you say.
You met like collaborators onLinkedIn and that's how you
(07:46):
started this project.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, I mean, it was honestly the power of LinkedIn.
I didn't know about LinkedInuntil it was the start of the
pandemic, when I started usingit.
I took some courses aboutLinkedIn, to be honest, like I
wanted to know how I can usethis properly for my
professional growth from thevery early days.
So those were the early dayswhere people would post a lot
(08:08):
about the pandemic response indifferent countries and, you
know, I started building somekind of connections with some
professors, some collaborators,and started to learn more about
their work and work under thementorship of some professors,
and that's how I started tolearn more through collaboration
.
Like sometimes, honestly, whenI reflect about my own personal
(08:29):
journey, I've learned morethrough collaboration than my
you know traditional, you knowdental program.
Very true, very true.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Did you decide to like complete your dental degree
at that time?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I finished my program and that's when the crisis in
Afghanistan, you know, tookplace, the crisis in August.
I finished my program.
It was my first month of dentalpractice in the hospital but,
due to the condition, back homeyou know, we couldn't stay in
the country, obviously, so weleft the country with my family,
(09:05):
siblings, everyone.
We went to Tajikistan.
We became refugees.
That's when the challengesstarted to grow in my life,
because I wasn't prepared forall of this.
I had a very, you know,strategic plan that I'm going to
continue this public healthpath, you know, finish my dental
program and then do an MPHsomewhere abroad in the US,
(09:27):
europe, uk but it didn't, youknow, go through according to
those plans, because the crisistook place.
It was a humanitarian crisis,you know, occurred overnight.
So we left the country.
I became a refugee.
Everything that I had plannedcollapsed.
I couldn't take my diploma, youknow, from the university, so I
didn't have any documents whenI left the university.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
When.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I moved to Tajikistan .
I started contacting likedozens of universities.
None of them you know, repliedto me or showed, you know, their
interest in getting me intotheir master's program in global
health because I had mybackground, you know experience.
You know their interest ingetting into their master's
program in global health becauseI had my background, you know
experience, you know, finishedmy program but I didn't couldn't
, you know, get my documents.
(10:12):
We struggled a lot, honestly,even though I knew a lot of you
know professors in variouscountries.
We tried a lot.
It was only McMaster Universityat Canada, when I reached out
to Professor Pai that you knowthere is an opportunity at
McMaster University and I reallywant to, you know, start my
(10:33):
master's because I don't know,like, what am I going to do?
Like I have passion, like, youknow, I have energy, but I can't
, you know, study here inTajikistan because there were no
opportunities for the refugees,like no opportunity to work, no
opportunity to study.
It was all blocked so I reachedout to him.
He connected me with McMasterand McMaster just provided the
(10:54):
admission without asking anydocuments, anything like.
For me, that was alife-changing moment in my
career because I was almost likehopeless that this will not
work like I've studied fiveyears, it's just nonsense now.
Because I was almost likehopeless that this will not work
Like I've studied five years.
It's just nonsense now, becauseI can't go back to the country
to get my documents.
And here I have a list ofdozens of universities they're
(11:14):
not accepting me in theirprograms.
So, mcmaster, they justprovided me admission without
asking any documents.
Honestly, they just asked formy CV and a sample of writing
and I was enrolled in theirmaster's program and started my
global health degree withMcMaster.
And since then I've been in theglobal health space and I think
McMaster played a pivotal rolein changing my life, my career.
(11:38):
Otherwise I would have beenstuck in that situation for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I would have been stuck in that situation for a
long time.
That's incredible and I thinkwhen so much around you is
changing and you have absolutelyno control, like how do you
have the motivation to keeppushing yourself when every
(12:03):
university is telling you, no,the path that you had, you know,
imagined for yourself isnowhere in sight?
Like, what is it that kept youemailing one more person?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
for me, I was doing everything I could do in my
control, and the rest, if it wasout of my control, I would just
stay motivated and always startwith my friends.
I had the support of, you know,my family, social network.
That's when those are themoments that you realize that
you really need the support ofyou know, a group of people to
keep you going.
Otherwise you can't just do italone, and it was all honestly
(12:40):
all collaborators and professorsthat I knew through linkedin,
especially dr pie.
I'm very grateful to himbecause he would check every
time on me.
Like you know how you're doing,like you know, things will
change.
Uh, you will end up in canada.
You have admission, because Ialso faced like visa, uh delays
as well.
I, you know, didn't mentionthis I faced some visa delays as
(13:00):
well with can, canada, becauseI got admission.
Everything was really then Ifaced visa delays, so I had to
do, you know, a few months of mymaster's program through zoom
and it was so difficult due tothe time difference that I had
to stay awake till 2 am, 3 am tojoin the classes because of the
time difference, like 12 or 13hours time difference.
(13:22):
But I said, like you know thisis my opportunity.
I'm going to persevere and jointhe classes because this is
what I want you know in my lifethis master's degree, to get a
document and, you know, continuemy professional career.
So when I ended up in Canada,you know I realized the
importance of you know, havingmentors, a supportive university
(13:45):
, a program where professors oryour lecturers, they support you
in your journey.
Those people really played acrucial role in my life,
Otherwise I wouldn't have doneit.
You know myself.
You know sometimes you gethopeless, honestly, when things
are blocked or when you are in asituation where you're a
refugee, you don't have accessto opportunities and you have
(14:08):
people that support you.
That provides you motivation.
I think that keeps you going.
You should have faith in yourhard work that things will
change.
It won't seem the entire time.
It will change for the better.
You need to have that kind ofmindset as well, and that
mindset also helped me a lot interms of going through those
(14:28):
challenges during the migrationjourney.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Wow, I think this is an incredible story of
perseverance and, yeah, I'm justtrying to picture myself in
that kind of a situation and,yeah, I'm still trying to like
understand how you end up likepushing yourself every morning,
(14:52):
right, and I think, like yousaid, focusing on the things
that you do have control overand not getting demotivated by
the things that you knowfactually that you absolutely
have no control over, whenthere's that complete civil
unrest and you're asked to likeuproot overnight.
So you ended up moving toCanada.
(15:15):
Was it at the end of 2022?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it was at the end of 2022 that I moved to
Canada and joined my program.
In January it was winter.
It was very cold, but for somereason I was so focused on my
studies and program that Icouldn't even, you know, notice
the environment, the cold, andmy classmates?
They would reach out to me that.
(15:37):
You know, yasser, how are youdoing?
Like, are you adapting to theenvironment, to the cold?
It was very cold and for me,like me, like no, I don't care
about it.
Honestly, I just want to study,like for me, like I was out of
university for a very long timeand my only goal was to just sit
in the class, you know, next tomy classmates and you know,
just enjoy the lectures.
(15:58):
but yeah, I really enjoyedHamilton, toronto, and met you
met some friends there as well,some people that I knew through
LinkedIn a lot, who we met inperson.
It was a really nice time tospend the winter term and the
summer at McMaster and then Ihad the opportunity to do my
practicum at McGill under thesupervision of Professor Madhu
(16:19):
Pai, with his as a researchassistant.
I work on the tuberculosisprojects and, you know,
contributed to policy briefswriting and, you know, some
projects related to tuberculosis.
So I really enjoyed that time.
You know, being a student atMcMaster, with all the exposure
that I received and the goodthing about you know, I have
(16:41):
good memories from McMaster.
One of them was that I was andthe good thing about you know I
have good memories from McMaster.
One of them was that I was athealth policy class and I
reached out to my professor andI told him that you know I need
some time with you, know theassignment.
He said, like you just arrivedto Canada, take some time, don't
worry about the assignments,make sure you know you enjoy,
you know your time and then youknow, whenever you're
(17:01):
comfortable, you're settled,then work on the assignment.
So you really realize that youknow people give you the support
and it makes you very, you know, happy.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know in those moments that you know you become
more grateful of the communitythat you have around yourself
yeah, I always like to tellpeople like you can't do life
alone, like the completecommunity to like support you
during the highs and the lowsright of your life.
I think if you accomplishsomething that you're so proud
(17:34):
of, it feels so much more likejoyful to share that with people
, and equally so when you arelike stuck in your career or
don't know where to go in yourcase, like literally have no
other pathway like leaning onpeople should be the first thing
that you think of, and for thatI think you know a lot of the
(17:56):
things that you did right,knowingly or unknowingly was
like establish that strong, likenetwork of people, the, the
community that you built aroundyourself virtually, which then
ended up being so like, sohelpful for you yeah okay, so
you get into McMaster, you'reworking on your master's degree
(18:19):
in global health, and then youget to go to montreal to yeah,
on a great uh practicum with anincredible I guess mentor there,
and then you graduate from theprogram and then where does life
take you then?
Speaker 1 (18:33):
yeah, I mean after graduation I thought I might
take some risks, but I appliedfor a few job opportunities and
I ended up being selected.
The job opportunity was atCalgary.
So I was unsure whether I haveto make that big shift to
Alberta from Ontario.
I talked to a few friends andthey recommended me.
Just, you know, give it a try,Go there, get some work
(18:55):
experience, Canadian workexperience, because you really
need it in this country.
So I made that big shift, movedto Calgary and I worked with an
organization called ANGA,Alberta International Medical
Graduate Association.
I worked as project coordinatorand vaccine navigator.
So our project was focused onimmigrants and refugees and for
(19:16):
me I had that lived experienceof refugees and for me that was
a perfect role and job to workwith the population and
contribute to some of the youknow challenges that they face
in terms of resolving it.
So the project was funded byPHAC, Public Health Agency of
Canada and we had, likegovernment of Alberta,
(19:36):
stakeholders and some otherimmigrant serving organizations.
It was six-month project withthe community.
So I was working on the groundwith the refugees, checking
their medical records.
If they have any missingvaccines.
I would do some healthpromotion webinars for them in
the first language to build thetrust because they were also
(19:59):
facing those language barrierissues as well.
I really liked that experiencebeing on the ground with all
those communities and buildingthe trust.
We ended up vaccinating a largescale of refugees in Alberta,
something that I think wasaround 500.
Newcomers did be vaccinatedwith flu and COVID.
(20:20):
There were a lot of issues withmisinformation and vaccine
hesitancy.
I mean, I've read a lot aboutthose in the literature but when
you're on the ground you hearfrom the people.
It's a different experience andthat's when you realize that
you have to tailor yourinformation to every group, Like
every group requires adifferent approach, have to
(20:40):
consider the cultural nuances indifferent communities.
It was a fantastic jobopportunities but I'll be honest
, in the first one or two monthsI was a little bit under stress
because it was just right aftermy graduation that.
I thought I might go around alittle bit, enjoy Canada, but it
(21:00):
just happened.
I think I'm grateful for theexperience.
That experience was very usefulfor me in terms of building my
resume, my experience in Canada,because I was just the person
who talked with the government,with the PHAP, with everyone,
with the team.
So imagine the stress ofcommunicating with those
(21:22):
stakeholders.
But gladly, it was a contractjob.
It ended and then I moved toEdmonton.
Since then I've been workingwith various universities
Western University, universityof Calgary and University of
Alberta as well.
At the same time it's casual,you know positions, but I love,
you know love what I'm doingwith these departments and
(21:44):
working on some importantprojects related to the vaccines
, refugee health in Afghanistanand, you know, maybe you want to
start a career in public health.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
to now, I guess that's about two to three years
later actually doing the work.
What are some of thereflections like that you have?
(22:10):
Is it exactly as you imaginedkind of reading about it and
then being the person doing thework?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, of course, like I reflect about it and you know
, when I see myself, likesometimes I do ask myself, like
if I go like you know, fiveyears back, you know when I see
myself, like sometimes I do askmyself like if I go like you
know five years back, you knowwhat do I think?
Like where would I be?
Like I'm exactly where I wantto be.
I've worked, you know, onmyself and I think the belief
was very important because whenyou come from a conflict setting
(22:37):
a country that is, you know,affected by the war crisis for
almost four decades, sometimesit's very hard to dream big but,
you've got to trust yourselfand have that community of
people that supports you becauseyou can't do it alone.
So those were the little things,like you know, that I did, you
(22:58):
know, during my dental program,and then the support that I
received from people has helpedme to be here, you know, and
doing the work that I love to do.
So it's I think everything wasjust perfectly aligned and fall
into the right places for me tobe here yeah, how do you dream
big?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
yes, sir, you know, sometimes you have goals and the
goals seem very reasonable andsometimes you might not think
that you can do even more.
I'm curious to know, like, howdid you end up dreaming big?
Like what were some ways thatreally pushed you to do that?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's a very good question.
Thank you for asking that.
I read a lot of books likenovels.
I read about the books of somepeople that are really involved
in the space of global health,like Dr Paul Farmer, from how he
started doing work inhumanitarian settings like Haiti
and tackling all healthinequities.
So when you read about historyand the background of those
(23:59):
people from where they started,you ultimately come to this
realization that you can also doit if you trust yourself and
follow the path that they havefollowed.
And then I watch some movies aswell.
You take inspiration frommovies as well sometimes, to be
honest, and see how those littlemoments in your life or a
(24:20):
moment like pandemic that canchange your life as it has
changed mine.
So for me, dreaming is allabout like if you dream and then
you put in the right effort, itis possible.
But if you just keep dreamingand you're not putting the right
amount of work, I think it'snot going to happen.
So you need a component of hardwork along with what you're
(24:42):
dreaming, and every time youwant to dream something or you
want to achieve something, justwrite it down on a piece of note
and just visualize how wouldyou feel if you achieve that
thing.
You will certainly, you know,come to a point that you know
this is the thing that you know.
I'm able to do that if I put inthe right effort and the
feeling you will get from doingbad things will keep pushing you
(25:03):
forward.
So for me, I followed out thosekind of things and I always
follow my mentors.
You know my mentors they guideme what I have to do like a
right mentor person.
Can a mentor, can you know,shape your career through their
honest feedbacks, through,through their advices, thoughts.
You have to be willing toaccept what they say.
(25:27):
You know their honest feedbackand then you start to realize
that you know you don't have toexperience like you know
failures if you have the rightmentors.
You don't have to likeexperience like constant
failures If you follow aspecific path, a path that your
mentors have followed, and youtake inspiration for them.
And if you're stuck atsomething, always reach out to
(25:47):
your mentor.
So, those are some of the waysthat I believe dreaming big can
be possible.
You have people like you, haveyour social support, people that
can help you get to that dream,because you're not going to do
it alone.
At the end of the day, you needthe support from everyone in
achieving that dream, and for me, in my case, it was the support
(26:08):
of my program, mcmasterUniversity, support of my
professor, support of my parents, siblings.
Everyone played a pivotal rolein making this dream possible.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, I think something else you said earlier
on was mindset right, soshifting your mindset to believe
that you can do it possible.
Yeah, and I think somethingelse you said earlier on was
mindset right, so shifting yourmindset to believe that you can
do it.
And when you're reading books,listening to podcasts or
watching movies, instead ofthinking like I'd like to do
that one day, you kind of saylike I can do that, how do I
make it happen?
(26:39):
And like shifting that mindset.
And I think, yeah, gettinginspiration from the people,
shifting that mindset.
And I think, yeah, gettinginspiration from the people
around you, and I think that'swhy it's so important to
surround yourself with peoplethat you look up to, but then
also people who you can relateto, who kind of like, look like
you have had the same livedexperiences as you, because they
make it possible for you todream big, I think right.
(27:02):
Yeah, okay, so you've had anincredible journey and we talked
about, like, how mentorship ishuge, networking is huge,
leveraging LinkedIn, you know,has been incredible for you.
A lot of people that also comeacross PHSpot and some of the
tools and resources we put outare international students and,
(27:25):
you know, for me personally, I'mnot able to share a personal
story that could relate withthem, so I love having guests
like you who have the livedexperience and you can provide
advice for them.
Like heard the steps that youhad taken, but are there any
specific things that you wishyou had known while you were
(27:46):
kind of going through thisjourney as an international
student in Canada?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
yeah, I mean, since landing to Canada, like I've
been reflecting a lot about myjourneys and I, honestly, you
know, set myself one day and Istarted, you know, jotting down
all the experiences I have hadin Canada as international
students and I put put that inLinkedIn.
A lot of people resonated with,you know, some of the
experiences I've had in Canada.
(28:10):
I think one of the things thatI really wished I'd known is
making friends in Canada when Imoved there, like I thought it's
very hard to you know, hang outwith people or make new friends
.
It was just that, you know,assumption that I, you know, had
that I'll, you know I'll bealone in this country, you know,
just doing, you know everythingthat I have to do to achieve my
(28:32):
dreams.
But there are people here thatyou can, you know, make some new
friends, you know.
Go out with them, enjoy somemoments, because you also have
to take care of your mentalhealth, you know, and give
yourself some time to, you know,absorb things around yourself,
enjoy the community.
That's one of the importantthings that I realized that you
(28:56):
have to have that courage tomake new friends.
In Canada, if you are aninternational student, because
you need the support of, youknow, your friends, because this
is a new country for you.
Honestly, your friends, becausethis is a new country for you
when you land, this is a newcountry for you.
Culture is, you know,everything is different.
You have to work hard, but youalso need your friends to go out
with them, you know, have somefun, enjoy, you know, the
process, Because you have toreally enjoy that, because at
(29:18):
the end of the day it might getoverwhelming for you.
So it takes some time to enjoythat.
And there were some otherlessons that you know, I
reflected on, such as believingin yourself.
I have that belief in myselfwhen I landed in this country
that this country is full ofopportunities.
But how do you, you know,prepare yourself for those
opportunities?
(29:38):
It first starts with you know,having that belief in yourself
that you yourself, that I, cangrab those opportunities.
If I put in the right planning,study hard, you can get to
those opportunities.
So believing in yourself isalso very important.
Embracing the culture whenyou're in this country, have
that courage to embrace otherpeople's culture.
(30:00):
It's really amazing when youhang out with people and you
enjoy their foods.
You know their company, youknow.
Try some new stuff, some crazythings.
You you obviously you know.
Learn to enjoy the experienceof being an international
student.
Embrace other people's culture.
Take care of your health as well, because in this country, if
(30:21):
you're alone as internationalstudent, you have your studies
on one side.
You know the pressure of yourhealth as well, because in this
country, if you're a LawlessInternational student, you have
your studies on one side.
You know the pressure of livingalone, your finances.
It can put a toll on yourmental health.
But make sure that you also putsome time for your body, for
your mind, you know, take careof it.
Go for an exercise, for a walk.
I used to do that every timewhen I would get overwhelmed.
(30:42):
Just a simple, you know, walkor run can, you know, really
help you a lot in terms ofchanging the momentum in your
mind.
So, yeah, those are some of theyou know lessons that I came
across while reflecting about myexperiences with international
students, because I come torealize that there is a lot
(31:04):
going on.
You know, when you come to thiscountry, especially with the
housing crisis, with you know,financial insecurity, you can
just get overwhelmed, you know,in a few days if you just think
about all the you knowchallenges here.
But if you take it one at atime, one at a time, and you
have friends, you are connectedwith your family, you'll get
(31:25):
support from them as well.
You are able to overcome allthese struggles and make
yourself a new person, a newversion of yourself in this
country, and go for all thoseopportunities that excites you.
Yeah, take care of those things, say, for international
students, and I've alwaysadvocated for them, because this
country and everything that'sgoing on here can be very
(31:47):
challenging for you as well interms of you know your health,
your motivation, so make surethat you enjoy the process and
make some plans accordingly toyou know, follow your goals and
also take care of your health.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I absolutely love your positivity, yasir.
I think just listening to youand the way you frame every
challenge and the way thatyou're able to take a positive
approach on everything is very,very inspiring.
Thank you, I think I personallyneeded to hear that and it's
good advice for anybody I thinknot just international students
(32:25):
right Taking care of yourself,making friends, surrounding
yourself with people who aregoing to make you enjoy life,
because I think sometimes we canjust get so focused on, like,
achieving the next career goalsthat we forget the other side of
life.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, always good to take some time off, and at least
the weekends.
Yeah, absolutely Go outsomewhere and enjoy, breathe and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, linkedin.
So we heard the different waysthat LinkedIn has helped you
kind of with your professionalgrowth.
Are there any other areas orstories that you can think of to
really showcase the power ofsocial media?
If people are still hesitant toget on to LinkedIn they're
(33:13):
feeling shy.
I wonder if there are any otherstories that could really help
them like say, okay, maybetoday's the day I sign up for an
account or react to my account.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, I think LinkedIn has played a great role
in shaping my career, fromgetting the scholarship to
landing in Canada and connectingwith people through LinkedIn.
It's such a great way ofbuilding your profile using
LinkedIn and it doesn't reallyrequire a lot of effort if you
just, you know, use it withintentionality.
(33:45):
I always use the wordintentionality because every
time I go to LinkedIn, I usethat for an intention, for a
positive purpose to connect withpeople and, to you know, share
my story.
I like storytelling, so when Igive them an opportunity, you
know I write something about,you know, my country, or I write
something about a global healthissue that is affecting people
(34:05):
around the world, and it's a wayfor me to create awareness
about some pressing issues weface collectively, you know,
around the world.
So that's one way of, you know,putting yourself out there and
doing advocacy or the thingsthat you like to do, like for me
, it's refugee hell that I posta lot about it.
It's about health inequitiesthat you know I want to post
(34:28):
about it on LinkedIn to connectwith people, you know their
thoughts, how they feel.
You know about those things.
It's not only for, honestly,you know, seeking job
opportunities.
It's just one of the uses ofthe LinkedIn.
Then you can utilize that, youknow, for your own professional
group, but you can also use thatto build your communication
(34:49):
skill.
You know how you communicatewith people.
You know how you comment to thepost of people that you like
and you want to be connectedwith, and you know, obviously,
storytelling is a platform thatyou can openly share your story
and connect with people.
For me, it has helped me a lot.
Like I use LinkedIn like everysingle day, honestly.
Like you know, when I wake up,you know I check my feeds.
(35:10):
You know when I go to bed,before going to bed, I also, you
know, check my feeds and see ifthere's something interesting,
I bookmark the post and I canalways come back and read the
post and share my comments, myopinions, you know, with some of
the posts that I feel you knowconnected with, if you're
someone that wants to buildcommunity or communication
(35:31):
skills, their storytellingskills, networking, linkedin can
be, you know, a starting pointfor you and then obviously you
can slowly, you know, startbuilding connections with some
professors there as well, andthen maybe end up meeting them
in person.
After communicating with them,it's one of the best platforms
for young people, I would say,if they start using that with
(35:54):
the right purpose.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
And you know, with the right goals, that I want to
achieve this goal and LinkedIncan be a contributing factor,
you know, in helping achievingmy goals.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
When I like run webinars or workshops.
A question I like to ask peopleis if you could describe what
you want out of your publichealth career in one word, what
would it be?
And every single time, everysingle year, I run it the one
word that keeps coming up themost frequently is the word
impact, and I think, as you'respeaking and you're kind of like
(36:30):
giving examples of how LinkedIncould be very useful, you know,
for storytelling, for engagingpeople on different causes that
you're passionate about, thatword kept coming to mind,
because I think it's a greatplatform to see impact in the
areas that you really feelpassionate about, right, I think
?
if you can put out that passioninto words on LinkedIn.
(36:51):
It attracts the people thathave similar interests and
passion and it connects you withthem, you with them, and
together you can probably go offand work on something similar
to what you did, you knowpublish that paper and see that
impact unfold right in front ofyour eyes.
Yeah, out into the world withouthaving to wait for like some
(37:15):
senior management person to likeapprove it and wait five years
for your program to actually berolling out into the world.
So I think it's a really goodway to like see impact.
If you're somebody that's likeokay, I really want to see my
work out there in the worldyou've said it, it right Sudan.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
It's how you put you know your work out there in the
world and connect people throughLinkedIn, and I'm very sure
that you've also had experienceusing LinkedIn and you know
connecting with your audience.
For me, it's also one of thosethings that you know, you find,
you know your people.
You know people you want towrite, you know for so and
(37:57):
that's also the beauty ofLinkedIn that people keep
following you, reposting yourcontent and you're also posting
a useful you know stuff for yourown audience and that's how you
know you know, continue growingon the LinkedIn and you see the
results of you know usingLinkedIn, you know your growth
for your audience and for yourpassion as well.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
So here's a challenge for anybody listening that's
feeling a bit shy to get ontoLinkedIn.
When this podcast goes live.
I want people to go and commentand say like I'm going to do X,
y, z on LinkedIn this month,that's your commitment.
So let Yasir and myself knowwhat you're going to do and tag
us in any of the projects orposts that you make Thinking
(38:39):
about the future.
Yassir, what are you mostexcited about with your public
health career?
Speaker 1 (38:44):
For me, visualization is a tool that I always
visualize and see myself in thenext five to 10 years.
What am I going to do?
Sometimes it's very difficulthonestly to answer questions
like these, because you are inthe path of discovering yourself
, and, for me, discovery I thinkI really like that word because
there's always something newthat you can go in, enjoy
(39:06):
yourself, challenge yourself andbecome a better version of
yourself.
What I'm really interestedabout my global health or public
health career is that in thenext five to 10 years, I want to
be somewhere that I can impactlocally and globally.
You know about some of thetopics or you know things that
I'm very interested in, forexample, the refugee crisis,
(39:29):
because right now, unfortunately, we see unprecedented crisis
happening around the world.
We see unprecedented crisishappening around the world and
(40:06):
for that we need young people tostep up and work on resolving
this crisis, because it's see somany young people displaced by
the crisis, whether it's climatecrisis, war, conflict.
Young people, at the end of theday, are the victims of those
crises and we need young peoplewith lived experience, affected
by those crises, to cometogether and advocate for those
issues and call on our worldleaders to make this world a
(40:30):
better place for all youngpeople, because I really don't
want to wish what I experiencedfor someone else, because it can
be very hard deteriorating foryour mental health, for your
physical health, and noteveryone can go through the same
challenges or would have accessto the same support network.
So I really wish that in thefuture we, as young people, come
(40:53):
together and work towardsbuilding a better world for
everyone.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I love that I'm going to speak on your behalf and
encourage anybody who has asimilar mission in their public
health careers to reach out toyou and connect and see how you
could work on that together.
Thank you so much, yasir, forjoining me, for sharing your
story.
It's incredible for me to getto learn about a lot of the
friends that I end up meetingand making on LinkedIn, and I'm
(41:21):
just so grateful to have apodcast like this to have an
excuse to talk to people and,yeah, build my network in my
community and then bring it outto the rest of the PH spot
community.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
so thank you very much thank you so much, susanne,
for having me.
It was a great pleasure to talkabout my experience and also
learning from you, because I'm abig fan of your posts on
LinkedIn, so you know things youpost about.
You know public healthcommunity job opportunities on
your page.
It's very resourceful and Ialways tune into your page and
(41:55):
follow what you post and reallyappreciate the work you're doing
for the public health communitythank you, hey.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you want to
get the links or informationmentioned in today's episode,
you can head over to phspotorgslash podcast and we'll have
everything there for you.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
meaningful relationships withother public health
(42:27):
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
meaningful relationships withother public health
(42:47):
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(43:08):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like-mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other, and with that I
(43:31):
can't wait to see how this isgoing to have a ripple effect in
the world, as we all worktogether to better the health of
our populations and just haveimmense impact in the world, and
I hope you'll be joining us inthe Public Health Career Club.
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