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people who loved their families and
their church. I remember always
having people visiting at the house
when I was younger, so I saw that
my parents were willing to share
what they had with other people.
They came from a culture in Egypt
where they had little, yet when
they came to North America, they
worked extremely hard and did
well financially. That background, I
think, made them more than willing
to share their blessings with others.
My dad was a tremendous role
model, both in how he cared for
his family and how he cared for
his patients as a physician. When
I was accepted to medical school,
he took me aside and said, “I’m not
going to give you lots of advice,
but I am going to tell you one
thing: you need to treat nurses
as professionals, because they
are.” That made me realize how
important it is to practice the team
approach in medicine. When I
went to the hospital with him when
I was a young child, I would sit at
the nurses’ station while he did his
rounds and I could see firsthand
the respect he had for nurses and
allied health staff, as well as the
respect they had for him.
Mentorship has always been
very important to me, and I think
I owe my success to having good
mentors throughout my career.
During my internal medicine
training, Jeff Turnbull, MD,
really had an impact on me. He
held many leadership positions,
including president of the
Canadian Medical Association,
and I would attribute this to
his unique way of bringing
people together. I worked with
Dr. Turnbull when we were
developing a homeless clinic at
Ottawa and his volunteerism and
compassion for those w