2018 Winning Student of Dental Medicine
Kia Shahtaheri
Fourth Year Student, Faculty of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia (BC)
Nominated for Collaboration
Described by his peers as already showing “great promise as an oral health practitioner,” Kia is a fourth-year student of dentistry at the University of British Columbia (UBC). After completing his BSc in Microbiology and Immunology at UBC, his desire to work with people and make a difference prompted his decision to pursue a career in dentistry. He expands, “I find every interaction with patients most rewarding. Every patient who walks in the door is a chance you can touch someone’s life. Whether it is getting someone out of pain or helping them feel better about themselves, each interaction is unique and special.”
He further emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care, “Every aspect of what we do in the end depends on the impact it will have on the patient’s quality of life and that’s why we have to always strive for excellence.”
This past summer, Kia provided free dental services as a part of a mission project in Jamaica. He is passionate about giving back to those less fortunate and hopes to one day run his own mission trips to remote communities in need of dental care.
When asked what advice he would give to other future dentists, he muses, “I think it can be easy for dentists to become solely focused on one tooth with a problem, but I think Robin Williams said it best in his movie Patch Adams: ‘You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.’”
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"Every patient who walks in the door is a chance you can touch someone’s life."