The community that built an internal medicine resident

Seven years ago, a chance encounter on King Street in Toronto changed the course of Amna Zulfiqar’s life. Her father, Ali Zulfiqar, a taxi driver, had just picked up a passenger – Dr. John Wright, a University of Toronto (U of T) alumnus. Their conversation turned to Amna, then a high school student with a budding interest in science.

“Through our conversation, it became clear that Mr. Zulfiqar’s daughter was not only good, she was exceptional,” recalls Dr. Wright.

When they reached his destination, Dr. Wright jotted down the email of his wife, Dr. Chung-Wai Chow, Division Director of Respirology at U of T. He gave the information to Ali, telling him to have his daughter get in touch to explain who she is and what she’d like to do, and Chung-Wai would look after her. 

“I had no idea he was such a resourceful person who would end up helping Amna greatly,” says Ali. “He was friendly and genuinely interested in my daughter’s future.”

When Ali got home, he told Amna about the kind gentleman that had shared Dr. Chow’s contact information.

“I looked at the info and I thought, oh my god, this isn’t some random person, this is someone who’s pretty influential,” says Amna. “I was nervous to email Dr. Chow because I didn’t want to mess up this opportunity, but I remember thinking that if Dr. Wright had the generosity to offer, I could be brave enough to reach out.”

Dr. Chow responded quickly, inviting Amna to meet to discuss her goals and how she could help. That conversation opened the door to a summer position in her lab, where Amna gained hands-on experience in basic science and got her first real glimpse into the world of research, learning alongside Dr. Chow and her graduate students.

“I really looked up to Dr. Chow because she was one of the only female clinician researchers at that time doing the work that she was, and she opened my eyes to the possibility of becoming a clinician scientist, which I hadn’t really considered before,” says Amna. “That opportunity shaped the trajectory of my career, and I started to model my path after hers.”

Later that year, Drs. Chow and Wright invited Amna to a Christmas party at their home, along with the other lab students.

“That was my first time meeting the man behind the opportunity and Dr. Wright came up to me to ask how my dad was doing,” says Amna. “I also noticed that Dr. Chow had photos of previous students she had mentored up on her walls, and that really touched my heart because despite her many accomplishments, that’s what she chose to display.”

Amna stayed connected with Dr. Chow, who wrote reference letters for her and became a steady mentor. She went on to complete an Honours Bachelor of Science at U of T and was honoured to be a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which inspired her to pursue a Master’s in Neuroscience at Oxford University. She later won the Clarendon Scholarship to continue her research through a PhD at Oxford but ultimately chose to return to U of T to attend medical school instead. Though they couldn’t see each other in-person due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Chow was one of the first people Amna shared her program acceptances with.

“One of the things I look for in the students I work with is that spark. It’s impossible to put down on paper, but whatever that connection is, I saw it in Amna when we met,” says Dr. Chow. “Over the years of being a mentor and mentee myself, I’ve learned the importance of being present, creating community and helping people play to their strengths while growing through their weaknesses.”

Now an internal medicine resident at U of T, Amna recalls recently rounding on a patient while on a subspecialty service and seeing a familiar face in the hospital. As it had been several years since they’d seen each other, she re-introduced herself to Dr. Chow, who remembered her instantly.

“At each interval of my life, she's been so pivotal, not only by witnessing my growth over the course of my career, but also shaping it herself, whether it was the need for reference letters or providing check-ins and motivation,” says Amna. “Having somebody you look up to boosts your ability to pursue these opportunities and I’m really grateful to her.” 

As Amna becomes a senior resident, she strives to pay it forward by asking the junior students and residents she works with what their goals are and how she can help.

“I’ve learned that your legacy is built by the community of people you help, and I learned that from Dr. Chow,” Amna says. “She creates a community where everyone feels uplifted to pursue their own goals while also helping each other, and I really want to build that sense of community as I move forward in my career.”

This year, Amna and her father were invited to attend Dr. Chow’s Professor’s Day, celebrating her promotion to full professor at U of T. It was the first time all four – Amna, Ali, Dr. Wright and Dr. Chow – had been together.

“Drs. Wright and Chow believed in Amna like she was their own daughter,” says Ali. “Without them, who knows where she’d be. I’m very thankful and have a lot of respect for them, and my hope is that Amna will pay forward that same positivity by helping others in the ways they’ve helped her.”

Looking to the future, Amna is considering subspecialties, with cardiology on her radar. But she’s keeping her options open to wherever her passion may take her.

“I’ve worked with students who say their family discourages them from pursuing medicine or higher education because it’s too hard, and it’s brought me to tears a couple of times because I’ve seen that moral support and mentorship can make a world of difference, and Amna is proof of that,” says Dr. Chow.