Dr. Arghavan Shahidi recognized with 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award
At the GSDM annual Alumni Reception on Friday, September 21, 2018, Dr. Arghavan Shahidi DMD 01 was presented with the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award for her leadership and her outstanding ethical and professional integrity in the field of dental medicine.
“Colleagues said that Dr. Shahidi is ‘a strong and inspiring leader’ who serves as an ‘exceptional role model,’” Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter said in presenting the award. “Her commitment to her patients was noted by those who nominated her, with another commenting that ‘her professional ethics and honesty are unquestionable.’”
Dr. Shahidi began her academic studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she majored in Molecular, Cellular, and Development Biology and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994. Upon graduation, she conducted research at the University of California, San Francisco, in Genetics focusing on lipoproteins, and has published several papers in scientific journals. Dr. Shahidi then earned her D.M.D. degree at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine in 2001, and later returned to her alma mater as a Geriatric Fellow from 2008-2010.
After earning her D.M.D., Dr. Shahidi worked in private practice in Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Boston. In 2017, Boston Magazine named her one of the Top Dentists in Greater Boston. Dr. Shahidi is a member of and involved with the American Dental Association, the Massachusetts Dental Society, and the Hispanic Dental Association. She organizes oral healthcare education seminars, and is greatly involved in outreach in her community and schools.
“Boston University has always been good to me,” said Dr. Shahidi, who said she met friends and colleagues through GSDM who she can still call today for help and advice.
“We are a network of people who keeps supporting each other,” Dr. Shahidi said. “I graduated a long time ago … and I stayed in Massachusetts because of the group of people that we are. We support each other. It keeps giving – it’s a wonderful community to be part of.”
Dr. Shahidi’s commitment to her colleagues and her profession was reflected in a nomination letter, which said: “This award is a way of celebrating and recognizing ethical and professional integrity in the field of dental medicine. Dr. Shahidi embodies those very same principles in the way she conducts herself every day; be it in the clinical setting with a patient or discussing cases and ideas with her colleagues. She inspires and encourages all those around her to follow the highest standards of ethical practice and professionalism.”
Dr. Shahidi is married to Dr. Hussam Batal DMD 98 OMFS 03. Dr. Batal is a Clinical Associate Professor in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and the Director of Clinical Services, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine. Drs. Shahidi and Batal have three small children, “who will of course all go into dentistry – and if they’re really bright children, they’ll choose Endodontics,” Dean Hutter quipped to laughter from the crowd at the Alumni Reception.