Commencement Spotlight: Mother’s Day edition
Every student and resident in the Class of 2023 at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine has a unique story to tell about their journey to dental school, their experiences at GSDM, and their plans for the future. To celebrate this diverse group of extraordinary graduates, we are excited to feature 12 members of the Class of 2023 in a series of profiles as we count down to Commencement.
Dr. Catalina Osses Albornoz DMD AS 23
Dr. Catalina Osses Albornoz DMD AS 23 was excited to join GSDM’s diverse community so that she could learn from faculty and peers from different cultures and religions while discovering new ways to solve the same problems
“If you asked me who was Catalina two years ago, I can tell you now that I have grown so much, into being flexible, into being tolerant, into being a better clinician, a better person, a better human being because of all the things that I have learned here at GSDM,” said Albornoz, one of the first Chileans to complete the DMD Advanced Standing program. “For me it’s priceless.”
Before she was known as “student”, Albornoz had a different title: mom. In March 2020, one week into the COVID-19 lockdown, she gave birth to her first child. Amid the difficulties of changing her birth plan at the last minute, the lockdown provided an unforeseeable silver lining: ample bonding time for her, her husband, and the baby. Then, when her son was a year-and-a-half, she embarked on the AS program. From balancing breastfeeding to helping patients in the clinic, it has not been easy – but it has been an incredibly rewarding journey, said Albornoz.
“I’m like a pioneer for hopefully future colleagues from Chile that they want to come here and live the experience getting GSDM…” she said. “You have the best of both worlds. I’m a good student, but at the same time I’m a mom, so I’m trying to have compatibility of those two things, and that is something that is different for me from other classmates.”
With Mother’s Day falling the Sunday before Commencement, Albornoz said she is excited to celebrate with all her fellow mothers in the Class of 2023. During her time at GSDM, she has enjoyed being a member of the positive motherhood community.
“I’m so proud of all the moms that we are in the DMD and DMD AS, and that’s make me so happy that we can all share the same experiences and go through motherhood as a village,” she said. “Sometimes, to raise a baby takes a village and it’s good to have another mom’s experience.”
Albornoz is expecting her second child, and she is looking forward to spending time with her expanded family following Commencement. In the next year, she is going to apply to oral and maxillofacial surgery residency programs with the goal of starting a program in July 2024.
“I am looking forward to graduation to have those memories with my little bump,” she said.
Dr. Natallia Petrushenka DMD AS 23
After practicing as a general and restorative dentist in Belarus for 10 years, Dr. Natallia Petrushenka DMD AS 23 was determined to continue pursuing dentistry – her main passion – when she moved to the United States in 2015, when her daughter was nine years old.
During her GSDM journey, she thoroughly enjoyed learning on state-of-the-art instruments, as well as learning how the dental and medical systems work in the United States.
“Especially as a foreign dentist, sometimes it’s just a little bit overwhelming, but everything will work out,” she said. “Just keep going and know what you are doing. I am open to new knowledge all the time. I like to learn. I like to see different aspects and just keep going, improving new skills, improving new communication skills with different people, with different backgrounds and with different cultures. And just try to be your best.”
Petrushenka’s family lives in upstate New York; she stays in Boston during the week and then travels to be with her family during the weekend. With Mother’s Day falling just five days before Commencement, she is eager to celebrate with her daughter, now a teenager.
It’s been difficult balancing her dental responsibilities with raising her daughter, but she is thankful for all the support she has had to achieve her dreams – and she hopes she has set a good example for her daughter.
“I hope [my experience at GSDM] will create in her desire to have some goals, to reach the goals, and know what everything is possible in her life,” Petrushenka said.
For current and expecting mothers, as well as those planning for a family, Petrushenka emphasized that with hard work, sacrifices, and determination, mothers can accomplish anything – including dental school.
“I want to tell them that everything is possible, and they just need to remember that if they have their goals, they need to achieve their goals, and their kids will be proud of them and they will understand all the sacrifice what parents do,” Petrushenka said. “But I think mothers are also supposed to remember that they have their lives, and they need to do what they want to do in life and if they will be happy, their kids will be happier because happy mother, happy kids.”
After Commencement, Petrushenka will return to upstate New York to be with her family. She is interested in exploring specialties, such as cosmetics or aesthetic dentistry.
“I like to do work when I add something, when I just create, like sculpturing, and it’s what I like to do,” she said. “Because then it will never feel like you’re working a day in your life.”
Dr. Carolynn Landman DMD 20 ORTHO 23
After seven years, Dr. Carolynn Landman DMD 20 ORTHO 23 is in disbelief that her time at GSDM is coming to an end. She has been through a lot of big life moments during her GSDM experience – including giving birth to twin boys during her first year of residency.
Landman learned she was pregnant in April 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite initially feeling overwhelmed, especially after learning she was having not one, but two, babies, she said she was immensely glad to have had her sons during residency
“I think some people try to wait for this perfect time, and I don’t really think there is a perfect time,” Landman said. “There probably [are] better times, but there’s definitely no perfect time. At the end of the day, you really just have to do what you feel is right.”
Another major life milestone – and one of her favorite GSDM-related memories – was when she was matched into the Ortho program. Landman recounts the giddiness she felt opening her match email with her classmate.
“I was actually on externship at DotHouse [Health] with one of my classmates,” Landman said. “He was also in the match for Perio, a different specialty, but I just finished seeing a patient, and he actually yelled from the other room, ‘The email’s here.’ We both opened up our emails together, and we both matched, which was very exciting.”
After Commencement, Landman said she, her husband, and their sons, are planning to move to Miami, Florida, to be closer to their family. As she is about to start her next chapter, she can’t help but think back to a comment Dr. Joseph Calabrese, GSDM associate dean of students, made about how fast time goes by in dental school. At th time, she laughed – but today, she realized how true that statement was.
“When you first start, Dr. Calabrese [says] the days are long, the years are short…” she said. “Four years went by so fast. Then, even [in] Ortho, you’re like, ‘Now I have to do another three years,’ but even that, the time really does go by.”
Photo Credit: Dan Bomba, GSDM