Two 2021 Graduates of RSDM Pediatric Residency Win Prestigious Award
Two 2021 graduates of RSDM’s pediatric dentistry residency program have won the prestigious Richard C. Pugh Achievement Award. Dr. Mahta Hazaveh and Dr. Gurvinder Kaur scored in the top 3 percent on the qualifying exam to become board certified.
“For us to have two Pugh Award winners in one year is an accomplishment,” said Dr. R. Glenn Rosivack, chair of RSDM’s Department of Pediatric Dentistry. “It speaks well of these graduates and of our residency program.”
Rosivack said both former students are role models who demonstrated strong work ethics and study habits.
Hazaveh and Kaur were among 21 top scorers out of 700 dentists who took the 2021 American Board of Pediatric Dentistry qualifying exam. They both will take the oral clinical exam in September to become board-certified pediatric dentists.
“It means so much to see all the hard work I put in recognized by this award,” said Hazaveh, who lives and practices in Ottawa, Canada, and is multilingual.
Born in Iran, Hazaveh grew up in Sweden and attended dental school there. Afterward, she completed a Master of Science in dentistry in Canada. “I was so happy to match with Rutgers for my residency,” the 32-year-old said. “Dr. Rosivack was so nice and so supportive. I felt it was the best fit for me.”
Hazaveh has a soft spot for New Jersey: it’s where she met her fiancé and where they plan to wed next year.
Gurvinder Kaur completed a pediatric residency in her native India, but when confronted with extremely complicated cases working at a hospital, she felt it important to get advanced training.
She took the U.S. national boards and, based on RSDM’s reputation, applied. As with Hazaveh, Rosivack was a big selling point. “He is very approachable and respectful,” Kaur said. “He taught me how to be a kinder person, and he led by example.”
Winning the award was “quite motivating,” said Kaur, who practices in Williamsburg, Virginia. “I made my family and my friends very proud.”
Just before she took the exam last May, her parents and sister in India contracted COVID-19. The test dropped on her priority list. “I just wanted my family to be OK,” she said. They recovered and she excelled. “I’d studied hard, but never expected to do this good!” she said.
Like Hazaveh, Kaur is multilingual. Kaur is a yoga enthusiast and loves cooking and sharing the food she prepares.
Both Kaur and Hazaveh expressed interest in teaching pediatric dentistry in the future, which requires board certification. It also is becoming a standard requirement for attaining hospital privileges, they noted.
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