All in the family
On the surface, the Lubus’ seem like a typical Canadian family. They stay active together, they watch sports together, and they even take part in Jeopardy game night together.
But there’s one thing that sets Dr. Nazem Lubus and his sons Adam and Phil apart from other families: they have all attended Schulich Dentistry, and intend on practising dentistry together.
Nazem, DDS’82, has been working as a dentist for more than 30 years and currently runs a general dentistry practice in Sarnia, Ontario. After immigrating to Canada from the small island of Antigua in the Caribbean, he was one of the first in his family to attend Western University for his undergraduate degree. He then obtained his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree at Schulich Dentistry.
“My first love was physics, but I knew that would take over my entire life,” Nazem said. “Family was always very important to me, so I knew dentistry would be an excellent career choice. It’s been a wonderful profession for me.”
As his sons grew older, Nazem never pushed them into becoming dentists, but rather encouraged them to consider becoming self-employed professionals.
Adam, Dentistry Class of 2015, and Phil, Dentistry Class of 2017, discovered their love of the field on their own.
“As soon as I started to seriously think about my career path, dentistry came to the forefront,” Adam said. “It just made sense.”
Phil agreed, but added that it took a little longer for him to make the decision.
“Growing up I had no preference between medicine and dentistry. I was just going with the flow and hadn’t made my mind up until later into my undergraduate degree,” he explained. “So even though I didn’t make the decision in my first or second year at Western, it just happened naturally — I think I was just more inclined to take that path.”
They both chose to attend Schulich Dentistry like their father did, because they knew they would receive a great education and become well prepared clinicians. After receiving their undergraduate degrees at Western, the campus also felt like a second home to them.
Adam and Phil both know they would eventually like to work with their father in Sarnia. Adam will be joining Nazem once he graduates in the new year, and Phil would also like to join them once he graduates in 2017. “Hopefully they leave me a few patients,” Nazem said with a laugh.
Nazem remains passionate about his work as a dentist, because of the opportunity to help people. “It’s very rewarding to help and take care of people,” he said.
After 30 years, he still strives to be the best version of himself in both his personal and professional life — the most important value he hopes his sons will carry on into the next generation.
