Student Spotlight: Muhannah Hossain, TUSPM '25
By Sam Fogel, KLN '24
Tell me a little about yourself; who or what introduced you to Podiatry?
“I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019, then took two years off before starting school at TUSPM. I was in the pre-med track in college knowing that medical school or some version of medical school was in my future. One day, I learned of a Podiatry practice in Charlottesville. I spoke with one of the providers at the practice; she introduced me to the field and sold me on podiatry in one phone call. Everything we talked about was exactly what I was looking for in a medical specialty. Talking to her and being at that practice reinvigorated my support for medicine.”
What is your favorite part of being the President of your class?
“The thing that I take the most pride in is probably how cohesive my class is. Mondays are obviously the worst day of the week, and my idea was called Goldfish Mondays. Once a semester, I would do something random for my class to get everyone to “flush” whatever they were holding on to and just like be present in the moment for 45 minutes. That's really been like the most rewarding experience. I love the being able to have a voice on SGA; I care about how my class feels first. My priority is making sure that the seventy of [my classmates] are like a cohesive unit, and I take a lot of pride in that.
What are some challenges you’ve faced, and how do you manage them?
“I’ve definitely had to readjust to being a little fish in a big pond again. Suddenly being back at the bottom of the totem pole after finishing undergrad is a tough adjustment. It’s tough moving to a new city without family or friends, starting at a new school with new people. Getting involved in class leadership, student government, and having new responsibilities for my class and community make it so much easier to manage though. I’ve approached being a graduate student differently; I deal with stuff better when I have more responsibilities. I think my academic life improved when I got myself involved with TUSPM, my class, and the community.
What is something that your classmates might not know about you?
“Pretty much as far back as I can remember I’ve been a swimmer. Swimming has been an integral part of like my life and personality. The way I see things and how I carry myself has a lot to do with my coaches and how they coached me. After I graduated college, I was only working eight to five every day, so I started coaching for a high school swim team at night. It was really awesome because the seniors on that team were the last age group I had any connection to; I knew their older siblings, friends, or maybe even coached them when they were younger. When I showed up for the first practice and I saw familiar faces I was like, this is really cool. I coached these kids when they were eight and now they’re all grown up. Being a coach was a full circle experience for me. I think that really shaped a lot of my post college trajectory, in terms of how I view mentorship and how I view being involved in extra curriculars.”
What goals do you have for your remaining time at TUSPM?
“I really want myself and my classmates to be as fully prepared as we can be. I hope we can finish our time here on a high note and enjoy every second we can. These next few years are most likely the last time that all of us will be concreted on campus as traditional students for the rest of our lives. Of course, we’ll be together for our Match Day, banquets, and just hanging out, but I want all of us to have the best possible experience before we step out into the field of Podiatry. Making sure that we're all good when that comes around is probably one of my biggest goals.
What are you most looking forward to in the future of this program?
“One of my favorite moments of school so far was Match Day. Obviously, Match Day is for the fourth years, but as president of my class, I was given the privilege to attend this year’s ceremony. Helping set up and watching the event was a really eye opening experience for me because sometimes you get tunnel vision, only focusing on the next test or task, and it’s hard to see the big picture. My classmates and I only have so much time left at TUSPM, and this is the like the light at the end of the tunnel. I think being part of this year’s Match Day ignited my spark or passion a little bit more. Sometimes when you're making plans to the future it feels so far away, but I find it really exciting to think about how quickly my class’s Match Day in March 2025 will come.