Four years later, in 2020, Hashim made history alongside her fellow students, as a member of the first graduating class of Touro’s dental school. “The newest techniques and technology in dentistry were all there for us,” she says. “The teaching matched. I remember how tough our oral pathology class was. But because of what I got from that professor, I’ve become very good at spotting oral cancers that another dentist might miss. I’ve helped to save patients’ lives. It doesn’t get better than that.

Beyond her dental skills, Hashim possesses strong leadership chops. She is the new dentist committee chair for the Ninth District Dental Association, in Hawthorne, New York. “I make new dentists aware of all the American Dental Association has to offer with regard to wellness, career choices and finances,” she says. “I act as a voice for new dentists and coordinate fun, interactive and informative events.”

She also serves as a New York State Dental Association delegate, lobbying legislators in Albany on behalf of her profession. In that post, she makes certain politicians know the concerns of dentists from helping to keep their insurance rates reasonable to improving access to care.

“I believe it’s hugely important to be part of a community,” says Hashim, who is 30 and lives in Yonkers. “I’ve always been involved in advocacy and activism, and I always will be.”

She attended McGill University in Montreal, where she majored in anatomy and cell biology and business management. Rigorous academics did nothing to lessen her entrepreneurial passion. She created YouthStart, a social entrepreneurship project, part of the global nonprofit group Enactus. “We implemented a business plan workshop in various Montreal high schools, where we held competitions for the best student business plans,” says Hashim, who in addition to English, speaks French and Arabic. “The kids also had to learn to pitch their ideas.”

Once at Touro, she took on a project that married her desire to help future patients with her drive to organize and create whatever she believed was needed: Touro College of Dental Medicine became an official member of the American Student Dental Association. Hashim became one of its first presidents. Under her leadership, the Touro chapter raised money to send students to national conferences, created a mentorship program and a “Spa Day” for fellow dental students in desperate need of balance in their busy academic lives.

Raised in Upstate New York by a dentist father and OB-GYN mother, Hashim knew her career would be in the medical field. “At various times we had my grandparents—on both sides—living with us,” she recalls. “I loved helping care for them, listening to them, being with them, whatever they needed or wanted I loved doing. It’s where I learned that I love to help and heal people.”

Hashim completed her residency at Montefiore Medical Center and now works as a general dentist, but also performs other services from cosmetic improvements to jaw pain to sleep apnea issues. Like everything else in her life, Hashim does not do half measures. She works full time, practicing general dentistry with her father in his full-service office in Poughkeepsie. “I have always been a hard worker and a perfectionist,” she says. “It works great for dentistry.”