Jared Lush (DDS’24) and Zohreh Erfanian (DDH’01). Photo by Bruce Bottomley

Scholarships are a sought-after currency among students. Not only do they recognize achievements, but they also help cover the high costs of education. It’s not often that a graduating student decides to create a scholarship even before their first day at work, but that’s just what Jared Lush (DDS’24) decided to do.

Compassion, selflessness, and determination are the “greatest traits a dentist can possess,” Lush said in his valedictory speech at the DDS class of 2024 graduation dinner in May 2024. These are traits he himself possesses in abundance.

It turns out that he had a good role model and mentor in Zohreh Erfanian (DDH’01), an independent dental hygienist and Iranian immigrant in Gander, NL, whom Lush worked for when he was in high school. He assisted with the “administrative side of running her business” and worked as a receptionist. Lush loved interacting with patients and the experience helped confirm oral health was the field for him.

“It reassured me that it was a career where I could help people and be a social person,” he says.

A gift from the heart

Erfanian always supported his aspirations, Lush says, and that support grew over time. While Lush was completing his undergraduate degree in biochemistry-nutrition at Memorial University, Erfanian’s brother Ashkan — the only one of her immediate family also to live in Canada — died as the result of a chemical leak at the office in Alberta where he worked as a security guard.

“I saw Zohreh during that time,” Lush says, “and you could see the grief and hurt she was going through.”

When Lush began his dentistry studies in 2020, Efranian continued to encourage him. She also deposited a significant sum of money in his bank account to support his studies, something she continued to do each year of his dentistry degree.

“Zohreh said she wanted to help support me through dental school,” Lush says. “She said I had helped her a lot and looked out for others. She said she wanted to do it in honour of her brother — to keep his memory alive.”

Upon finishing his dentistry degree, Lush knew he wanted to repay Efranian in some way.  “I was very grateful to her,” he says, “but it didn’t feel right to accept the money and not do something in return.”

Lush considered various ways to thank Efranian for her gift, but it was his fiancée, Sierra, who suggested creating a scholarship in Ashkan Efranian’s honour. Lush took the idea to Efranian, who was both moved and in favour of it.

The next step was to talk to the Faculty’s development officer, Melanie Bremner, about the details of the scholarship.

Working out the details

It was agreed that the total gift would be $7,500, pledged over five years at $1,500 per year. Each $1,500 award will be split evenly and awarded annually, with $750 for a recipient in the Diploma of Dental Hygiene program and $750 for the recipient in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program.

To be considered for the award, recipients must be in good academic standing and enrolled in the final year of either the DDH or DDS program. Further, recipients “will have made an effort to cultivate a sense of community within the Faculty and are friendly, considerate, and generous to fellow students, faculty, and staff.”

“I didn’t want it to be based just on academic performance,” Lush says.

Preference will be given to recipients who are “compassionate healthcare providers, exceptional communicators, and show kindness and patience to those in their care,” and who “show perseverance, determination, and courage throughout their education.”

Lush says Efranian’s perseverance and determination as an immigrant to Canada inspired the final criterion for the scholarship.

In the future, he hopes to create an endowed fund for the scholarship. Right now, however, he is happy that his vision is taking shape quickly and that Efranian is pleased.

“I think that by creating this scholarship and naming it after her brother, Zohreh and I are part of it together,” Lush says. “And it gives me the opportunity to pay forward what she did for me.”

Efranian says she is grateful to Lush and Dalhousie for creating the scholarship to honour her brother who, even though he worked as a security guard, was a teacher who believed that, as a people, we are here to share knowledge and help others to reach their full potential.

“To overcome the most difficult part of my life — losing my beloved brother — I had to follow his kindness and wishes,” Efranian says.

The first Mr. Ashkan Erfanian Scholarships will be awarded at the 2025 graduation banquets.