COVID-19 Update: For Desai, the last couple of months have been filled with online courses as well as virtual celebrations for her dentistry classmates who’ve gotten married. She is currently preparing for her residency program next month at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, where she’ll start as a PGY-1 in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry.

“During this time, I’ve also been working with class presidents of graduating classes of dental schools across the country, advocating for graduating dental students in terms of adapting graduation requirements to reflect the unique circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to updating licensure requirements to not only accommodate for restrictions due to COVID-19, but also to help modernize our standards for licensure,” Desai says.

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Bhakti Desai ’16 starts each day with the intention to “lead a life of significance,” advice from President Emeritus Gen. Charles C. Krulak that she will never forget.

With those words in mind, Desai is already working toward improving life for people in Birmingham.

At the end of her first year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry, she applied for the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF), a program intended to prepare the next generation to serve others and create healthier communities. She submitted an outline for implementing an oral health education program at Cahaba Valley Health Care.

After her project was chosen to be funded, she spent one year teaching the community about preventative dental care.

“I thought I would have to wait to make a difference, but realized that if I kept pushing it off it would never happen. I decided to intentionally put time toward giving back to others,” Desai says.

She credits her BSC experience with preparing her to make a difference. Participating in the Harrison Honors Program, Southern Ambassadors, the orientation team, and Pi Beta Phi forced Desai out of her comfort zone. She specifically remembers the presentation skills she developed through the Harrison Honors Program.

Desai appreciated how the BSC environment gave her room to grow, allowing her to voice her own opinion and think outside of the box.

“It was the best four years of my life,” Desai says. “BSC cultivates potential, and the one-on-one environment helped me grow personally and academically.”

While she experienced a shift in her reserved personality, one thing that did not change for Desai after high school was her focus on pursuing pediatric dentistry.

She was selected as a representative at the 2018 ASF National Conference, where she was able to recharge around other individuals fighting for something meaningful.

Focused on serving her community while completing her degree, Desai is able to see issues in healthcare firsthand. This has piqued her interest in public policy, as a way to mitigate the problems she finds on a day-to-day basis.

“The more I see, the more prepared I am to fix issues in the future.”

This story was published in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of ’Southern, BSC’s alumni magazine.

If you have ideas for our next issue of ’Southern, please email [email protected]. We always welcome stories about outstanding people from the BSC community.