Physicians Making an Impact: Meet Dr. Maryam Hussain

Raised in a family of five generations of doctors, medicine seemed like the de facto career for Dr. Fatima Maryam Hussain, who resolved to become a physician when she was just five years old. But for her, becoming a doctor was more than a matter of lineage; it was legacy. Growing up in Pakistan, Dr. Hussain recalls hearing stories of her maternal grandfather’s bedside manner and incredible ability to listen. “People used to say that 50% of a patient’s disease process was cured just by speaking to him,” Dr. Hussain said. “That, as a child, planted a seed in me – that this is what I wanted to do.”

Dr. Hussain embarked on her journey to medicine with the single-minded focus of a fifth-generation physician. Under the Commonwealth education system, Dr. Hussain entered medical school after finishing high school. She was completing a five-year course at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland when, in her fourth year, her family decided to move to Canada. Shifting her focus to the North American healthcare system, Dr. Hussain went on to write her American and Canadian medical exams and undertake three years of residency in internal medicine at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado. 

Residency was revelatory for Dr. Hussain. While she enjoyed the intellectual challenge and nuances of each case, it also enabled her to engage with patients in a way that, to this day, remains deeply rooted in her culture and upbringing. “I realized that I connected really well with the geriatric population,” Dr. Hussain said. “That, to some extent, is based on the culture I come from, where elders in a community are given a great deal of respect. Wisdom comes from our elders, but they’re also a vulnerable population that needs advocates.”

For Dr. Hussain, the complexity of geriatric medicine was unmatched among other subspecialties. As she grew in her practice, she understood that, in the absence of a cure for many age-related conditions like dementia, there was still so much that could be done to improve a patient’s quality of life and care. Listening – with depth and with empathy – was healing.

“A lot of what we deal with in geriatrics is irreversible, so we have to create a therapeutic relationship that is both natural and efficient,” remarked Dr. Hussain. “As physicians, it behooves us to give people the space to tell their stories, because there is healing that comes from developing that therapeutic relationship. Geriatrics is a subspecialty that allows me to make people feel better just by listening to them.”

Following her residency in Colorado, Dr. Hussain returned to Canada to spend two years completing her clinical geriatric medicine fellowship training and serving as an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba. As the only geriatrics resident, Dr. Hussain had unprecedented access to her attending physicians, allowing her to mould a clinical style based on what she had learned from her teachers and all the skills she had gathered throughout her medical education. 

“One of the most important lessons I learned from my teachers is humility,” Dr. Hussain said. “Geriatricians have to see the bigger picture, not just the disease process in front of them. Our patients are part of a greater whole that includes family, friends, caregivers, faith groups, and lived experiences with the healthcare system. Geriatrics is an interdisciplinary team sport. What I want to formalize for my students is not only the complexity of the science of geriatric medicine, but also all the soft skills of an amazing clinician: knowing how to function in a team, having good bedside manner, and leveraging resources in the community to get the best outcomes for our patients.”

In 2011, Dr. Hussain joined William Osler Health System’s nascent Senior’s Health program, which had only one geriatrician and one clerical associate on staff at the time. Over the next 13 years, she would see the program grow into one of the largest interdisciplinary geriatric clinics in Canada, with over 20 allied health staff, seven full-time geriatricians, and world-first patient care models. 

The opening of the TMU School of Medicine was a serendipitous opportunity for Dr. Hussain. As geriatrics was one of the central pillars of TMU’s residency program, it was a natural corollary with the mandate of the Osler senior care program that she had helped nurture for so many years. “Joining TMU was like coming home in one way,” she recounted. “I am excited to train the next generation of doctors to not only excel at the science of geriatrics, but also to understand that there is an art to medicine that is all about interacting with other human beings in positive and fulfilling ways.”

Today, Dr. Hussain and her family are proud to call themselves Bramptonians. A mother of three teenagers, she is ready to take on new and exciting challenges in this next chapter of her career as Program Director of Geriatric Medicine at TMU’s School of Medicine. Part of her future vision is practical, such as hiring the best physicians for our residency program, aligning clinician researchers across pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical domains, and introducing geriatric medicine to incoming medical students as early as possible. Another part is aspirational: teaching medical students who want to give back to the community in the ways it needs most and, of course, imparting the invaluable wisdom she has received from her predecessors over the years, both elders and teachers alike.

“At TMU, there are different domains and resources for ongoing learning that are available to everyone – not just for students, but also clinical faculty and staff,” Dr. Hussain said. “That says a lot about the mindset of TMU. This is an organization that wants to continue to learn and adapt to the future. In geriatrics, it’s so easy to make a positive impact in people’s lives. We have an opportunity to create a better healthcare system for seniors in Peel Region, Canada, and around the world.”