TNMU Intern Is Completing Internship at Dalhousie University in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada)

TNMU intern Yaryna Tylchak had the opportunity to participate in internship program at Dalhousie University in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada). Today, she is involved in the implementation of 4 projects:

1. Study of the dental status of people who have completed the treatment of oncological diseases of the maxillofacial area.

2. Oral health status in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Barriers and facilitators of access to dental care for newly arrived Ukrainians in Nova Scotia.

4. Assessment of the dental status of migrants in the Halifax municipal community.

Yaryna Tylchak participates in the planning of these projects, recruiting patients, conducting anamnesis collection, dental examination, developing a treatment plan, conducting in-depth interviews, etc. TNMU doctor is interning under the supervision of Professor Heather Doucet, a licensed dental hygienist and associate professor in the School of Dental Hygiene in the Faculty of Dentistry with 28 years of clinical experience, and Professor Violet Desouza, a dental practitioner and public health specialist.

Yaryna Tylchak has already shared her first results at the 19th Crossroads interdisciplinary scientific conference, which was attended by medical specialists from across Canada. During it, she talked about the main aspects of her project.

“Despite the full-scale war, we must continue to develop Ukrainian medicine and science,” Yaryna says. “International experience can play an important role in this, which can later be implemented at home.”

Today, Dalhousie University is the best educational institution in Atlantic Canada. Dalhousie’s leading position in world rankings is an important indicator of the university’s effectiveness in research and teaching, as well as a key tool for attracting the best researchers and foreign specialists. Dalhousie is now among the top 12 universities in Canada (Times Higher Education). Located at Carleton’s campus in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Faculty of Dentistry has a rich history and has maintained a tradition of excellence for over 100 years.

Participation in the internship gave Yaryna Tylchak the opportunity to improve her knowledge and practical skills, to establish inter-university connections in order to provide Ukrainian students with the opportunity to gain international experience in the facilities of leading Western institutions. “Once, one of the lecturers of the dental faculty in Dalhousie come up to me and asked me to help with the search for a Ukrainian student in his laboratory. I immediately contacted several students of TNMU, because I really wanted a student from my alma mater to get this chance,” Yaryna said. The result was that Bohdana Bila, a 5th-year student of TNMU Faculty of Dentistry, started her project this summer after a difficult selection process at Dalhousie University in the laboratory of dentist and professor Richard Price.

Also, Yaryna Tylchak took part in the organization of the world exhibition “Unpublished Diplomas”, which took place in 45+ universities. She and her Ukrainian colleagues from the university, Kateryna Rudenko and Artem Kichydzhy, coordinated the installation at St. Mary’s University and the city library. The concept of the exhibition includes 36 stories of students who will never graduate from higher education institutions because they were killed by Russia. The main goal was to honour the deceased Ukrainian students and remind the world that the full-scale war is still going on and it is taking innocent lives every day. The initiative also managed to collect funds for the purchase of reconnaissance drones and medical equipment. Yaryna Tylchak, Kateryna Rudenko, and Artem Kichydzhy were invited to the Nova Scotia Parliament to be recognized for their significant contributions in bringing the mission of the Unpublished Diplomas exhibition to the Halifax community. As part of the visit, she and other organizers managed to meet and talk about their professional assets and new prospects for Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation with the Prime Minister of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, and the Minister of Education, Brian Wong.

Yaryna Tylchak expresses her deepest appreciation to the administration of TNMU, the Faculty of Postgraduate Education, Ternopil Dental Polyclinic, Dalhousie University, the Canadian internship support organization “Mitacs” and Research Nova Scotia for Ukrainians for the support and ability to participate in this internship.