Hello,
Today is July 1st, 2018. It's a beautiful, hot, sunny day, and it's Canada Day! It's a beautiful country and I am very happy to be here. Two months ago, I celebrated 10 years in Canada! I wanted to make this blog then, but I was super busy with my Royal College exam and I didn't want to jinx things. My anniversary was April 29th and the first part of the exam was on May 1st, so I simply couldn't and shouldn't have focused on anything else. So, I will talk about it today.
I came to Canada on April 29th, 2008. It's been 10 years but I still remember that day well. After almost 3 years of waiting, prepping my dossier, taking exams of English and French, I was finally coming here. The irony was that it was my very first visit to Canada, ever! I was anxious, I was very Ukrainian then, and I remember the conversation with the immigration officer at the border. He asked me why I was so anxious and I said that I wanted everything to be perfect. And he said: "Don't be so, nothing is perfect, Canada is not perfect too, but it's a great place to live". God, he was so right! I remember crossing the yellow line on the floor of the airport and feeling like my new life started at that moment!
I came here with bare minimum of items, just a suitcase with clothes and minimal amount of cash that you simply had to have with you to become a permanent resident. These were amazing days - I walked down the streets of Toronto and enjoyed every moment. I was so happy even though I knew that there is a very long journey ahead to start practicing medicine again. I rented a room close to downtown and I could walk to UofT and all hospitals and I was hoping to find some medicine-related job there. Actually, my first job was in construction - my friend asked me to help with a project he was working on at Toronto Zoo. It was fun, but I quickly realized that it wasn't my calling. Also, itt was the only time I've been Toronto Zoo!
Soon after, I was walking down College street and I saw the Department of Psychiatry banner and I told to my buddy that I will work there soon. He laughed and said "no way!". So, the next day I put on my only suit and walked into that building and literally started asking for job there. Now, I know that it was the emergency department and I'm surprised that I wasn't admitted as a patient then. I ended up walking to the other site of this large institution where they had the HR department and I picked up several job postings. I was lucky as the very first e-mail I've sent was answered - I was applying for Research Analyst I position and was invited to the interview.
The interviewer was a very nice gentleman, who asked me if I can work in Canada in general - it was the beginning of May and I stated in my resume that I worked in Ukraine in April… And I even hadn't had my PR card yet! He also asked me why I was applying for this position as I was terribly overqualified being an MD and a PhD. I explained that I couldn't work as a physician and I was interested in doing some research in the field as it was the closest thing to psychiatry I could do here then. I was very enthusiastic and even said that one day they will know me as "Dr.Samokhvalov". I didn't get the job, but they offered me research fellowship and I was very happy then. I remember talking to my friends and relatives and telling them how lucky I felt and how happy I was.
And I was lucky. I learnt so much from this gentleman, Dr.Jürgen Rehm, who turned out to be one of the most prolific researchers in the field of addictions. I was always keen on science, but I never thought that there was so much more to learn. I studied a lot, I participated in research projects and that was the time I started publishing in international peer-reviewed journals and I learnt what it takes to actually get a publication through. A year and a half later this position transitioned into a clinical fellowship in addictions and, again, I learnt a lot of new things. I was a psychiatrist at that time, but I hadn't had that much experience in addictions and I got this experience in one of the largest hospitals in the world! And, most importantly, I was practicing again, less than 2 years since my landing!
Then I became an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of UofT and got my license to practise medicine in Ontario. Again, I was so happy and so proud! I worked a lot - clinical work, preparing for my exams, running some research projects, analysing data, writing articles, publishing them, presenting, teaching… I even had a TEDx talk! We had quite a few great research projects - in 2012 we helped communities in Northern Ontario with opioid use in aboriginal youth, and we also had several good clinical projects in Toronto and of course we had our DA VINCI project.
I was not only becoming a seasoned psychiatrist and a researcher, I was also doing a lot of things in my spare time, of which I obviously didn't have a lot. I was renovating places, I built my house and my home gym, I learnt to ride motorcycles and had a pretty bad accident), from which I learnt a lot both about myself and our healthcare system. I became a competitive shooter - in a couple of weeks I'm going to a provincial match! I learnt Krav Maga and, of course, I learnt a lot about nutrition, dieting, exercise physiology and many other things. I had a chance to apply my researcher's mindset to human nutrition, exercise physiology and eventually I came up with a very effective model we can use for body transformation and started Dr.Sam's Health.
These were great 10 years - I learnt a lot, I've done a lot and I am very grateful for all the fantastic opportunities I had. One of the things I learnt was to give back and that is the main reason for creating my website and my YouTube channel - I want to share my knowledge, my experience and my expertise with you. I want to inspire, to encourage and to help people to lead better, healthier lives! I hope that you find it useful and I wish all the very best today and ever! Happy Canada Day, my friends!
Sincerely Yours,
Dr.Sam