NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Spring 2019

22 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE ALUMNI Impressions More like sisters than mother and daughter, 2018 CDM graduates Naghmeh Taherian, D.M.D., and Tara Derakhshandeh, D.M.D., are best friends. When the two studied at the CDM at the same time to earn their degrees, Derakhshandeh said she idolized her mother even more than she ever realized she could. Derakhshandeh said she discovered attributes of her mother she hadn’t noticed before during their three years together at the CDM. “She was always my best friend, but now more so,” she explained. “She was my classmate, my coworker, and my mom. I noticed details about her personality and what a strong woman she is. Having her with me in dental school was a big opportunity.” The goal for the mother-daughter CDM graduates is to have a dental practice together. Derakhshandeh, who is newly married to 2015 CDM alumnus Farid Mastali, D.M.D., is working in a dental practice in Melbourne, Florida, in the same company as her husband. “Eventually, we will join with my mother to open a family dental practice in Orlando,” she said. For now, Taherian is working in Orlando. She chose to move to a larger city, away from her daughter, but not too far, because of her youngest son, Parsa, who is a high school senior. “Melbourne is small, and I wanted to be in a city because of Parsa and his finishing school,” she explained. In the fall of 2019, Parsa, who plans to become a dentist, will attend the University of Central Florida as a biology major. Since the mother and daughter wanted to stay close, Derakhshandeh said they are only about an hour away from one another, which was especially important as she prepared for her recent wedding. COMING TO AMERICA The road to the CDM for mother and daughter began in 2009, when the family was granted an immigrant visa in an annual lottery. They immigrated to Houston, Texas, where an uncle lived. “We needed to go somewhere where we had family,” Taherian said. “Everything was so strange for us. I got a small apartment, and then everyone started working, studying—the immigrant’s life.” Derakhshandeh had already completed a year of dental school in Iran, but when the family came to the United States, she attended a U.S. college, graduating from the University of Houston. Still, her sights were set on following in her mother’s footsteps. She has happy memories of going to her parents’ dental office in Iran after school, where she would watch her mother interact with patients. “She was confident, and she talked to people,” Derakhshandeh recalled. “I liked how everyone respected her. It was such a social profession.” Her father, Houshang Derakhshandeh, was also a dentist in Iran. Taherian said her husband will be involved in the business side of things when the family opens its own practice. Taherian told the Miami Herald it was the kindness of her own dentist in the city she grew up in—Iran’s capital, Tehran—and how the woman would calmly explain each procedure that influenced her career choice. Early on, she knew she wanted to be involved in the medical field, and when faced with three career paths to choose from—medicine, pharmacy, or Dental Dynasty Studies Brought Mother and Daughter Even Closer BY MICHELLE F. SOLOMON “She helped me with the computer stuff and the record keeping, and I helped her with the patient treatments.” —Naghmeh Taherian ALUMNI IMPRESSIONS