Dr. Wasif Qayyum received his Bachelor of Dental Surgery from University of Karachi, Pakistan after which he completed a General Practice Residency. This provided him with practical core knowledge of dental practice and its various dental specialties. Due to his keen interest in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/Oral Medicine, he started his hospital-based residency in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery to develop expertise in the management of Oral & Maxillofacial pathologies. This three-year residency program provided him with both clinical skills in Oral Medicine/Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and teaching and research opportunities, for which he had developed a passion. Following completion of the residency program, Dr. Wasif joined teaching institutions to further his teaching, clinical, and research skills in Oral Medicine/Oral and Maxillofacial surgery. He practiced didactic and hands-on methods to educate undergraduate students. Realizing the importance of ethics in research, he completed an MSc program in Bioethics at the Aga Khan University Hospital. This two-year program prepared him to recognize the challenges regarding difficult cases, new technologies, and the inherent responsibilities of medical practitioners, enhancing his leadership capabilities in difficult decision-making situations.
During his time spent in clinical practice, Dr. Wasif remained frustrated by the incidence of mis- or late diagnosis of patients with oral cancer. Part of his frustration was due to his limited understanding of cancer biology. He considered that if he had a better underlying knowledge of basic cell biology, this could improve his own diagnostic skills and management of patients. In 2016, he entered the Oral Biology Program at the University of Alberta, Canada. He completed his Ph.D. in 2024. His Ph.D. project entailed understanding the interdependence between hyper-inflammation, Crohn’s Disease, Temporomandibular Joint Arthritis, and Periodontal Disease in a mouse model that uses overexpression of TNFα (a pro-inflammatory cytokine) as the source of inflammation.
With this firm footing in basic science, together with his years of clinical experience in head & neck pathology/oncology and dermatopathology, he decided it was the right time to make contributions to further evidence-based patient care and complete clinical specialty training in Oral Medicine. Dr. Wasif joined the Oral Medicine Residency program at University of California, San Francisco in July 2024, and currently he is working as a PGY-1 Resident in the Department of Oral Medicine.
