Dentistry's a family affair for Felix

Corey Felix is an officer-trainee in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Family means everything to Corey Felix.

To the 27-year-old second-year dental student, 'family' includes wife Tammy, two small children, relatives from West Arichat, N.S., the Faculty of Dentistry at Dalhousie and fellow members of the Mi'kmaq Nation.

Felix's "problem-solving mind" always attracted him to science. After graduating with a biochemistry degree from Mt. Allison, graduate studies in pharmacology drew him to Dalhousie. "I enjoy Halifax because we are close to family and friends. Dalhousie has a world-renowned capability in the medical research field so I knew I was coming to a good place."

Original career plans included medical school but after investigating, Felix chose dentistry as a more family-friendly option. "Dentistry is just a great career because most of the time, you're your own boss. You can work part-time, teach part-time and research part-time. It's very flexible, especially when you have kids."

After landing a job as a research technician with Dr. Richard Price at the Faculty of Dentistry, his path to dental school was set. "With Dr. Price, I've always been more of an apprentice than an employee. He provided me with a lot of opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise." Early in his career, Felix has already co-written research papers, run his own experiments and has won research awards.

Right now, he is working on several projects involving the effect of blue dental curing lights on various kinds of gingival (gum) tissue. Recently, he has received three awards — a $4000 Atlantic Aboriginal Health Research Program (AAHRP) grant, a $6000 Network for Oral Research Training and Health (NORTH) studentship and a $1400 AAHRP travel grant to make a presentation at the International Association for Dental Research's meeting in Maryland last month.

Felix is also the only Maritime student in his dental school class accepted as an officer-trainee in the Canadian Armed Forces. Balancing research, studies, family and military training requires expert time management. He credits his wife Tammy and his classmates as vital supports to a life which involves "minimal sleep."

Felix plans to encourage more aboriginal students to enroll in health professions and dentistry. "Aboriginal students can do great things. There is money out there to support them and they can develop a great research career."

In the future, Felix's military obligations will take him to other areas but he is eager to return. "Eventually, I would come back to this region, possibly teaching at Dal part-time and becoming actively involved in aboriginal dental health because it needs promotion."

But right now, his second-year dental studies keep him anchored happily here.

"We're a small class of 36 - almost like a small family. We get along just great and help each other out. The other thing is that the faculty is also like family. On the very first day of school here, that's what they told us - 'We consider ourselves a family and we look out for our students here.' It's not all academics. They look out for your welfare."