Firas Shalabi is now known by another name. That is because in May, Firas graduated from the CMU College of Medicine and will officially begin his career as Dr. Firas Shalabi. This tremendous accomplishment is a testament to his hard work at CMU, but Shalabi would be the first to say he owes equally as much of his success to the quality education he received before he left for college.

Shalabi graduated from Central Academy, a small multicultural charter public school in Ann Arbor authorized by CMU. It was there he made the decision to pursue a career in medicine following his exposure to courses in biological sciences. But in addition to the curriculum, Shalabi feels his time at Central Academy prepared him to succeed in medical school at CMU.

“I attended Central Academy for 10 years, which allowed me to develop and appreciate long-lasting relationships with my teachers and classmates. I also appreciated having a smaller class size, something I was able to value again when I was part of a class of 104 at CMED,” Shalabi said.

Central Academy’s impact on his life thus far has not been lost on Shalabi. He continues to seek out ways in which he can give back to the school and community that has given him so much by acting as a mentor to the school’s students and sharing his story with the whole student body at Central Academy’s Alumni Career Day.

Shalabi also brought with him to CMU that same desire to give back and stay involved on campus. As a medical student, Shalabi was active in several medical-related student interest groups, served on the Medical Student Council as treasurer and secretary, was involved in organizing the annual “Diversity Health Spotlight Symposium,” and was part of a group of medical students that organized and hosted the “Medical Student/Physician Suicide Awareness Program.”

Shalabi will be starting his residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, but he has some valuable wisdom he’d like to leave behind. “Success is not hindered by a lack of resources, but rather, determined by how you make use of the resource that ARE available to you.”