Sinking Her Teeth into Success

Dentist. Mental health advocate. Occupational safety and health expert. Accomplished soprano. A black-belted martial artist. Dr Ashwini M Madawana @ Madawan, known to those around her as Dr Ash, is certainly a woman of many talents.

Dr Ash has also added another feather in her cap: she has just wrapped up her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at OUM.

“Many people said it was absurd for me to take up the programme. Since I am a practising dentist, they thought an MBA would be of no use to me. They said Jacks of all trades are always bound to fail,” Dr Ash explains.

“But I majored in Healthcare Management, which is relevant to my field of work. I believe this MBA will help me develop a more wholesome approach at work, so I can become a good administrator who can better relate with everyone without neglecting the welfare of my staff.”

Dr Ash (second from right) having a light-hearted moment with her staff.

Originally from Seremban, this energetic 30-year-old is currently attached to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kubang Kerian, so she commutes regularly between Kelantan and Negeri Sembilan. On top of doing her MBA, Dr Ash is also on course to complete her specialisation in paediatric dentistry. She completed her dentistry degree in India in 2016, and has been practising for almost five years.

Life seems to have treated her generously, but Dr Ash admits that the MBA was not as smooth-sailing as she had hoped.

“The Managerial Economics course was my Achilles’ heel!” she admits. “Coming from a scientific background, the course was so tough that I did poorly and almost gave up.”

Keeping up her job and study was also not easy. She had to spend time on her MBA at night, even while she was on-call, so she sometimes went back to work in the morning without a single wink. There were times she could not grasp a single thing from commerce-related courses, but her parents kept her motivated and Google helped her get the answers she needed.

Dr Ash says, “I believe that when we embark on something important, we must do so with passion and finish with finesse.”

With that spirit, she pushed herself to publish four journal articles in her final semester instead of just one that was required by the faculty. Her research papers have covered topics related to psychological health and job satisfaction among healthcare workers.

Personally, she has also published three books, two of them dedicated to her late father, and streams on Stigma Slayers, a podcast she created on Spotify to encourage dialogue on social stigmas.

“Through Stigma Slayers, I hope to give people some comfort knowing that I am the shoulder they can cry on, and the ear that will listen to their problems. They can simply post voice messages, and I will address their concerns on the podcast from time to time.”

Dr Ash will graduate from OUM this year. However, she is not quite done with studying.  She concludes, “Right now, I’m focused on completing my specialisation, and plan to go into paediatric oncology. We all have a limited time on Earth. I want to spend mine learning as much as possible to satisfy my knowledge-hungry soul.”

No matter what others may have said before, this Jill of all trades has also proven to be a master of all.

By Tengku Amina Munira