Tooth Talk: Q&A with Janvi Mody PERIO 23 28
In our Q&A series, “Tooth Talk,” we are sitting down with GSDM students and residents to learn more about their paths to Boston University, their time at GSDM, and how they have made Boston their home.
For the next edition, we spoke with Janvi Mody PERIO 23 28. She discussed how periodontology is the specialty for her and her evolving role in research projects.
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Questions and responses have been edited for clarity, context information, and length.
When did you first know you wanted to be a dentist?
For the longest time, I wanted to be a lawyer. Then, one day when I was in high school, I realized, “No, that’s not my personality. I am not someone who would want to be so argumentative.” I was then introduced to the human body and that is when I thought it would be great to be a healer and try to be involved with the noble profession of medicine. Dentistry is a good way to have it all with a good work-life balance.
Why did you want to specialize in periodontology?
Whenever someone asks me, “Why periodontology?” I say the cell is the basic unit of life, so I feel like periodontology is the basic unit of dentistry. It is the field that connects all the other fields. I was always so interested in clinics and research equally. Periodontology is a branch of dentistry that gives you the liberty of being involved in both fields equally.
You are originally from Mumbai. What led you to Boston?
One of my best friends moved here, and she couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful the city is. I think that’s one of the reasons why I always wanted to be here. When I was in the U.S. for the first time, I came to New York but, when I came to Boston to visit my friend, it felt so homey and so cute, which New York never could feel.
Why did you select GSDM for your residency?
When I was looking into dental schools and I came to GSDM, everyone was so sweet when I was visiting the school. Since you’re coming all the way away from home, you want to come to an environment where you feel like home. That’s what GSDM and Boston both made me feel like. We have great patients for such great learning opportunities. When I was looking for the periodontology programs, I saw that Dr. Serge Dibart, chair and professor of periodontology, was also doing research similar to what I was already doing back home so that’s what really drew me in.
You have been at GSDM for a few years now. What has your experience been like?
I can say Boston has become home. I always liked being someone who knows everything about their city. That’s what I was very scared about when I moved to a new city because I knew everything about Mumbai but, I’m always a city girl.
Tell me about your research journey.
Back home in Mumbai, India doesn’t have a lot of research resources. I always wanted to do my residency in the U.S. so I started by writing review papers for periodontology and presenting at conferences. I didn’t have a lot of access to research labs back then, so research over here has been very changing for me since this is my first research experience and now, I’m doing my own project. I’ll be defending it soon. It’s been a really great experience and a very fulfilling experience.
How did you get involved with your project on the protective effects of coffee on bone loss?
It started when I was presenting at conferences and writing research papers back home. I read about coffee and how it’s actually good for your bones, which was very intriguing and very exciting for me. I did look into that back then. When I came here and I was discussing projects with my mentor, he brought this up and we decided to just go ahead with this project. When I presented at American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research, everyone was with their coffees and they’re like, “Okay, I’m drinking my coffee, so tell me how’s that good from my bones.” It’s always a very exciting topic and everyone’s very interested in it.
What is your favorite part of being involved in research?
I think the whole fun part for me is learning it from scratch and then now being able to take over experiments independently. I was even coming in during the winter break and taking experiments on my own and my mentor was so confident about it. I’m now working on the osteoclast part of the bone, whereas my colleagues have worked previously on the osteoblast part of the bone. And what’s more exciting about my project is that we’re using bone slices, like real bone slices, and we’re culturing osteoclasts over them to see how they resorb the bone and when in the presence of coffee, how they would or would not resorb bone.
If you had any advice for a pre-dental student or somebody who has finished their pre-doctoral programs and was looking for post-doctoral opportunities, what advice would you give them?
Be yourself. Don’t get swayed or get moved away by all the stress and everyone else around you. Just continue to be yourself and you.
Getting familiar with Boston is one of the many perks of being part of the GSDM community. To end our conversation on a fun note, where is your favorite thing to do in Boston?
Getting a pistachio latte from Tatte and walking down to the Charles River.