Ep. 13: From Starting Over to Finishing Strong ft. Dr. Salma Alasmar-Abdou

Lessons from a PhD by Dr. Anna AO

Episode notes

In this episode of Lessons from a Ph.D., Salma shares her powerful story of resilience and determination. After moving to Canada because of the war in Syria and having to restart her academic journey from scratch, she pushed through the challenges of graduate school, including completing her PhD while caring for a newborn. Salma opens up about starting over, balancing motherhood, and finding the strength to finish despite failed experiments and unexpected setbacks.

Tune in for an honest, inspiring conversation about perseverance, identity, and what it really takes to earn a PhD when life doesn’t go as planned.

Keywords
grad schoolunderrepresented studentsmotherhoodPhdacademia