From Dublin to Toronto: how a dentistry couple are conquering their graduate degrees together

By Rachel Boutet

When Jarlath Mc Donnell and his partner Varsha Lal completed their dental degrees at Trinity College Dublin, they knew they wanted to gain some worldly experience before settling back in their home country. After both being admitted to U of T, they began the next chapter of their education on Canadian soil.

“We applied to a lot of places and ideally wanted to be together and not too far from home,” says Mc Donnell, who is currently in his first year at the Faculty’s orthodontics graduate specialty program. “U of T is very well-known in Ireland – there are a lot of famous orthodontists there – so it was high on my list when looking at graduate programs.”

Another key factor was looking for a top-tier school that offered both orthodontics and pediatric dentistry, Lal’s chosen area of study.

“I always knew I wanted to work with children, and after Jarlath and I both worked in Ireland following graduation, we wanted to see a new place,” says Lal, who is in her first year at the Faculty’s pediatric dentistry graduate specialty program. “There is a long history of Irish dentists studying abroad and coming back after.”

Mc Donnell grew up around dentistry, his mom a pediatric dentist in their family practice in Ireland. He liked it from a young age and completed his dental degree right after high school. Lal chose dentistry because of her love of science and the appeal of working with her hands. Their keen interest in dentistry and time together at school brought them together.

“We did our own thing a lot because we were in different clinics,” she says. “But we had a mutual friend and started to spend more time together outside of school and studying. We had a lot of hobbies in common as well – we do love talking about teeth!”

It’s a real wealth of institutional knowledge here at the Faculty of Dentistry

Mc Donnell says that it’s nice to have a partner who understands the complexities of your day-to-day learnings and experiences and is grateful they could come to U of T together to continue to support each other.

They are both also able to relate to the differences of studying in Ireland versus Canada, especially at the top dental school in the country.

“It’s a very different educational setting here than in Ireland,” says Mc Donnell. “It’s much larger, there are more professors and a whole host of supervisors. It’s a real wealth of institutional knowledge here at the Faculty of Dentistry.”

Lal agrees, noting that with more people, comes more diversity.

“There are so many people from all over the world with different backgrounds,” she says. “You see difference in opinions, knowledge and even techniques. The more people you interact with, the more you learn.”

Although they love Toronto, including living downtown, its walkability, multiculturalism, and so far, quite mild winter, they ultimately plan on returning to Dublin.

“I love the city of Toronto, but I really love Dublin,” says Mc Donnell. “We’re looking forward to the next few years here and then taking our learnings and experience back home.”

Top photo: Mc Donnell and Lal at their graduation in the at Trinity College Dublin