The Rizvi family wasn’t unfamiliar with Michigan State University before Syed Rizvi joined the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Class of 2025 in 2021. In fact, his mother, Humaira Rizvi, M.D., at Ascension Providence Hospital – MSU College of Human Medicine’s Southeast Michigan Campus and a clerkship site for the College of Osteopathic Medicine – has served as a clinical assistant professor with both of MSU’s medical schools since 2021.
No one from the family, however, had attended the university or donned the green and white before Syed Rizvi entered East Fee Hall on his first day of medical school. Since that time, the family’s ties to MSU have grown deeper. His sister, Ramsha Rizvi, joined the MSU College of Human Medicine this year and the family gathered to celebrate her matriculation and white coat ceremony where she received her white coat on Aug. 19.
MSU is the only Big Ten university that is home to two medical schools training both physicians in osteopathic medicine earning a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, or D.O., and allopathic physicians earning a Medical Doctor degree.
It seemed natural for the siblings to follow their mother’s footsteps and pursue a career in medicine. However, the paths that brought both Syed and Ramsha Rizvi to MSU are different and result in interesting conversations.
Syed Rizvi came to MSU after graduating from Wayne State University where he earned a degree in kinesiology. While an undergrad at Wayne State, he had opportunities to work with D.O.s at the Detroit Medical Center – one of three medical training sites for the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s education. He not only got to know physicians from the college, but he also submersed himself in learning from them. During that time, he even submitted research that was published in the Spartan Medical Research Journal, working with Furqan Irfan, Ph.D., MBBS, assistant professor and director of research development, and Alla Sikorskii’s, Ph.D., M.S., faculty in Psychiatry, both at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“I learned more about osteopathic medicine and saw first-hand their support of underprivileged populations,” he said. Knowing her son not only wants to be a physician, but also an advocate, Humaira Rizvi encouraged her son to pursue his D.O., believing that was the right path for him.