‘The guy who wrote that book’

An alum from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine has penned a comprehensive guide aimed at providing successful navigation of medical school.

Hazem Alakhras, M.D., OUWB ’23, is the author of “Med School Secrets: A Comprehensive Guide That Every Med Student Should Read.”

First published in 2023, more than 1,000 copies of the self-published book have been sold via Amazon.

Alakhras is now a third-year internal medicine resident at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital (WBUH) in Royal Oak. He recently matched into a cardiology fellowship at Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital.

With the book, he says, the hope is that others can have the kind of success he’s experienced.

“I’m huge into mentorship, tutoring, and generally guiding younger classes,” he says. “I’ve been doing it since high school … it’s a huge part of who I am. I just really love helping others.”

‘Addicted to learning’

Alakhras grew up in Troy, Michigan. He attended Oakland University as an undergraduate, before earning a medical degree from OUWB.

He was motivated to pursue medicine by a formative childhood experience: his mother’s prolonged hospitalization after she had a seizure when he was 7 years old.

“I don’t remember much, but I remember my dad saying that I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep … wouldn’t do anything. All I would do is just be by my mom’s side,” he said.

As he aged, Alakhras says he started asking questions.

“I wanted to know what happened … what a seizure is and everything,” he says. “I got addicted to learning about what things can happen to people and what I can do to help prevent it. Helping people turned into a passion.”

Alakhras says OUWB prepared him well for residency at WBUH. It also helped that he matched at one of OUWB’s affiliated hospitals.

“Being in the same system with the same people in the same environment made it very easy to make the transition from med school to residency,” he says. “Obviously, it’s a big transition … but I was very happy and it wasn’t as daunting as I expected it to be.”

Between med school and residency, Alakhras did something most newly minted doctors don’t do: he wrote a book.

‘Honestly amazing’

During his third and fourth years of medical school, Alakhras says he became a go-to mentor for younger students.

He informally advised them on studying, resources, rotations, research, and specialty choice.

He kept track of the questions and began organizing them: first into a PDF and then a formal presentation that he showed to incoming and pre-med students.

“About 100 people attended,” he says. “I got a lot of good feedback … people took my number and kept asking more questions.”

Alakhras says he was motivated to go bigger.

During his fourth year of medical school, he took all the questions and notes he had compiled and organized them into a book.

“Honestly, I didn’t take it too seriously at first,” he says. “Then I realized that I could actually do this thing.”

According to part of the description on Amazon, the book “offers a unique perspective on the medical school experience. Its informal and conversational style is unlike any other med school book.”

Alakhras says it’s arranged chronologically from pre-med to the time right before residency starts.

Originally, he kept both his identity and his school anonymous “to avoid possible negative perceptions from residency program directors.

Over time, Alakhras says he’s been encouraged to be more open about it – especially by the positive feedback.  

For example, at the “Alumni & Student Mixer: Specialty Speed Dating-Style Event” hosted by OUWB on Nov. 11, he says several students recognized him.

“They were like, ‘Oh you’re the guy who wrote that book? Why don’t you tell people about it?’” he says. “Honestly, it made me realize they had a point. I should just tell people about it.”

And for someone who views mentorship as core to his very being, Alakhras says it’s a good feeling.

“It’s honestly amazing,” he says. “It started off as a project for fun … I never expected it to actually impact people. It’s been such a humbling experience.”

“Med School Secrets: A Comprehensive Guide That Every Med Student Should Read,” is available for Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.