From the humanities to healing: History degree complete, Zarqum Masood looks to a future in medicine

Intensive study of the humanities made Zarqum Masood a better person.

He has no doubt it also will make him an engaged, fully present physician.

“Medical schools want you to be a full person with a breadth of experience,” says Masood, who will accept his bachelor’s degree in history, summa cum laude, during the Commencement ceremony for Rowan University’s College of Humanities & Social Sciences on Tuesday, May 13.

“My path to becoming a physician is unusual, but I know what I’m doing. Medical school is a long journey of learning. The commitment to learning is enticing for me.”

A Pakistani American, Masood has known for years medicine would be his path. Yet, he intentionally chose to pursue his undergraduate degree in the humanities, seeking out experiences that challenged him intellectually and personally.

Hobbits…and Bohemians

Consider “Hobbits and Bohemians,” a course he took—somewhat begrudgingly, he admits—through his study in the John H. Martinson Honors College.

“I didn’t care about Hobbits,” Masood says, dismissively.

But by the end of the course—taught by Rowan History Professor Stephen Hague—Masood was hooked.

By focusing on two groups of Brits in the early 20^th century—Inklings, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, who created the fictional Hobbits, and the Bloomsbury group, free-spirited “bohemians” such as Virginia Woolf—the course examined themes of friendship, class, war, gender, sexuality, science and industry, nature, religion, and art and space

Masood consistently ponders a basic question the class explored: How should we live in the modern world?

“I learned how the characters changed through their lives,” Masood explains. “It helped teach me about living—that you can use what’s happening in your life to improve yourself and your work. I learned how messy and confusing life is as well.”

The parallels between studying history and practicing medicine are clear to Masood. Medicine, like history, is about consuming and analyzing vast amounts of information and then using facts to establish a position. Both fields include aspects of teaching and sharing knowledge, something Masood pursues with vigor.

“The humanities have taught me the interconnectedness of things,” Masood says. “My study of history will affect the way I approach situations when I’m a doctor.”

Connecting with patients

Physicians who keenly understand the communities they serve are better doctors, Masood notes. He saw that for himself when he was a research assistant in the Emergency Department at Cooper University Hospital.

He shadowed emergency staff and interviewed patients for a study on physician compassion and care quality. Adept at interviewing—his senior thesis on feudalism endurance in Pakistan included oral histories—he spent quality time learning about patients’ experiences while, at the same time, devouring a book chronicling Cooper’s long, proud history.

“Learning the history made me so much more interested in the community and its needs,” says Masood. “As a physician, you have to understand a community’s history, beliefs and values. It was so interesting to me to see the experiences of patients beyond medicine. I think I was able to help improve their experiences.

“With patients, I learned to not come from a place of judgement, but from a place of understanding.”

Masood also completed the Premedical Urban Leaders Summer Enrichment (PULSE) program at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Unsurprisingly, CMSRU is Masood’s first—and only—choice for medical school. The medical school’s unwavering mission to train physicians committed to community service, involvement and education resonates to his core. He will apply to CMSRU for fall of 2026.

“I love their commitment to education and to the community. I haven’t seen another medical school with a mission like theirs—to serve others,” says Masood, who grew up in Edison, the son of parents who own a taxi service. Masood’s sister is an internal medicine physician. His brother is in dental school.

The Masoods ingrained in the family that education is “the key for a better life, not only for you but for the people around you,” he says.

Masood expects to pursue a specialty in either surgery or infectious disease. Good with his hands—he’s fixed more taxis than you can count, he jokes—Masood thinks surgery would be a good fit. But he also is considering infectious disease.

“I like the community aspect of infectious disease…educating the population, treating them,” he says.

Language immersion in India

Before entering medical school, Masood will continue his humanities studies this summer through a 10-week critical language scholarship to Lucknow, India.

Sponsored by the Department of State’s Institute of International Education, the scholarship will allow Masood to study Urdu, a critical step in his goal of serving South Asian immigrant communities as a physician.

In his first year at Rowan, Masood worked as a translator for uninsured patients, translating in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and English on behalf of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America in Plainfield.

“It showed me the power of language in healthcare,” says Masood. “I saw patients’ faces relax when they heard their treatment plans in their language. I realized language is more than communication. It’s a way to break through fear and create lasting trust.”

Graduating in three years with multiple awards, including the best undergraduate paper award for his research on the Bangladesh genocide, Masood last summer joined a study abroad program focusing on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. The group completed coursework across four European countries.

“Europe was so diverse,” he says. “I met people from everywhere. I loved that my professors also were immersing themselves in further education.”

Masood’s curiosity, intellectual pursuits and compassion will make him an excellent physician, says Rowan historian Jody Manning, who led the study abroad experience, presented by the Rowan Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights.

“Zarqum did as much as he could on his study abroad. He took full advantage of it and he also was a great cultural ambassador, not only for America, but for Rowan,” Manning says.

“To be a good doctor, you have to have a strong humanities component. He has all of that and more. He’s going to soar. He’s very caring, very sensitive…a very, very special person.”