COMMENCEMENT 2025

A Career to Love

After a long, introspective journey, Margella Elad ’18, DDS ’25 found a career path in dentistry. Then, an experience with the USC Mobile Clinic inspired her to use her degree to provide treatment to pediatric patients.

BY JAMIE WETHERBE MA ’04

MARGELLA ELAD HAD LONG DREAMED OF becoming a healthcare professional but had been unsure on which specialty to pursue for years. “I spent my whole undergrad career trying to figure it out,” she says. “I didn’t know I wanted to do dentistry until my last semester.”

While completing her undergrad in human biology at USC, Elad explored a range of programs, from clinical medicine to physical therapy.

She was looking for a career that would allow her to help patients and prioritize family — something she valued growing up.

Right up Her Alley

Elad’s parents immigrated from Cameroon, Africa, both pursuing careers in health care. Elad’s mother was an in-home nurse working with children with special needs. Her father, also a nurse, worked two jobs — at an adult developmental center during the day and in a mental health facility for prisoners at night.

“My parents were constantly at our sporting events,” Elad says. “If it was a late game, my dad might be falling asleep in the stands as a result of him working two jobs, but it was meaningful to have him there. When I have kids, I want to be able to be there for them.”

As her undergraduate studies were wrapping up, Elad, president of USC’s student-led African Americans in Health, organized a panel of healthcare professionals to discuss their backgrounds and careers.

When the dental panelists from USC shared the level of care they provided while balancing family, Elad realized she’d found her calling.

“It sounded right up my alley,” Elad says. “I shadowed dentists and students at Ostrow — that’s when I realized, I like this.”

Trojan Through and Through

While Elad explored dental schools across the country, her heart was set on USC. “I’d heard nothing but great things about the program; I’m a Trojan through and through,” she says.

So are Elad’s parents — at heart, at least. “They’re probably bigger Trojans than I am,” she says. “When they first came to L.A., they lived close to campus. In fact, I’ve never had to buy any of my USC gear; it’s all from my dad.”

Before starting back at her alma mater, Elad had some prerequisite classes to take. She also worked in dental offices to deepen her understanding of the profession.

“I was lucky to find a temp agency that focused on jobs in health care,” she says. “But it wasn’t easy taking organic chemistry and working full time.”

A Natural Talent

Once at Ostrow, Elad immediately took on leadership roles, serving as an Ostrow ambassador, along with joining the Student National Dental Association, a national organization focused on supporting and advancing the interests of minority students in dentistry.

These positions built her confidence and her network.

“There aren’t many of us in the African American community at USC,” she says. “We strive to connect and push each other, which is important when you don’t see as many people who look like you.”

Initially, Elad was set on going into general dentistry. But as graduation approached, she had a change of heart.

In June, she completed a rotation in USC’s mobile clinic, which treats low-income children often coming to the dentist for the first time.

“They’re facing something foreign and scary,” she says. “Being able to be that first experience for them, and make it positive, that really drew me in.”

After observing her interactions with young patients, one of the pediatric dentists working with the mobile clinic pulled Elad aside.

“He said, ‘You just have a natural talent for working with kids,” she says. “You should really consider pediatrics.”

It was advice that Elad decided to take.

“That week at the mobile clinic was the first time I was going to work, but I didn’t feel like I was working,” she says. “This was the exact feeling I’d been looking for — that anybody wants — doing something you genuinely love.”