New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Veterinarian from Sudan realizes dream
Opens own practice here
BRANFORD — Some 20 years ago, Dut Malek came to the United States with aspirations of owning his own veterinary practice, a journey that spanned two continents, over the two decades.
Now, as he sits in his 1,800- squarefoot office, his German shepard Bella at his feet, he talks about the journey and realizing his dream.
“It is exciting and it is scary, at the same time” the 52-year-old owner of Lakes Veterinary Services. “You don’t know who’s going to walk through the door, whether it’s going to be a flood or there will be a trickle or there will be a buildup. We don’t know, it’s all up in the air.”
One of his first customers, Guilford’s Jessica Catlin and Jax, her 5-month-old rescue dog, were in recently for the distemper, Lyme and leptospirosis vaccines. Malek was her first call when she considered taking in the pit bull rottweil er mix.
“I had a friend who brought up that she knew of a dog that was looking for a home, and I met him, and right away I called Dr. Malek and I said to him,
‘It’s spur of the moment, but can you get me in, because he has nothing?’” she said, of working with Malek to get care for Jax. “They got me in right away.
“I was thrilled. I know how great he is, normally, and then I was thrilled when I heard that he opened his own place. I knew exactly where I wanted to bring Jax from the start.”
Malek’s dreams of opening a veterinary practice have been in the planning stages for almost four years, yet it was six months ago, that he started seeing patients.
“I intended to make it a mobile vet,” he said. “But somehow it didn’t work.”
He now offers services that include preventative care; dental care; radiology; surgical procedures, including spay neuter, biopsies and mass removals; pain management and end of life care for small animals, including dogs, cat, guinea pigs and the occasional bunny. The office has an in-house laboratory, as well as an in-house pharmacy.
The building that Lakes Veterinary Services occupies, at 201 E. Main St., has always been a veterinary office, starting with the practice of Philip Gerlach in the 1950s.
Malek worked with Robert Schaper when this now semi-retired veterinarian practiced in this same spot.
“He was helpful,” Malek said. “He was my trainer, so to speak, since I started with him here as a technician.”
Schaper has been a Connecticut vet for over 40 years, and worked with Malek when he first arrived in the United States.
Malek graduated with a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from Egypt’s Assiut University in 1993.
Yet, due to Sudan’s civil war, known as the Forgotten War, he was unable to return to his homeland. The war, between the north and the south, lasted from 1983 to 2005.
“I’m from Sudan and I did my vet school there (Egypt) while the war was raging back home and we couldn’t go back when I graduated,” Malek said. “We couldn’t get employment in Egypt, so we had to resettle somewhere.
“Either you join the rebellion, the soldiers, or you go with the government that is hostile to the South Sudanese or you resettle somewhere like me.”
After five years in Egypt, he immigrated to the U.S. Asked how he felt about that, he was very introspective. “It is what it is,” he aid. “We have no power to change anything. We’ve got to adapt to a new situation.”
It was during this time that the U.S. helped resettle refugees from around the world.
In 1998, he settled in Guilford under the sponsorship of the First Congregational Church through Integrated Refugee & Immigration Service. Eight months later, his wife, Anyikor AcuilMalek, joined him in his new home.
He lived in an apartment and worked in various jobs, including working as a kitchen assistant at a Guilford restaurant, roasting coffee for Cilantro and cashier at Big Y, until he started studying at Oklahoma State University.
In 2007, he completed his studies at Oklahoma State University, College of Veterinary Medicine. His course of study included the academic review program/education commission for foreign veterinary graduate (ECFVG), a clinical year, training as a doctor under the supervision of the university, and successful completion of the North America Veterinary Licensing Examination. (NAVLE).