Dental-Practice Owner Learned Business-Integrity Lessons from Jindal School
The Dallas Business Journal has named an alumna of the Naveen Jindal School of Management among its 40 Under 40 2022 honorees. Sara Mahmood, BS’11, MS’16, was selected for the award at age 32 for being the founder and owner of brush365, a dental practice with four locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Despite her success, Mahmood said she still has more to do.
“There’s still so much left to my story and the story of my company,” she said. “I almost think we’re still in the infant stages, so to be recognized at this point is a huge honor and I’m extremely humbled by it. But I can’t help but think just wait till you see where we are in five years or 10 years.”
During a recent interview, when asked about her company’s slogan and core value — Dentistry with Integrity — Mahmood said that it stems from her childhood experiences.
“I grew up with a family that moved around a lot,” she said. “One of the things that was always a challenge was in every new city or town, we had to find healthcare providers that we could trust.”
Mahmood said she often sees ads from other practices that try to capture customers with coupons and incentives.
“I always wanted to make it absolutely evident and apparent that my brand is honest and we stand for integrity,” she said. “When patients come to any of my practices, I want them to know that they can trust us. What I want them to really understand is what kind of treatment is being recommended and the ‘why’ behind it. I still remember, growing up, my mom being just incredibly distraught because she had a tooth extracted and she never really understood the ‘why’. I think about that every day.”
Her father, Dr. Khalid Mahmood, a nephrologist and healthcare entrepreneur by trade, has had the biggest impact on her life and career – so much so that she knew she wanted to launch a dental practice even before she was an undergraduate at UT Dallas, majoring in biology and neuroscience with a minor in political science.
“I’ve looked up to my dad in so many ways,” she said. “The logical thing for me was to follow in his footsteps. I see how inspired he is and it just made a tremendous impact on the course of my life.”
Another inspiration of Mahmood’s is Dr. Britt Berrett, a clinical professor in the Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area at the Jindal School. She said that pricing transparency was among some of the key lessons she learned about integrity while studying at the Jindal School. After she completed dental school, she enrolled in the Master of Science in Healthcare Leadership and Management at the Jindal School. She took a course — Principles in Healthcare Administration (HMGT 6340) — from Berrett.
“At the time, my dad owned and operated a hospital in Lancaster,” she said. “I took Dr. Berrett’s course to get some understanding about what my dad’s day-in and day-out was.”
She said that Berrett opened her eyes to concepts that are fundamental to her business.
“So many people always say patients come first, patients come first,” she said. “You have to have a patient-centered business, but Dr. Berrett co-authored a book called Patients Come Second. The entire semester he dove into the idea of employee engagement and appreciating and lifting up your staff so that they can continue to pass on that energy to direct patient care. It has been monumental because it’s such a shift in mindset that I never would have been exposed to had I not done my master’s program at UT Dallas.”
Mahmood is one of two UT Dallas alumni who will be honored at the Dallas Business Journal’s 15th annual 40 Under 40 awards on July 21 at Marriott Dallas Uptown. Ashley Noelle Sharp, BA’09, MPA’11, executive director of Dwell With Dignity, will be the other UT Dallas honoree at the event.
