The UCSF School of Dentistry took a variety of honors and awards at two major conferences: the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) annual session and exhibition, March 17-20 in Orlando, Fla.; and American Association of Dental Research (AADR) general session and exhibition, March 21-24 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
At ADEA, the School of Dentistry's student chapter won three awards: Chapter Award for Outstanding Promotion of Academic Careers; Chapter Award for Outstanding Outreach and Community Service; and Distinguished Chapter Award, Gold Level Chapter. Drs. Leon Assael and Sophia Saeed were featured speakers in the Chair of the ADEA Board of Directors Symposium, "Vision 2030: Oral Health Education." Andrea Akabike, D2 student, received an ADEA/GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Preventive Dentistry Scholarship. These scholarships support predoctoral dental students who have demonstrated academic excellence in preventive dentistry.
Faculty award winners at AADR include Dr. Grayson W. Marshall, the Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award; Dr. Daniel Fried, 2018 Burton C. Borgelt/SCADA Faculty Advisor Award; and Dr. Yogalakshmi Rajendran, 2018 AADR William B. Clark Fellowship (sponsored by P&G Professional Oral Health, Crest + Oral B). The John C. Greene Society (local chapter of the National Student Research Group) received two awards: for the most new AADR student members for the 2017-18 membership year, and for highest percentage of new AADR student members relative to school enrollment.
Student presenters included Hailey Taylor (D3; Benjamin Chaffee, mentor), "Oral Microbiome and Anthropometry Changes Following Caries Arrest Using Silver-Nitrate/Fluoride Varnish"; Michael Nguyen (D2; Chelsea Bahney, mentor), “Cartilage Grafts Completely Bridge Bone in Critical-Sized Mandibular Defects”; and Wilson Ng (D2; Cynthia Darling, mentor), "Near-Infrared Reflectance Imaging to Detect Demineralization Under Stains.” Student awardees were D3 Bronwyn Hagan, who won third place in the Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application in the Basic and Translational Research category; and D1 Megan Do (Jeffrey Bush, mentor), who was awarded an AADR Student Research Fellowship. These fellowships, supported by several major industrial companies as well as by AADR group chapters, sections and members, are sponsored and administered by the AADR and have been created to encourage dental students living in the United States to consider careers in oral health research.
“As usual, the UCSF School of Dentistry had an outstanding showing at the AADR," said Thomas Lang, PhD, associate dean for research. "Congratulations to our students, postdocs and faculty for their excellent poster and oral presentations, and special congratulations to Dr. Bill Marshall on being the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished
Mentoring Award.”
As in past years, the conference experience has proven transformative for student attendees.
"AADR was the first time I realized how huge and far reaching the world of dental research is," said Dui Buy, president of the John Greene Society. "I met researchers, faculty members, and industry insiders from across the nation who all shared a passion for science and dentistry. It was encouraging to see so many people truly invested in furthering the science of dentistry. It was both a humbling and inspiring experience to rub shoulders with so many accomplished professionals."