2017 Spring Synergy

The 2017 Spring Synergy on March 29-31 included hundreds of faculty, residents, students, staff and alumni participated during the three-day event with a packed agenda of research posters, presentations, continuing education, and American Student Dental Association’s vendor fair and annual awards banquet.

The event also serves as a venue for current dental students and residents to connect with researchers, alumni and others in the dental profession. We were very pleased to welcome students from the Santa Fe College Dental Hygiene Program for to this event for the first time as well.

Hal Crossley, D.D.S., Ph.D., the invited Kaplan Scholar and a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland Dental School, presented four times during the event. One of his areas of expertise is the pharmacology of street drugs and chemical dependency. He has been a consultant for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies since 1974 and is nationally and internationally recognized as an expert on street drugs and chemical dependency as well as the clinical pharmacology of dental drugs. His lectures during Spring Synergy were: A Medley of Clinical and Practical Pharmacology; The New Marijuana/Impact on Dental Practice; Snapshot of Drug Abuse in the U.S. Today; and Avoid Liability – Know Your Patients’ Medication and Impact on Dental Treatment.

Two faculty members served as the research keynote presenters on Friday, March 31. Marcelle Nascimento, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., shared her knowledge of “Emerging Therapies for Caries Prevention,” and Shannon Wallet, Ph.D., talked about “Direction of Innate and Adaptive Immunity by Epithelial Cells: Two Tales.”

Friday also included research poster presentations and a vendor fair for dental students to interact with representatives from key companies in the industry.

Poster Competition Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the research competition.

Poster Competition
First Place: Justin Kaspar
Second Place: Danielle Vermilyea
Third Place: Amanda Mullersman
Excellence in Research ribbons:
Cassandra Iglesias
Natalia Acosta
Kyulim Lee
Oral Competition
First Place
PhD/Post-Doc/Graduate: Gavin Golas
MS/Resident: Aaron Scheps
DMD: Taylor Vracar
Second Place
PhD/Post-Doc/Graduate: Sasanko Chukkapalli
MS/Resident: Karina Miller
DMD:Natalie Atyeo

2017 DENTSPLY/Student Clinician American Dental Association Award Recipient

Natalie Atyeo, DMD Class of 2020

As part of the award, Natalie Atyeo will present her research during the March 2018 American Association for Dental Research meeting in Ft. Lauderdale.