UF COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY ALUMNI AFFAIRS OFFICE

Welcome to the Academy of Alumni & Friends E-NEWS, your quick and convenient connection to the University of Florida College of Dentistry. E-NEWS will arrive electronically packed with news about the college and your fellow UFCD alumni and friends. Send us an e-mail to let us know what you think; your feedback is important to us.

This is the time of year I especially enjoy. For our graduating dental students, it is a time of new beginnings. For our alumni and friends attending Florida National Dental Congress, it is a time of reconnecting with each other and with our profession.

For the college, summertime represents the culmination of weeks, even years, of preparation. Faculty and staff take great pleasure in preparing our students for graduation and in sending them on to bigger and better things. This May, the college graduated 78 D.M.D. students, 47 advanced and graduate education students, and 12 internationally educated dentists.

Commencement was made even more enjoyable by the witty and “thought-provoking” presentation of our keynote speaker, Dr. Hugh Wunderlich, who shared his Jeff Foxworthy-like musings on, “You might be a UFCD grad if ….” One of my personal favorites is, “You might be a UFCD grad if the mascot of your school has never worn pants,” seconded by, “You might be a UFCD grad if the dean of your school has never seen the top of her refrigerator.”

Hugh, I've seen it… enough said.

I hope I will see you at the annual UFCD Alumni & Friends Reception at FNDC, which will take place Friday, June 16, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Gaylord Palms Sun A ballroom. It will be a fun time of reconnecting with the college and each other.

It’s a FNDC Gator Gathering!

Don’t forget to meet up with old friends and colleagues during the UFCD Alumni & Friends Reception at FNDC, Friday, June 16, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room Sun A inside the beautiful Gaylord Palms Resort Hotel. Dean Teresa A. Dolan and Academy of Alumni & Friends President Gregory Reddish encourage you to join us!
The class photo board is baaaaack! Stop by UFCD’s booth in the exhibit hall to have your Polaroid photo taken and posted to the class photo and message board…. It’s a great way to reconnect with classmates!

Dentistry’s Acid Etch talent show hits big

Dental freshman Danny Bass put his exuberant and creative percussive talent in action to win $100 and first place May 4 in the first-ever College of Dentistry Acid Etch Talent and Comedy Sketch. Organized by the UFCD Dental Ambassadors, Acid Etch featured 16 student and faculty performances — including a crowd-wowing baton-twirling act by Dean Teresa A. Dolan — and video skits produced by each class in the D.M.D. program.

Attended by more than 200 dentistry faculty, staff and students, Acid Etch was modeled on TV’s American Idol, complete with a judging trio of fave faculty members Buddy Clark, D.M.D., Ph.D., (as Randy), Venita Sposetti, D.M.D., (as Paula Abdul) and Marc Gale, D.M.D., M.Ed., (as the irascible Simon). The judges critiqued performers in good spirit and with enormous humor. After Bass’ winning drum/stomp/drink-blending performance, which garnered a standing ovation from the audience, Gale quipped, “I would like to know why you got to wear earplugs and we didn’t!”

Register Now for Dental Fall Weekend

The annual UF College of Dentistry Dental Fall Weekend will be held in Gainesville at the Hilton University of Florida on Friday, Nov. 10 – 11, 2006.

Gordon Christensen

Watch for DFW registration brochure in the mail and plan to join alumni, friends and colleagues for an exciting weekend of continuing dental education with Gordon J. Christensen D.D.S., M.S.D., Ph.D., presenting, “The Most Important Topics in Dentistry…. What’s new? What’s hype? What’s important?”

You’ll also enjoy alumni class reunions, reception, BBQ and college tours. Register for CDE early for an opportunity to purchase two FL Gators vs. SC Gamecocks football tickets, while supply last.

Hilton UF room reservation form is available on our web page here. For additional information, contact Sue Guido, alumni affairs coordinator, office: (352) 273-5781, email: aguido@dental.ufl.edu or fax: (352) 392-3070

UF dental students Manav Malik and Maggie M. Novy have been awarded scholarships from the Thomas P. Hinman Dental Society. The awards were presented at a special luncheon held recently during the 94th Hinman Dental Meeting in Atlanta.

Student recipients of the scholarships are known as “Hinman Scholars.” Malik and Novy are members of the American Dental Association and rank among the top 10 percent of junior dental students from 37 Southeastern colleges and universities.

Roger B. Fillingim, Ph.D., associate professor of community dentistry and behavioral science, has been awarded a UF Research Foundation Professorship Award. The three-year professorship recognizes Fillingim for his distinguished record of research and scholarship, which is expected to lead to continued distinction in the field of pain research. The professorship term is 2006 through 2008, and includes a $5,000 salary supplement for each of those years as well as a $3,000 one-time allocation in support of his research program.

Dr. Barbara Hastie

Barbara Hastie, Ph.D., a research assistant
professor of community dentistry and behavioral science, received a five-year, $805,194 National Institutes of Health grant to study ethnic differences and genetic factors in acute postoperative pain and analgesic response. In addition, Hastie is the recipient of the 2006 “Future Leaders in Pain Management” small grant award from the American Pain Society. This award is given to three researchers from around the country and is aimed to advance pain research. Hastie will investigate ethnic differences in pain and side effects using the Third Molar model.

Franci Stavropoulos, D.D.S., an associate professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, will serve as an examiner on the group’s Examination Committee, the certifying board for oral and maxillofacial surgeons recognized by the accrediting Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association. This achievement follows her appointment as site visitor for the ADA’s Accreditation of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Programs in 2005.