Matthew J. Dennis, D.D.S., a professor in the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, received the 2010 Daniel M. Laskin Award for an Outstanding Predoctoral Educator in September during the 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons in Chicago, Ill.
Dennis is clinical professor at the University of Florida College of Dentistry Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and he directs the predoctoral oral and maxillofacial surgery program for dental students. His responsibilities include didactic course material as well as the clinical oral surgery courses. He instructs students in formal lecture classes, preclinical simulation lab classes, and supervises their clinical treatment of patients.
Dennis has also presented substantial continuing education for graduate dentists, with emphasis on oral surgery and medicine topics for the general dentists. The university and his students have honored him as Professor of the Year, and twice as Teacher of the Year. Additionally, he is a three-time recipient of The Florida Dental Association’s Dental Educator Award.
He graduated cum laude from the UCLA Center for Health Sciences School of Dentistry and completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at the University of Florida Health Science Center-Jacksonville Hospital. He was in private practice for 18 years before beginning his academic career in 2001 at the college.