The University of Florida College of Dentistry has a long tradition of supporting and training generations of service members in all branches of our military. The tradition continues, most recently, with second-year DMD student Sean Lan who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force on April 11 by Rondre F. Baluyot, D.M.D., a faculty member in the UF Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery who graduated with his DMD in 2012 from UF.
Lan is one of a few select military Health Professions Scholarship scholars. He has served as a Dominican Republic Mission Trip leader, and has served our local community through service events including the annual Super Sealant Saturday program, which is led by DMD students. In addition to beginning the clinical portion of the DMD curriculum this summer, Lan takes on the roles of 2018-2019 American Dental Student Association, or ASDA, National Conference Director-elect, and ASDA District-5 District Advocacy Committee co-chair. After graduating from dental school he will be eligible to promote to captain and then further his dental training in an USAF Advanced Education in General Dentistry-1 program.
After graduating from dental school, Baluyot opened a new private practice and helped open dental clinics for the Florida Department of Health. He currently teaches in the UF Student Oral Surgery Clinic, and also serves as a dental Deputy Chief for the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Baluyot was recently selected for an active-duty Air Force AEGD-2 program for dental leadership/dental education and will be leaving the college and relocating with his family to San Antonio, Texas, where he will be stationed at Lackland Air Force Base.
In addition to commissioning Lan, Baluyot and Lan exchanged Lan’s first salute as a member of the U.S. military. It looked like he’d been practicing his whole life.