Eduard Pocola, D.D.S., joined the UF College of Dentistry in July as a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science at the college’s St. Petersburg Dental Center. Pocola serves as the team leader for the Advanced Education in General Dentistry, or AEGD, program in St. Petersburg, with didactic and clinical teaching responsibilities, as well as clinical oversight of the AEGD program and its residents.
Pocola is no stranger to the college as a graduate of UFCD’s AEGD program at the Hialeah Dental Center, where he was chief resident in 2015. He brings a wealth of knowledge, many areas of expertise and experience to St. Petersburg.
Since graduating from UFCD with his advanced education certificate, Pocola spent the last six years as a regional doctor mentor with Heartland Dental, a dental support organization that provides comprehensive support services to dentists to help grow and develop their businesses.
In his role as a team leader in St. Petersburg, Pocola meets regularly with residents to help manage patient care, teach seminars and case presentations. He ensures students’ clinical progress towards competency and graduation, including formulating and implementing clinical and didactic educational programs, while also meeting the needs of patients.
From an administrative standpoint, Pocola helps monitors quality assurance at the center, proper documentation for accreditation, treatment planning for new patients and manages clinical production to ensure the clinic runs as efficiently and effectively as possible while carrying out its mission.
Pocola earned his medical degree in 1999 from the University of Oradea in Romania and then went on to earn his dental degree there in 2005. He completed a forensic medical examiner residency in 2004, and earned his master’s degree in teaching in 2005 before going into private practice in Romania.
He came to the United States in 2006, where he worked in private practice in Palm Harbor for seven years before enrolling in the AEGD program in Hialeah.