University of Florida DMD Class of 2025 president Aatish Patel will be inducted into the prestigious University of Florida Hall of Fame this spring as one of UF’s 2025 Hall of Fame Award recipients.
The UF Hall of Fame is the highest recognition given to student leaders at the university and is reserved for students who have shown truly superior leadership and achievement through their activities and scholarship while members of the University of Florida community.
Hall of Fame award winners exemplify outstanding commitment through their active participation in organized activities, community service and academic excellence, which fits Patel to a tee.
Patel, a student dentist in Clinic 3B, has been a respected leader at UFCD since starting his dental school journey in 2021. He was voted class president all four years and has lived up to the commitment of representing his classmates with pride among faculty, deans, leadership and administration, serving as a key leader in facilitating class progress through problem-solving and working solutions to best maximize the success of the DMD Class of 2025.
Patel, always one to make things fun amidst the grind of dental school, has played a large role in planning and helping the college facilitate events for the class, including Clinical Associates Pairing and Reveal, Friends & Family Weekend, White Coat Ceremony, Bicuspid Ball, Senior Awards Banquet and more.
In addition to the time he’s devoted as class president, he’s served on UFCD’s Admissions Committee and is an Outreach Ambassador, where he’s played an important role in UFCD’s recruitment and admissions processes. Patel was recognized as a 2024 Commencement Honor Marshal last spring, has been a member of one of UFCD’s strategic planning committees this past year and served on one of the college’s accreditation work groups for its last site visit in 2023.
His volunteer work is notable, balancing his leadership responsibilities. He’s served as a teaching assistant for several restorative dental sciences courses, has volunteered for the last two years to be an emergency dental provider during holiday breaks when most students are on vacation and clinics are closed, and consistently volunteers to provide care for children in the community through the college’s many community-based programs like Super Sealant Saturday.
Patel will become a double gator when he graduates from UFCD with his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in May. As an undergrad at UF, he studied biology with a minor in disabilities in society, graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 2016. He went on to earn his master’s degree in biomedical sciences from Barry University in 2021 before starting dental school.
Since 1921, the University of Florida Hall of Fame has recognized seniors and graduate students who have consistently demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving the University of Florida.
The 2025 Halll of Fame Class will be recognized this spring. Composites of all UF Hall of Famers are permanently displayed on the third floor of the J. Wayne Reitz Union on the University of Florida campus.