DB People: Star Award Winners

Fifty members of the Dental Branch family were honored by the UT Health Science Center at Houston with a Star Award for commendable years of service with the institution. Congratulations to the following:

Bouquot receives distinguished dentist award

Jerry Bouquot, D.D.S., professor and chair of the Department of Diagnostic Sciences, recently received the Robert Bridgeman Distinguished Dentist Award from the West Virginia Dental Association. This lifetime achievement award is the highest honor given by the 100-year-old West Virginia Dental Association. Bouquot is the first out-of-state dentist to receive it. Hundreds of his past students and faculty colleagues attended the awards ceremony to show their respect with a standing ovation. Bouquot was nominated by the West Virginia University School of Dentistry, where he was chair of the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology for eight years. He joined the faculty of the UT Dental Branch at Houston in 2004.

Job postings available online for students

The office of Student and Alumni Affairs has created a new Job Opportunities page for D.D.S. students. Visit: http://www.db.uth.tmc.edu/studentaffairs/employment_opportunities.htm.

Reminder: Dental Hygiene students also have a page for job postings at: http://www.db.uth.tmc.edu/dental_hygiene/community_employment_opportunities.htm.

UTDB Alumni Association Anniversary

Join The University of Texas Dental Branch Alumni Association as the association celebrates its 50th anniversary Saturday, April 14, in the Grand Ballroom of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Admission is $95 for alumni association members and non-members. Please register by Monday, April 9. To reserve your seat contact UTDB Alumni Association Executive Director Tricia Fullerton: 713-840-1328 or utdbaa@houston.rr.com.

UTDB contributes in a big way to Texas Mission of Mercy

UTDB faculty, staff and students contributed to Texas Mission of Mercy project in a big way on Feb. 16 and 17 in Dallas. The operation was successful with over 80 patients treated in at least 283 procedures. Volunteers worked out of a total of four chairs, which included three on the van.

Those associated with the community service project commented on the large number of UT Dental Branch volunteers who were present.
TMOM is a large multi-day dental mission that brings hundreds of dentists, dental professionals and other volunteers from across Texas together to donate their professional services. Their goal is to relieve immediate pain and restore smiles.

Duke presents at annual Biomedical Engineering Conference

Jackie Duke, Ph.D., professor of Orthodontics, presented at the 24th annual Houston Conference on Biomedical Engineering Research sponsored by The Houston Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology on Feb. 8-9.

Her talk, “Studies of Craniofacial Development in Rotating Bioreactors,” summarized the work of Paul Williams, D.D.S., former dental student; Neal Horn, D.D.S., a resident in the Dental Branch Department of Endodontics; Vicki Leonhart, D.D.S.; Jennifer Kong, second-year dental student; and Jeff Iverson, D.D.S., M.S., resident in the department of Orthodontics, all of whom worked on developing a 3-D culture system to be used in the study of craniofacial development. 

Their work was carried out primarily under the direction of Dina Montufar-Solis, senior research associate in Diagnostic Sciences, who is also an author on the paper.

Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs presents colloquium

Kenneth Shine, M.D., executive vice chancellor for health affairs, will be presenting in the UT School of Public Health colloquium series on "Reinventing Public Health" focusing on the policy implications of the Code Red report. The lecture will take place 9:30 a.m., Friday, March 23, in the first floor auditorium of the School of Public Health. More information on the series may be found at the following website:   http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/courses/envi/colloquium/reinventingpublichealth.htm.