Topics at a glance: East Houston Dentist Donates $1 Million to UT Dental Branch … TAWD donation buys new cast trimmer for student lab … UTDB team gets $50K grant for consent form project … UTDB has new pediatric diplomate in faculty ranks … Series in ‘HealthLeader’ looks at domestic violence … Shetty speaks at Texas Oral Health Summit

East Houston dentist donates $1 million
to UT Dental Branch building project
Matches largest donation in school’s 102-year history

Matching dollar-for-dollar the largest donation in the 102-year history of The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston, an East Houston dentist has given $1 million toward the school’s planned new facility in the UT Research Park, which broke ground Aug. 30.

Billy Joe “B.J.” Westbrook, D.D.S., a 1954 graduate of UT Dental Branch and a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society, made the donation Sept. 28 individually and on behalf of his late wife, Rosalie Graves Westbrook.

Retired after more than four decades of general dentistry, Westbrook remains a director of Woodforest National Bank, which has more than 400 branches (including 330 branches in Wal-Mart stores) with plans to triple that in two to three years. Read more...

B.J. Westbrook, D.D.S.

Ginger Marblestone, a fourth-year dental student from Austin, uses the new cast trimmer in the second-floor lab. The new machine was a gift from the Texas Association of Women Dentists.

TAWD donation buys new
cast trimmer for student lab

The Texas Association of Women Dentists donated $1,078.35 to purchase a new cast trimmer for student use in the clinical lab on the second floor. The TAWD raises funds through an annual auction in the spring, and President Morgen Young, a third-year D.D.S. student, said the Dental Branch is very supportive of this fundraiser–both in offering services to be auctioned, as well as bidding on the items being sold. In recognition of this support, TAWD donates 25 percent of the profits back to the Dental Branch. Typically, equipment is purchased for the second floor or basement labs, alternating each year.

This year’s TAWD officers are Melissa Lent, president; Morgen Young, treasurer; Amy Edgemon, vice-president; Ginger Marblestone, historian; Tiffany Tredway-Ransom, secretary; Audra Hiemstra, auction co-chair; Amber Garcia, auction co-chair; and Blake Robinson, first-year representative.

$50K CCTS grant goes to UTDB team for 'SmartConsent' research

A team from the UT Dental Branch has secured a $50,000 grant to see whether “SmartConsent” patient consent forms derived from electronic patient records will result in better-informed patients – with no adverse effect on the work flow in the office.

UTDB Executive Associate Dean and Associate Professor John A. Valenza, D.D.S., will work with Muhammad Walji, Ph.D., assistant professor in Diagnostic Sciences, David Taylor, Ed.D, director of Educational and Technology Services at the Dental Branch, and James “Jim” Spence, senior systems administrator, on the two-year project, funded by a Pilot Project Grant from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. Read more …

UTDB congratulates Harpavat
as new pediatric diplomate

Congratulations to Sandhya Harpavat, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor in pediatric dentistry, who has passed the board exams and is now a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.

Shetty speaks at Texas Oral Health Summit

“The Concept of Dental Home in the Medically Complex Patient Clinic” was the topic of Kishore Shetty, D.D.S., associate professor and director of the Medically Complex Patient Clinic at the UT Dental Branch, when he was a plenary speaker at the annual Texas Oral Health Summit, sponsored by the Texas Oral Health Coalition, Oct. 18-19 in Austin.

Continuing series in HealthLeader
examines domestic violence

This week’s edition of the UTHSC’s online magazine, HealthLeader, features an ongoing series about domestic violence, specifically as it affected UT Dental Branch student Mina Rosenthal-Eames, who was murdered Aug. 20 by her estranged husband on the eve of their divorce. The series includes advice for escaping intimate partner violence. To read more, visit the HealthLeader site.

A memorial fund for Rosenthal-Eames was established at UTDB to provide care for abused women and children. To date, the fund has nearly $7,000 in donations. For information about making a contribution, contact UT Dental Branch Development Director John Greer at 713-500-4330.