Topics at a glance: TDA Gold Medal of Distinguished Service presented to Dr. Stephen Schwartz ...Awards, grants, honors for UTDB’s Oral, Maxillofacial Surgery ... Dr. Adibi to assume Orange Practice leadership June 1...Dental student appointed to national HSDA post...HSDA announces new slate of officers for 2009-10...Summer Medical, Dental Education Program starts Monday...UTDB alums appointed to State Board of Dental Examiners...ERC fundraiser brings Chick-fil-A to UTDB...

TDA Gold Medal of Distinguished Service presented to Dr. Schwartz

Houston endodontist Stephen Schwartz, D.D.S.,, a Dental Branch alumnus and special advisor to the dean, receives the TDA’s highest award from TDA President Hilton Israelson.

Stephen F. Schwartz, D.D.S., of Houston has been awarded the Texas Dental Association’s Gold Medal of Distinguished Service. It is the highest honor a member dentist can achieve within the TDA, the largest, statewide professional association for Texas dentists. Schwartz joins a select list of 12 other Texas dentists who have received the award since its inception in 1997. An endodontist, Schwartz earned his dental degree from The University of Texas Dental Branch in 1968 and went on to achieve his master’s degree and certificate in endodontics there in 1970. Currently, he is an adjunct clinical professor at UTDB and serves as a special advisor to the dean. He joined the TDA in 1969. The honor was announced May 9 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center during the TDA’s 139th annual convention in San Antonio. TDA President Hilton Israelson of Richardson made the presentation. FULL STORY

Awards, grants, honors for UTDB’s Oral, Maxillofacial Surgery

Mark E. Wong, D.D.S				Kamal usaidy, D.D.S.
Nagi Demian, D.D.S., M.D.					James W. Wilson, D.D.S.

Faculty members in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department at the UT Dental Branch have been making news lately with events, honors, grants and awards:

• Mark E. Wong, D.D.S., associate professor and department chair, was presented the Houston Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Distinguished Service Award for 2009 in May.
• Kamal Busaidy, D.D.S., associate professor, has been awarded The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation Research Support Grant for 2009 in the amount of $75,000 for a joint project with Dr. Michael Detamore of the University of Kansas to tissue-engineer a TMJ disc replacement.
• Nagi Demian, D.D.S., M.D., assistant professor, is co-investigator in a multi-institutional Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant lead by Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., to study the development of a fracture putty.
• James W. Wilson, D.D.S., associate professor and department vice-chair, is president of the Houston Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He has also been appointed chairman of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Task Force on Faculty Recruitment and Retention.

In May, the department and the Houston Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons jointly sponsored the Edward C. Hinds Symposium and reported the event as the most successful yet, with 193 surgeons from around the nation attending the two-day meeting at the Houstonian Hotel. Seven surgeons, members of the Oral Surgery Club of Great Britain, also participated in the meeting. The featured speaker was renowned oral and maxillofacial surgeon Robert Marx from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Anthony Atala, M.D., delivered the Raymond Reid Memorial Lecture. Atala is a world-famous urologist and expert in regenerative medicine from Wake Forest University and the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Adibi to assume Orange Practice leadership June 1

Shawn Adibi, D.D.S.

Associate Dean for Patient Care Peggy O’Neill, D.D.S., has announced that Shawn Adibi, D.D.S., assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials, as well as the Department of Diagnostic Sciences, will become leader of the Orange Practice on June 1. The current practice leader, Assistant Professor Stephen Schorr, D.M.D., will be on leave over the summer and plans to return the Periodontics faculty in September. He will not return to the practice leader position.

Adibi is an American of Persian descent who moved to Houston in 2000 to be closer to his family. He began working with the Dental Branch as a volunteer faculty member in 2004, then became a part-time clinical assistant professor in 2007, moving to full-time status earlier this year. A 1993 graduate of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center at the College of Dentistry, he spent seven years in private practice in Edmond, Okla. In 1994, he completed a preceptorship in dental implantology at The University of Texas Dental School in San Antonio. He had training on IV and conscious sedation at Westchester County Hospital in New York and completed mini-residency studies on TMD and orofacial pain management at the University of Kentucky .

Dental student appointed to national HSDA post

Iven Gonzalez

Dental student Iven Gonzalez has been appointed as a national Hispanic Dental Association Student Trustee. He will be involved with the student portion of the HSDA’s 17th Annual Meeting Oct. 22-24 at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston. He will gather ideas on topics presented by the other 32 national student chapters and will work closely with Dr. Victor Rodriguez (general chair) and Margo Melchor, R.D.H. (scientific chair) to make the meeting educational and informative. Gonzalez was recommended for the trustee position by Melchor, who is vice president of the national Hispanic Dental Association.

HSDA announces new slate of officers for 2009-10

The UT Dental Branch chapter of the Hispanic Student Dental Association has elected new officers for 2009-10. They include:

President: Carlos Carrion (DS2)
Vice President Dental: Iven Gonzalez (DS4)
Vice President-Dental Hygiene: Yudith Rodriguez (DH2)
Secretary: Vickie Martinez (DS4)
Historian: Veronica Perez (DS2)
Social Chair-Dental: Sergio Lopez (DS2)
Social Chair-Dental Hygiene: Montsy Rodriguez (DH2)
Faculty Advisor: Clinical Assistant Professor Margo Y. Melchor, R.D.H.

Summer Medical, Dental Education Program starts Monday

Associate Deans Philip Pierpont, D.D.S., and Paula O’Neill, Ed.D, help coordinate the Summer Medical, Dental Education Program at the Dental Branch and Medical School. Pierpont directs the dental portion, and O’Neill is principal investigator for the project.

The annual Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) will begin Monday, May 25 for 80 visiting students, who will spend the next six weeks at the UT Dental Branch and Medical School exploring pre-dental and pre-medical school preparatory courses. Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program seeks to encourage outstanding undergraduate college students from minority groups, rural areas and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to consider careers in medicine, dentistry or other health professions. Sixty pre-med and 20 pre-dental students are participating this year, said Paula O'Neill, Ed.D., associate dean for academic research and professional development at the Dental Branch. Philip Pierpont, D.D.S., associate dean for student and alumni affairs, directs the dental portion of the program. FULL STORY .

UTDB alums appointed to State Board of Dental Examiners

Governor Rick Perry has appointed two general dentists to the State Board of Dental Examiners, and both are graduates of The University of Texas Dental Branch. If confirmed by the Senate, William R. “Bill” Birdwell, D.D.S., (’73) of Bryan and Rodolfo “Rudy” Gonzalez Ramos Jr., D.D.S. (’90) of Houston will serve until Feb. 1, 2015. Perry also appointed Mary L. Baty, R.D.H. of Humble and Whitney Hyde, a court administrator from Midland, who will be serving as a public member. The term of the SDBE's presiding officer, UTDB alumnus Gary McDonald, D.D.S., (’77) of Kingwood, has expired but he will continue to serve in that role until Perry appoints a replacement.

ERC fundraiser brings Chick-fil-A to UTDB

Fourth-year dental students Andres Villasenor (left) and Casey Clements support the cause by eating Chick-fil-A lunches purchased at the ERC fundraiser. Photos by Rhonda Moran.		Technical Services Manager Jonathan Green buys a Chick-fil-A sandwich, chips and a drink at the ERC fundraiser May 15, where Employee Relations Committee member Kathleen Henshaw was among the volunteers who helped sell 60 meals. Proceeds will be used to help pay for the End-of-Year Fiesta July 31 at the Dental Branch and other special events throughout the year.