Topics at a glance: Dr. Ferguson retires after 33 years at UTDB … Dr. Ludington wraps up 26 years in UTDB Endodontics … Lopez rejoins UTDB Dean’s Office staff …Visiting scholars to work with 3-D Conebeam Scanner 

James P. "Jay" Ferguson, D.D.S.

Dr. Ferguson retires
after 33 years at UTDB

When James P. "Jay" Ferguson, D.D.S., entered dental school at UTDB in 1971, "It was largely male, white, Anglo-Saxon with very few women and very few minorities," he says. That changed dramatically in the decades that followed, and as he prepared for his June retirement after 33 years at UTDB, Ferguson reflected on those changes. "As diverse as we are now, we still have the same successes and the same problems we had back then. The names and faces have changed, but people are people, and the successes and difficulties really haven't changed. A good teacher (or student) can be a man or a woman of any ethnicity."

FULL STORY

At his June 30 retirement reception, UTDB Dean Catherine Flaitz, D.D.S., was among those presenting gifts to Endodontics Chair John R. Ludington, D.D.S. in the Dental Branch cafeteria.  Photo by Brian Schnupp.

Dr. Ludington wraps up 27 years in UTDB Endodontics

He won’t miss getting up at 5:30 a.m. for his 70-minute commute to work, but John R. Ludington, D.D.S., assured a crowd of well-wishers Monday afternoon that he will miss his colleagues, coworkers and students at the UT Dental Branch. Ludington is retiring from his position as associate professor and chairman of the Department of Endodontics, and he’s going out in style as this year’s winner of the John P. McGovern Award for Outstanding Teaching.  Because students decide who wins the McGovern Award, it’s an honor that is especially meaningful as Ludington ends one phase of his life and begins another. FULL STORY

Rebecca Lopez

Lopez rejoins UTDB Dean's Office staff

Rebecca Lopez has rejoined the Dental Branch staff as an administrative assistant II in the Office of the Dean. She replaces Cynthia Santos, who resigned in May. Lopez began her new job June 10. She was most recently employed at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, but before that she worked for the UT Health Science Center for more than 23 years, with 10 of those years spent in the dean's office of the Dental Branch. "I'm really happy to be here," she said. "UT is my home." Lately, she's been assisting Associate Dean Paula O'Neill, Ed.D., with the Summer Medical & Dental Education Program and various other projects. To visit Lopez, stop by DB Room 163 or call Ext. 4332. Her e-mail address is Rebecca.L.Lopez@uth.tmc.edu.

From left are Fulbright Scholar Marko Božič, M.D.; Associate Professor Chung Kau, D.D.S, Ph.D., of the UTDB Orthodontics Department, and international research scholar Sherif Kamel, D.D.S.

Visiting scholars to work with 3-D Conebeam Scanner

The UT Dental Branch has two guest scholars here for the next several months to work with Associate Professor Chung Kau, D.D.S., Ph.D., of the Department of Orthodontics. They are Marko Bozič, M.D., of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Sherif Kamel, D.D.S., of Cairo, Egypt. Bozič is a Fulbright Scholar and resident in maxillofacial surgery who will be at UTDB for the next five months conducting research for an atlas of human head anatomy using the Sirona 3-D Conebeam CT scanner. Kamel is an international research scholar and a member of the faculty of dental surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where he trained in maxillofacial surgery with Professor Hatem El-Mekkawi, Ph. D. Kamel plans to be here one year working on various research projects, including analyzing a database of 3-D facial scans to determine "norms" of facial measurements that correlate to facial attractiveness - a type of information useful in orthodontics. Both Kamel and Bozič are currently living in the Texas Medical Center. At the Dental Branch, they are working from the 3-D imaging office, Room 3.080, at Ext. 4237.