News & Media
The University of Texas School Dentistry, a part of UT Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), will soon have a new home after nearly 60 years in its current location at 6516 M.D. Anderson Blvd. On Monday, May 21, the school will open in its new, $155-million building at 7500 Cambridge St. and East Road in UT Research Park on the South Campus of the Texas Medical Center. The new address is 1 mile south of the old location. SEE MAP.
Nearly 500 students attend UT School of Dentistry, which offers programs in dentistry, dental hygiene, six dental specialties (endodontics, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics and oral and maxillofacial surgery), and two general practice dental residency programs. Approximately 175 employees work at the school.
UT School of Dentistry’s faculty practice, UT Dentists, will also move to the new building, taking up new quarters in Suite 1210. Most of the school’s phone numbers are changing, with “486” replacing “500” in current numbers. Email addresses will remain the same.
On May 9, Hensel Phelps Construction Co. turned over keys to the new six-story, 300,000-square-foot dental school upon reaching substantial completion of a construction project that began in December 2009.
More than 1,700 jobs were created along the way, including some from construction of the Denton A. Cooley, M.D. and Ralph C. Cooley, D.D.S. University Life Center at 7440 Cambridge St. – a new 14,000 square foot conference center adjacent and attached to the new dental school. The Cooley Center provides state-of-the-art classroom and conference space for UTHealth schools and activities.
Associate Professors Ariadne Letra, DDS, MS, PhD, and Renato Silva, DDS, MS, PhD were among authors of a study featured on the cover of May 2012 edition of the Journal of Dental Research. The study investigated a specific gene’s association with cleft lip and palate – a common type of oral birth defect.
Looking at more than 3,000 individuals from multiple populations throughout the world, the researchers found that certain variants of the AXIN2 gene were associated with oral clefts in all populations. AXIN2 also appeared to interact with a known cleft susceptibility gene, IRF6.
The first African-American graduate of The University of Texas School of Dentistry, Professor Emeritus Zeb Ferdinand Poindexter Jr., DDS, died Saturday, April 28 at age 83. Dr. Poindexter is survived by his devoted wife of 58 years, Ruby Revis Poindexter; daughters, Merlene Russell and Eleanor Patricia Davis; and son Dr. Zeb F. Poindexter III and his wife Anna. Other survivors include his sisters, Revodia Johnson and Vandetta King; and his brother Jimmy Poindexter, as well as several nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
On April 15, UTSD dental students, residents and faculty from the Department of Prosthodontics teamed up with Scrub-A-Dub Dog Wash to help raise money to support Red Collar Rescue, a local animal rescue organization. By the end of the day, 64 dogs had been bathed and more than $1,600 had been raised to help homeless animals of Houston.
As one of the first major events at the new Denton A. Cooley, M.D. and Ralph C. Cooley, D.D.S. University Life Center, the dental Class of 2012’s Senior Awards Banquet introduced a new era for UT School of Dentistry while celebrating the students’ achievements and the friendships that have grown over the past four years.
Dean John A. Valenza, DDS ’81, welcomed the students and noted that although the entire school will move to a new building the day after graduation, the Class of 2012 will always have a special tie to the building they helped plan. “There is a part of you and those who came before in that building,” he said.
Phil Pierpont, DDS ’77, associate dean for student and alumni affairs, served as emcee throughout the evening, at times becoming emotional as he looked out on the audience of fourth-year dental students, many of whom he met long before they were admitted to UTSD. He encouraged them to be lifelong learners who never settle for “good enough.”After the presentation of more than 50 awards to students and two teaching awards to faculty, the students presented their traditional spoof video, followed by their own set of awards based on friendships built over the last four years. The full list of awards follows.
The Greater Houston Dental Society has announced winners of the Star of the South Dental Meeting’s Scientific Table Clinics. This year’s winner of the Edward J. Cooksey Award is Dr. Alejandro Sosa for his presentation on “Lichen Planus - Oral Premalignancy: A Case Report.” The Cooksey Award is given for excellence in scientific table clinic presentation. Sosa earned his master’s degree in prosthodontics from The University of Texas School of Dentistry in 2011. Each year, the American Dental Association (ADA) and Dentsply North America, as sponsor, present the SCADA Award to the winners of research competitions in U.S. dental schools. The winners are invited to the ADA Annual Session. This year’s SCADA Award recipient is Austin Ledingham, a second-year dental student at UTSD, for “The Effect of Sterilization on Anodized and Non-Anodized Mini-Screws.” Dr. Stephen Laman and Dr. Mai Tram Nguyen served as co-chairs for the table clinics. Other winners were selected from the following categories:
University of Texas School of Dentistry dental hygiene students Jeffrey Chen and Thao Nguyen volunteered for the Houston Geriatric Education Center’s 2012 Geriatric Interdisciplinary Student Competition and wound up on winning teams. Chen’s team won first place; Nguyen’s won third. UTSD faculty members June Sadowsky, DDS, and Donna Warren Morris, RDH, MEd, also volunteered for the annual event.The competition, in its fifth year, was sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Forty-five students from dental hygiene, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, biomedical informatics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, public health, social work, communication science/disorders and acupuncture/Oriental medicine worked together in teams to address real-world problems of geriatric patients. A panel of judges chose the winning team after presentations by each group April 16 at UTHealth School of Nursing.