School News

Five LLUSD alumni were awarded the Academy of General Dentistry’s highest honor—Master of General Dentistry—June 19, 2015, at Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.   The five new MAGD recipients (L-R):   Peter Young, DDS’88 Roger Sohn, DDS’75A Darryl Tkachyk, DDS’02 Benjamin Seaton, DDS’02 Jason Ballou, DDS’02. In a statistical oddity, all five LLUSD awardees practice dentistry in the Golden State. The Master of General Dentistry is the highest award offered by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

W. Patrick Naylor, DDS, MPH, MS, professor of restorative dentistry and former associate dean for Advanced Specialty Dental Education at the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, was honored May 30, 2015, to receive the Gustav O. Kruger Lifetime Achievement in Dentistry Award from the Dental Alumni Board of Georgetown University at the 2015 Dental Alumni Reunion and Awards Dinner held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.

Sunday, May 24, 2015, was a stellar day for 206 students from 34 countries who graduated during the LLU School of Dentistry’s 55th commencement. But at the beginning of the ceremony, four faculty who have played pivotal roles in the success of so many oral healthcare professionals received awards for their dedicated service as educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Charles Goodacre, DDS’71, MSD, is the 2015 recipient of the “Omicron Kappa Upsilon Stephen H. Leeper Award for Teaching Excellence."   Dr. Charles Goodacre and Dean Ronald Dailey pose with the OKU Stephen H. Leeper award. The annual honor recognizes an individual who has shown innovation in teaching and significant contributions to dental education at their center of oral health care instruction as well as to the entire dental education community. After graduating from dental school, Dr.

             Reprinted with permission of the UniHealth Foundation California’s Medi-Cal expansion has improved access to health care for thousands of low-income adults, but the high cost of dental care keeps it out of reach for many Southern California residents. Since 2008, with UniHealth Foundation grants totaling $858,314, MEND and the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry have been doing their part to open the door to high quality dental care for low-income residents of the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Gregory Olson, DDS’96, MS’11, assistant professor, Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics; Department of Pediatric Dentistry; and Oral Diagnosis, Radiology, and Pathology, has been awarded the 2015 ADEA/Sunstar Americas, Inc./Harry W. Bruce, Jr. Legislative Fellowship.   Dr. Gregory Olson Dr.

The administrative duties of D. Graham Stacey, PhD, have been expanded to match his new title, associate dean, Office of Admissions and Student Affairs, LLU School of Dentistry. Not long after the December 2014 retirement of Fred Kasischke, PhD, then associate dean for Admissions and Service Learning, Dean Ron Dailey, PhD, asked Dr. Stacey, PhD, associate dean for Student Affairs, to assume oversight for admissions and service learning as well. After some weeks of settling in, Dr.

Twenty-two out of 22 members of the IDP Class of 2015 passed the Western Regional Exam Board (WREB) on their first attempt. Two other students from the 24-member class passed the North East Regional Board (NERB) on their first attempt.   International Dentist Program, class of 2015 The School of Dentistry’s IDP classes almost always have a 100 percent pass rate, but sometimes there are students who need to retake the exam to achieve that goal.

Raeleen Whitt’s cancer saga began eight years ago, in January 2007. As a sixteen-year-old, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She underwent nearly three years of chemotherapy (much of the time under hospitalization) and missed her junior and senior years of high school; nevertheless, she completed her secondary education through the Corona/Norco school district’s home/hospital program.   Raeleen with her brother, Derek.

Just days after the grand opening of the large and pristine addition to LLU School of Dentistry’s Center for Dental Research (CDR), a significant contingent of four student and twelve faculty researchers from the School and its CDR, led by Yiming Li, DDS, PhD, MS, associate dean for Research, assembled at the John B.