Outstanding Service Award

The Outstanding Service Award, given since 1995, recognizes Fellows for specific, outstanding service to dentistry, the community, or humanity. This award is presented through a special recommendation of the Board of Regents.

The 2021 recipient is Dr. Irvin B. Silverstein, DDS.

Dr. Irvin B. Silverstein was the heart, soul, and driving force for the University of California, San Diego Pre-Dental Society and StudentRun Free Dental Clinic Project. In partnership with the community, the mission of this program is to provide accessible, quality healthcare for the underserved in a respectful environment in which students, health professionals, patients, and community members learn from one another. Please recognize that the students spoken of in this mission statement are PRE-DENTAL. Over its 20-plus year history, this incredibly special environment has produced hundreds of dental school applicants, whose primary motivation for entering the profession of dentistry, is service to the underserved. Irv’s vision, leadership, mentorship and his incredible persistence has impacted on so many. Nothing even remotely similar to the UCSD Pre-Dental Society comes close to providing the kind of preparation and real-world experience that Irv and his team provide.

Dr. Silverstein, a noted humanitarian and educator, died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer shortly after the award was presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting and Convocation in Houston. His loss is tremendous, but his legacy equally so.

“Without Irv, there is no PDS, and there would be no UCSD Student Run Free Dental Clinics and tens of thousands of patients who have received care there would not have received care. This is a legacy that is almost impossible to describe let alone accept. Irv has been the heart, soul and driving force for this incredibly special environment that produces applicants to schools of dentistry whose primary motivation for entering the profession of dentistry is service to the underserved. There is no one else besides Irv who has had the impact on so many, and there is nothing even remotely like the UCSD Pre-Dental Society that comes close to providing the kind of real-world experience of Irv’s group. While Irv and the Society have received many accolades over the years from numerous sources, to my mind there is no one more deserving of recognition for outstanding service by the ACD, the “conscience of dentistry,” than Dr. Irv Silverstein.”

– Larry Garetto, PhD, FACD