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Pathway to Periodontology Fan Xu and Sarina Taylor
Dr. Naomi Nguyen, DDS, MS, is a periodontist and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Dentistry at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC. In addition, she is a part-time faculty recruiter for the Periodontology program, a guest lecturer for both DDS and dental hygiene students, as well as a volunteer dentist for CDA Cares mobile clinics. Dr. Nguyen has come a long way since she moved from Vietnam to the United States as a teenager. Faced with a language barrier, she started her American education in an ESL program and diligently worked her way toward undergraduate education at California State University - Long Beach. It was there that she first realized her interest in dentistry. She recalled with amusement that the prospect of working in dentistry was introduced to her through a career assessment test, which recommended her to be either a janitor, a mechanic, or a dentist. Out of those three options she was most drawn to dentistry. The reasons for which she felt this pull subsequently began to manifest. During Dr. Nguyen’s gap years after college, she demonstrated two essential strengths needed to become a great clinician: altruism and an interest in science-based research. With her biochemistry background, Dr. Nguyen worked for two biotechnology companies before dental school. She first participated in research on type 1 diabetes that focused on creat-
The Explorer Journal 2021
