Inspire
Problem Solvers Focused on protecting staff, students, and patients at the UIC College of Dentistry clinics from roaming aerosols, an increasingly important endeavor in the age of COVID-19, leaders at the College teamed with UIC College of Engineering researchers to study how the use of dental instrumentation created aerosols in clinical environments. The researchers’ inquisitive, fastpaced process spurred a novel solution with potentially wide implications for the field of dentistry and its medical peers. Last summer, UIC Engineering researchers ran 3D models investigating the prospective flight of aerosols in the College’s dental clinics, including how temperature, humidity, people, and other factors affected aerosol movement. While the models provided Dentistry leaders a newfound appreciation for the spread of aerosols in the dental setting, Alex Yarin, UIC Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, explored suppressing aerosol generation altogether. With clinical guidance from Dr. Lyndon Cooper, Associate Dean for Research and Department Head of Oral Biology, and College of Dentistry colleagues, Professor Yarin developed a method to reduce or eliminate aerosol generation by changing the physical properties of the solutions that enter patients’ mouths. The clinician’s recognition of the engineer’s relevant knowledge of the most fundamental physical properties of fluids led to an innovative solution that proved to suppress aerosol formation by dental instruments in the clinical setting. The interdisciplinary project team has since worked with UIC’s Office of Technology Management to obtain a provisional patent, has established licensing agreements with industry,and is proceeding with a full patent for the technology, which could prove especially impactful given the continued threat of new viruses and COVID-19 variants.
This is a real team science example. Through monthly meetings, generous discussions, and a collaborative mindset, we created a strong path forward for a solution to suppress aerosol generation in dental clinics. It’s this ability to solve problems together that unlocks new sources of funding, new training opportunities, and new research pursuits that address realworld issues. Dr. Lyndon Cooper, Associate Dean for Research, Department Head of Oral Biology
Dear Dean’s Council Members and other Special Friends of the College: Welcome to the spring/summer issue of Inspire, our bi-annual publication whose purpose is to thank, recognize, and inform our most valued College partners. You are key to our successes—excelling in education, producing impactful research, and providing compassionate care to our patients and our communities. Thank you for your support and friendship. Although our mission remains the same, the College of Dentistry has evolved through the pandemic. Over the past year plus, we have moved into a new normal. Leadership, faculty, and staff learned valuable lessons and were able to pivot in the areas of student education, research, and patient care. We remained open for emergency care March 2020 through May and in June, reopened all clinics to our communities. In this issue, you will read about how we partnered with the UIC College of Engineering to mitigate aerosols in our clinics to ensure the safety of providers and patients. It was just one way we innovated and adjusted to the conditions of the pandemic for the wellbeing of our faculty, students, staff, and patients. Our new normal, borne of a global pandemic, has also strengthened our mission, our community, and the care and education we provide. I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the faculty who worked tirelessly enabling our students and residents to graduate on time. This was a heavy lift as faculty members provided both in-person and remote learning opportunities, in addition to mentorship of our students and residents. Thank you to our talented and dedicated faculty and staff who supported the success of our students. On May 8, the College graduated 160 DMD, DMD-AS, and post-graduate students into the world to forge their dental careers. The pandemic does not define us, the power of our graduates and their abilities define the future of our profession and its specialties.
As we continue to navigate this new world and a new normal of dental education, I am reminded of the College’s unique core values, which have grown and evolved over time. Those values include: professionalism, respect, beneficence, transparency, responsibility, curiosity, flexibility, commitment, and inclusion. Now more than ever, we testify to the importance of these values. Finally, as Dean’s Council members, having made donations of $1,000 or more over the past year, you inspire us with your generosity and investment. Your gifts impact the College at every level—whether that is student success, faculty support, facility upgrades, research discovery, or patient care. You are making a difference, Changing the Future of Oral Health, every day. Thank you for being a part of our journey and now, our new normal of dental education. We are better and stronger because of your support and involvement. I hope what we share today inspires you to remain active with your College of Dentistry family and I look forward to seeing you when we can gather again to celebrate the excellence of UIC. Sincerely, Clark M. Stanford, DDS, PhD, MHA UIC Distinguished Professor and Dean
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Driving Faculty Development Dr. Alison Doubleday, Chicago Dental Society Endowed Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, recently gained a new title at the UIC College of Dentistry: Director of Faculty Development. In this newly created role, Dr. Doubleday assists faculty with pedagogy at the College. A UIC faculty member since 2010, Dr. Doubleday has worked with the University’s Department of Medical Education over the last six years to sharpen her own teaching skills, a pursuit that has inspired her to take calculated risks in the classroom. She brings that experimental mindset to her new role.
Helping my colleagues think of ways to best support student learning and see different possibilities in their own classroom efforts are incredibly exciting for me, especially at a time when there is so much innovation in teaching.
In a timely twist, Dr. Doubleday was recently named a 2021-2022 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Aspire, Achieve, Lead (AAL) Faculty Leadership Institute Fellow. The ADEA’s flagship program for promising mid-career faculty members and administrators, the fellowship aims to develop future leaders in dental and higher education. During the year-long program, Dr. Doubleday will meet with AAL fellows from across the U.S. to develop her leadership skills and knowledge. Specifically, she seeks to examine her own strengths and weaknesses to emerge a better collaborator and leader in guiding faculty development at the College. “I’m putting myself in a position to learn in the same way that I’m asking faculty to learn and try new things,” she says.
Community-Based Service Learning
Oquawka, Illinois rotation site. Third from left: Dr. Tran.
During his final year of dental school, Dr. John of Dentistry’s curriculum. Especially influential Tran treated primarily Hispanic farmers and was the extramural rotations he went on as part migrant workers in Colorado, rural white farmers of Dentistry’s Community-Based Service Learning. in Oquawka, Illinois near He found among the Mississippi river, his low-income and and low-income Hispanic underserved patients The experience allowed and African American that many had prepatients in Chicago’s existing conditions me to get an appreciation for Lawndale neighborhood. and limited health the unmet needs that are out literacy. Most hadn’t These rotations were there and made me a more seen a dentist in many part of the College of years because of limited thorough practitioner,” he Dentistry’s Communityaccess to care. Based Service Learning said. “It made me conscious program. As part of the of the factors beyond dental The Community-Based College’s curriculum, Service Learning the program places needs, like family issues or program is supported students in sites around mental health issues that by private donors the country to educate have to be discussed. The through the College and serve diverse and of Dentistry’s Service vulnerable patient extramural rotations have Learning Fund. The populations including allowed me to grow as a College’s hope is to the homeless, elderly, cover 50 percent of indigent, migrant clinician and diagnostician. the program’s cost workers,and persons with philanthropy. with special needs. In Donations to it support more than 16,500 visits education, housing and travel expenses, likely ones annually, they see the challenges these patients Dr. Tran incurred on his rotations. face with access to dental care, health disparities and social determinants of health. Dr. Tran earned his DMD in 2018. In summer of 2021, Dr. Tran will return to UIC College of Dentistry to Dr. Tran developed a passion for public health pursue a residency in endodontics. from his own experiences as an immigrant and learning about health disparities from the College
The Power of Giving Back Thank you! By awarding me the Orthodontics Resident Scholarship, you have lightened my financial burden which allows me to focus more on the most important aspect of residency, learning how to better treat my patients. Your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community. I look forward to one day being able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me. Katerine Cardona, DMD, MS
Did you know? During the 2020-2021 academic year, the College awarded over 106 students funds from endowed and named scholarships, up from 76 students last year, and provided nearly $250,000 in scholarship support.
Students, postgraduates, residents, researchers, faculty, staff, and patients are all inspired by your giving. The investments made by you and your fellow alumni and friends help us realize the College’s mission of Changing the Future of Oral Health.
If you have any questions related to the Dean’s Council and its benefits, or would like assistance in supporting the College, please contact: Mark Valentino Associate Dean for Advancement mjv@uic.edu Bruno Mancari Director of Development bmancari@uic.edu Ana Lisa Ogbac Director of Donor Relations aogbac1@uic.edu