Welcoming NEW STAFF

The Staff Human Resources Offices keeps very busy hiring new staff members for both our Venice and Westwood locations. Please welcome the School of Dentistry's newest employees, and congratulate the staff members who assumed new/expanded roles in dental school operations. Click here for a staff slideshow.

 

New Employees

Staff in New or Expanded Roles

ALUMNI OF THE YEAR

The UCLA School of Dentistry Alumni Reunion and Luncheon held May 16, 2009 was the perfect opportunity to celebrate our co-alumni of the year, Drs. Melanie Gullett and her husband George Maranon, as well as our honorary alumnus of 2009, Dr. Harold Hargis.

Melanie and George have a long history of service to the school and the dental profession. They graduated as classmates from the UCLA School of Dentistry in 1983, and have been very active in the Alumni Association and the Apollonian Society. George, an oral surgeon, practices in Tarzana. Melanie, a breast cancer survivor, sold her practice in Santa Monica and is very involved in fundraising for a cure.
 
In choosing the honorary alumnus this year, the alumni association took a cue from the California Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons which recognized Dr. Hargis’ lifelong contributions to the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery in a ceremony in 2006. Dr. Hargis officially retired from the dental school 15 years ago, though you'd never know it judging by the schedule he keeps.

Read more about the alumni of the year online.

ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

A great time was had by all at the UCLA School of Dentistry Golf Tournament, played this year at the Industry Hills Gold Club at the Pacific Palms Resort. A total of 20 teams comprised of 78 participants—alumni, students and faculty alike—teed off, however it was the alumni teams that turned out to be the biggest winners of the day. Alumni landed the first three finishes, with Mark Ozaki's (Class of 1983) team takingthe top spot coming in at 14 under par with a score of 57. The top student team ranked fourth at 8 under par and a score of 63. The good news is that the students will be alumni someday. . .

Dr. Conrad Block '94 of Santa Rosa was profiled in a Press-Democrat story about surfing professionals entitled "Wave Goodby to Surfing Stereotypes."

Don Goudy, GPR '94, the dentist for the NHL team the San Jose Sharks, was recently profiled by the San Jose Mercury News (photo credit: Gary Reyes, Mercury News).

Karen Potter wrote in to share a recent photo from the spring American Association of Endodontics meeting in Orlando. Our own professor Nadia Chugal is flanked by recent female graduates of UCLA who are currently endodontic residents around the country. Picture from left to right are Stacey Woo, 2008 PhD graduate of UCLA and current endo resident at UMKC; Karen Potter, 2007 graduate of UCLA and current endo resident at University of Iowa; Nadia Chugal, current director of the postrgrate program in endodontics at UCLA; Amanda Ngan, 2006 graduate of UCLA and current endo resident at University of Washington; and Avina Paranjpe Phadke, 2007 graduate of UCLA and current endo resident at University of Washington. Karen observed, "It was amazing to realize how many endodontic women UCLA has produced, especially when women are a minority in endo!"

Are you a UCLA School of Dentistry alum with news to share? We want to hear from you! Contact us.

GREENING THE SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY

It's getting easier to be green at the dental school. The Facilities Office has expanded its recycling program to include:

• mixed paper
• cell phones
• inkjet cartridges, and
• batteries

These new recycling efforts are made possible through the support of E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity, the campus environmental club. See Junior Alcocer in B3-029 for more details. To learn more about UCLA's energy-saving initiatives, read Chancellor Block's Climate Action Plan.

WHAT TO DO IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY

If an emergency medical situation arose at the UCLA School of Dentistry, would you know what to do? Whom would you call?

Remember: dial 911 from a campus phone or (310) 825-1491 from a cell phone and campus emergency services will respond. When you dial 911 from an on-campus phone extension, the operator is able to pinpoint your exact locaion, expediting the arrival of emergency services.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WELCOMING NEW FACULTY

The Academic Personnel Office recently welcomed 14 new members of the dental school faculty. In addition, the office is pleased to announce two promotions and a new endowed chair. Please welcome and congratulate the following people. Click here for a faculty slideshow.

 

New Appointments

Name	Title	Effective Date
Charles Alexander	Adjunct Associate Professor	10/1/08
Jonathan Armstrong	Assistant Researcher	1/21/09
David Arnold	Lecturer	3/3/09
James Baker	Lecturer	2/18/09
Bradley Baum	Lecturer	1/1/09
James Chen	Lecturer	1/7/09
Shen Hu	Assistant Professor	10/1/08
Hyun Jung	Lecturer	1/22/09
Michelle Kelman	Lecturer	1/12/09
Jung Lim	Assistant Clinical Professor	4/1/09
Sandra McLaren	Lecturer	2/11/09
Michael Nguyen	Lecturer	1/15/09
Elana Norman	Lecturer	4/1/09
Jason Pair	Lecturer	1/9/09
Bae Park	Visiting Assistant Researcher	2/9/09
Cun-Yu Wang	No-Hee Park Endowed Chair in Dentistry	1/1/09
Patricia Wilkes	Lecturer	1/12/09
Jason Wong	Lecturer	1/22/09

A Faculty Member Abroad

Dr. Robert Lindemann, previously the dental school’s associate dean of academic programs and personnel, is currently in the midst of a two-year leave of absence. He left UCLA last spring and headed to Scandinavia where he currently serves the University of California as the director of the Study Centers at Lund University and the University of Copenhagen. Recently, the Dean’s Newsletter caught up with Dr. Lindemann to chat about how things look from the other side of the world.

Dean’s Newsletter: At UCLA, in your role as associate dean, you were responsible for academic personnel matters as well as the school’s academic programs. You made a transition from overseeing accreditation visits, faculty reviews and curriculum reform to. . . just what are your day-to-day responsibilities in your new role?

Robert Lindemann: I am responsible for overseeing the academic program for primarily undergraduate students from eight UC campuses (soon to be nine with UC Merced) for a summer language and culture program and/or one semester or one year at Copenhagen University and Lund University. I also work with the Danish and Swedish students that are interested in studying at UC for a year.

It has been interesting to work with students from a diverse group of majors and to compare undergraduates with the professional students in dentistry. There are many similarities (e.g. high academic performance) but it seems like the undergrads have an unusual interest in high grades, which may be one reason why more UC students don’t study abroad, as they prefer to be on campuses where they know the system.

DN: Can you compare the oral health care system in the U.S. to the systems in place in Denmark and Sweden?

RL: Oral health care is part of the benefits of Danish and Swedish citizens. They use the term “welfare state” without negative connotation. The quality of care is high, as is the quality of dental education. I visited the dental schools in Malmo, Sweden and in Copenhagen, Denmark and met with their deans. They rival most US schools.

DN: Dental students and professors who return from visiting Japan each spring (as part of the Miyata exchange program) report a great deal of recognition and admiration of the UCLA name in that country. Do you have a sense of what people around you think of UCLA?

RL: The top two choices of both Danish and Swedish students are UCSB and UCLA. They know the reputations of these schools and see them placed high on world university rankings.

DN: What has it been like to be overseas during recent developments such as our presidential election and the global economic crisis?

RL: Although I very much missed the excitement of the recent US election from a California perspective, the view from Europe made up for what I missed. The Europeans fervently wanted Barack Obama to win. They showed all the inauguration events on TV. Two things struck me. When the Swedish announcers covered the end of President Bush’s presidency, they stated “he was the worst president,” like that was fact and written in the history books. I saw the video clip of President Obama in France speaking at a town hall meeting. He described the love-hate relationship between Europe and America perfectly. It was good to hear it said out loud. In Sweden, one hears the criticism of US policies and later goes home to see the TV channels filled with US programs.

DN: Speaking of the crisis, and its effects on California and the UC system, is there anything you’d like to share about the value of education abroad?

RL: I think it is undervalued by many UC students. The financial crisis has underscored the dependence of world markets and students who become global citizens by studying abroad will benefit from their experiences when job hunting.

DN: What have you enjoyed most about this experience?

RL: I really enjoyed the “Critical World Issues” joint summer session with UC and Lund University. Unfortunately, this program was cut for financial reasons, but this program brought me up to date on the complicated foreign policy issues in the world today. We went to the European Union in Brussels, the War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, and had an amazing slate of guest speakers, among them the current Swedish Ambassador to the UN and the former Ambassador to China. It was a most exciting learning experience for me.

I also like the ease at which I can travel to other countries.

DN: Is there anything that has surprised you?

RL: There are many people who smoke here and the young women smokers outnumber the young men. I was surprised by how fast the time has gone.

DN: When you return to the U.S., what do you predict you’ll miss about the life you are leading right now?

RL: We live in the heart of Lund and we walk or bicycle to most places. I take the train to Copenhagen every week. When we travel by air, we take the train to Copenhagen, which stops at the airport (an escalator ride up to the main terminal). I will miss the ease of public transportation, especially when I am driving everywhere. I will also miss experiencing more of Europe. I have ancestors from Germany, Scotland, and Sweden. I have been doing genealogic research on these ancestors while I am close. It makes it easier to gather information and to visit the places they emigrated from.

DN: What do you miss about dental school life?

RL: I miss my colleagues, contact with the dental students and the stimulation of the academic environment at the School. I miss being on the UCLA Campus.

DN: Is there a specific message that you’d like to share with the Dean’s Newsletter audience?

RL: I have enjoyed representing the UCLA School of Dentistry in this new role. Some people are surprised by my background but I have been able to educate them to the nature of the dental profession and its high academic standards.

UCLA School of Dentistry • 10833 Le Conte Avenue CHS • Box 951668 • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668
Tel: (310) 825-2337 • news@dentistry.ucla.edu