Category: Academics

The CDM’s Chi Psi chapter of the national dental honor society Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) welcomed its newest members: Ashley Beck, Michael S. DiSanto, Andrew M. Falestiny, Kalynn M. Foster, Jamie J. Gonzalez, Tiffany Lu, Brianna Mastrianni, Marjan Mirkheshti, Ashvi Mittal, Lily Nguyen, Kelli Orcutt, Derek S. Stallard, Shelby Willoughby, and Brandon L. Zipper.  Members consist of senior students from the scholastic top 20 percent of the class. The CDM’s Chi Psi Chapter was founded in 2000 as the honor society’s 68th chapter and has 200 members in the categories of alumni, honorary, and faculty.

The College of Dental Medicine is one of nine dental colleges that is sharing in the donation by Henry Schein, Inc., in health care products in support of the colleges’ oral health outreach missions to underserved communities in the U.S. and around the world.

The donations are being made as part of the Henry Schein Cares Global Student Outreach Program, an initiative of Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program.

Under the Global Student Outreach Program, Henry Schein provides teams comprised of dental students and faculty from each school with a donation of oral health supplies. The teams use these products during missions to provide oral health care education, emergency dental services, screenings, prevention, sealant application, and restorative treatment to children and adults living in underserved communities.

Approximately 40 to 50 CDM students participate in outreach programs on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus and during trips to provide dental care and education to people in countries who may not have access to health care.

In addition to providing treatment, the Global Student Outreach Program teams assess the oral health needs of each targeted community and work to implement a sustainable oral health system, including the identification and training of local members of the community who can sustain oral health education and care on an ongoing basis.

The CDM’s annual White Coat Ceremony officially welcomes new dental students to the college. This year, the CDM welcomed 125 students, selected from 3,000 applicants, to the incoming class of 2022. The students accepted their white coats as a symbol of the dental profession and recited the oath that defined their new professional responsibilities to enter NSU’s College of Dental Medicine.

The Class of 2022 includes 40 under-represented minority students—32 Hispanic students, 6 African-Americans and 2 Native Americans. The average GPA is 3.6; Science GPA is 3.6; the DAT average is 21; and 20 percent of the class have master’s degrees. The class of 2022 is comprised of 53 men and 72 women.

Kenneth Namerow, D.D.S. has retired from the NSU College of Dental Medicine endodontics department. Namerow joined the CDM in 2010 after a 32-year career in private practice.

During his years at the CDM, Namerow served as Chair of the Department of Endodontics and devised an endowed professorship to attract and retain promising young academicians. Working with the endodontic alumni, more than $500,000 was raised from faculty, alumni, and the American Association of Endodontists Foundation to establish an endowed professorship. Today, the endowment is valued at more than $600,000.

In recognition of his efforts, the Alumni Association recommended naming the professorship for Kenneth N. Namerow Endowed Professorship in Endodontics. The first recipient of the endowed professorship, Taner Cem Sayin, D.D.S., Ph.D., has succeeded Namerow as chairman of the CDM endodontics department.