Jonathan Teyan, President of the New York State Academic Dental Center, spoke with host of OPEN BxRx Tuesday, Kibin Alleyne, about the new fellowship program that is aimed to address disparities in oral health care. Watch it here.

As the youngest resident at Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Ghida Askar considers herself very lucky to have been accepted right out of dental school. “When I came here I didn’t expect the age difference,” admitted the 23-year old Orofacial Pain resident. “I love it here because of all the diversity. Everyone wants to support you. The faculty are all amazing and they really help us a lot.” Read more.

On Aug. 19 at The Armory, the 140 members of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) Class of 2026 gathered for the White Coat Ceremony, an annual event at which Columbia’s incoming medical students are cloaked in white coats by faculty members for the first time. Of the members of the entering class, 31% belong to groups underrepresented in medicine, surpassing the record-breaking 28% in last year’s Class of 2025. Read more.

On November 16, 2022, Touro College of Dental Medicine and Touro Dental Health will host their 5th Annual Smiles for Veterans event. Veterans and their immediate families will receive free dental care that day and throughout the month of November. Read more.

A promising new study published in Cell Reports by Drs. Xin Li, Deepak Saxena, and Yuqi Guo et al shows that a topical gel that blocks the receptor for a metabolic byproduct called succinate treats periodontal disease — one of the most common inflammatory diseases in humans — by suppressing inflammation and changing the makeup of bacteria in the mouth. Read more.

Vincent Iacono, DMD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, chair of the Department of Periodontology, and Tarrson Family Professor of Periodontology in the Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, was recently presented the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The award is presented each year to a member of the school’s 50th and 25th anniversary graduating classes as a way to “recognize an individual who has made significant contributions that honor the mission of the school in addition to supporting HSDM through the generosity of their time, talent, and philanthropic commitments.” Read more.

The Department of Defense has awarded Yi Ye, PhD, a three-year grant in excess of $700,000 to expand her research into how oral cancer causes pain. The project will address a neglected issue that extracts an enormous toll on our injured soldiers and veterans: chronic pain and oral cancer pain. Read more.

Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine recently recognized Dr. Kenneth Kurtz, clinical professor of prosthodontics and director of the Division of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, with the 2022 Sreebny Lectureship Award. Kurtz was recognized for his contribution to the school’s Annual Research Day as the keynote speaker for his presentation, “Dental Implant Intervention for Syndromic & Non-Syndromic Childhood Partial Edentulism.” Read more.

Thomas Diekwisch, D.M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., has been named the founding chair of the Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, part of Eastman Institute for Oral Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Diekwisch joins EIOH from Texas A&M University’s College of Dentistry, where he has served as director for the Center for Craniofacial Research and Diagnosis and Head of the Department of Periodontics. In 2017, he was appointed the first Bernhard Gottlieb Endowed Chair in Craniofacial Research. Read more.