People | 2025
The School of Dentistry community is great because of our people: the faculty, staff and students who work their hardest and achieve excellence. We would like to honor some of the people in our midst who achieved great things this year.
Faculty and staff showed their commitment to research, community service, organized dentistry and excellence in care.
Mark Herzberg, DDS, PhD, received an honorary degree from Malmo University in October 2024. A professor of basic sciences whose research focuses on host-microbial interactions, Herzberg has been involved with active collaborations with faculty at Malmo University since 2007. Herzberg and colleagues studied a high molecular weight glycoprotein found in human saliva to determine how bacteria recognize and respond to it. He traveled to the University in October to provide a talk, enjoy a celebratory dinner with the chancellor and participate in a formal ceremony. Herzberg is grateful for the experience to celebrate his accomplishments and his life with his colleagues. “I often think that when people die, eulogies are given. When academics die, there’s often a symposium celebrating them. But I’ve always wondered why they don’t do that while people are alive, so they can enjoy it,” Herzberg reflected. “It’s lovely to receive this celebration and honor.”
The Mobile Dental Clinic was named a Clinical Training Site of Excellence by the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs. This is the second time the clinic received the award, which recognizes clinical partners for their excellent support of health sciences learners. Michael Henderson, DDS, director of the clinic, said that the clinic “aims to deliver innovative Outreach education while providing high-quality dental care to underserved communities. We hope to unite students, patients and communities to increase social connections, while guiding students to become well-rounded, community-oriented professionals.” Students completed more than 3,600 procedures across the state in 2024 and gained an immersive understanding of what it means to provide excellence in care within a community.
Yvette Reibel, EdD, LDH, assistant professor of dental hygiene and MSDH program director, received the 2025 William J Gies Award for Junior Faculty Achievement in Allied Oral Health Education. Presented by the American Dental Education Association’s ADEAGies Foundation, the award honors a “promising junior faculty member whose accomplishments, to date, signal a creative endeavor to improve dental education through individual research, programming and teaching/learning pursuits.” Reibel was nominated by Michelle Arnett, RDH, MS, associate professor of dental hygiene, because of her efforts to improve writing, explore non-traditional practices and incorporate innovative methods for student education. “I feel that my biggest contribution to the field is developing impactful opportunities for students, shaping them to be significant leaders as oral health providers,” Reibel reflected. “The Gies Award is a meaningful acknowledgement of my contributions to education and an encouragement to continue my work with even more enthusiasm.”
Carolina Rodriguez, DDS, MS, clinical associate professor of endodontics, received the 2025 Foundation of Endodontics’ Dr. Scott B. McClanahan Full-Time Educator Award. Named for the School of Dentistry’s former faculty member, the award recognizes an educator who embodies excellence for students while making significant contributions to their institution and the specialty of endodontics. The award has special significance for Rodriguez, who describes McClanahan as one of the most influential figures in her life and career. “To receive an award that bears his name is deeply personal and incredibly meaningful to me,” she said. “He was not only my program director during residency, but also a true mentor and father figure to me. His guidance, high standards and unwavering belief in doing what’s best for patients and his students continue to shape the way I practice and teach today.” Rodriguez enjoys teaching the next generation of oral health professionals with “a variety of techniques,” she said. “My goal has always been to create a learning environment that is both rigorous and supportive, where students are challenged to think critically and empowered to succeed.”
Stephen Shuman, DDS, MS, FGSA, FICD, professor, director of the Division of Hospital and Special Care Dentistry and director of the Oral Health Services for Older Adults Program, was named the 2025 Guest of Honor for the Minnesota Dental Association. The association honored Shuman for his commitment to advancing dental care and improving access to underserved populations—namely, older adults and those with special care needs. The association noted, “He’s highlighted and advocated for solutions to bridge care gaps, emphasizing a commitment to equity and inclusivity within the profession.” Shuman, who helped develop training for dementia-friendly dental practices alongside the University’s Northstar Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program, is grateful that the association sees the importance of his work. “It’s tremendous that organized dentistry is concerned about this issue,” he said.
Students excelled in and out of the classroom this year, and they received the recognition to prove it.
Olanrewaju Ajeigbe, PhD ’28, was accepted into A-PReP, a research training program for doctoral-level professional health sciences students and early PhD students interested in clinical and translational research. “I was particularly attracted to the A-PReP program because of its emphasis on translational projects, which is my field of interest,” said Ajeigbe, who completed her BDS internationally prior to joining the School of Dentistry. “I resonated with the goals of the A-PReP program, including scientific capacity building, scientific collaboration and networking. As someone who has mostly worked in the clinic and is just starting out in research, the program was a useful resource for me to develop critical skills that would be greatly impactful in my career.” Ajeigbe spent the summer working with Rajaram Gopalakrishnan, BDS, PhD, professor and director of the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, and Erin Dickerson, PhD, associate professor of oncology in the College of Veterinary medicine, to explore metabolic markers that could halt the progression of cancer. “I am so happy to finally be able to carry out my proposed project,” she said.
Ayden Chapman, DDS/PhD ’32, was selected to represent the School of Dentistry at the 29th Hinman Student Research Symposium. He presented his research, “Comparison of Extracellular Vesicles Collected from Bone Marrow Derived and RANKL Differentiated Osteoclasts in Young and Aged Mice,” directed by Isha Mutreja, assistant professor of restorative sciences, and was awarded a Basic Science Research Award for outstanding student presentations. “This project in particular helped me solidify my understanding of the active bone microenvironment and how to work with primary culture to answer questions in a broader scientific setting,” Chapman said. “I was able to show how exosomes produced by bone remodeling osteoclast cells have a sig-nificant change in molecules contained, due to the aging process.” In the future, Chapman says he hopes to investigate if elderly mice (and eventually people) could have a gain in bone mass by being exposed to exosomes produced by osteoclasts of younger individuals, or the specific molecule combination that is found to be different between older and younger exosomes.
Anna Franek, MSDH ’25, was recognized with the American Academy of Dental Hygiene’s SHIP Award. One of the organization’s most prestigious honors, the award is given to those who have excelled in leadership, fellowship, mentorship and scholarship—the core values of the academy. Franek was nominated for the award by Yvette Reibel, EdD, LDH, MSDH program director. “I felt very honored to receive this prestigious award,” Franek said. “It represents a significant step forward in achieving my goals. As a student, I have not only deepened my knowledge, but also strengthened my passion for this profession, particularly realizing that leadership does not always come with a title. Ultimately, I aim to collaborate with other dental hygienists and healthcare professionals to drive positive change in our field.”
Lauren Kress, DDS/PhD ’31, was named the 2025-2026 AADOCR Gert Quigley Government Affairs Fellow. The national fellowship, awarded to a single student each year, is designed to familiarize graduate-level students with the federal legislative process for dental, oral and craniofacial research and the oral health care delivery system. Kress will learn about federal policymaking, work on projects to advance AADOCR policy priorities and meet with members of the scientific research and public health communities. “With the rise of misinformation surrounding once-celebrated public health endeavors, such as community water fluoridation, I want to learn how to effectively communicate science with diverse audiences to pro-mote research awareness and advocate for evidence-based initiatives,” she said. “I hope that engaging with dental health policy leaders and legislators will help me bridge the gap between scientific re-search and actionable health policy for the benefit of future patients, clinicians and researchers.”
Andrea Li, DDS ’27, and Alex Petronio, DDS ’28, placed at the 2025 CLARION Local Case Competition. The Clinician Administrator Relationship Improvement Organization, housed within the Center for Health Interprofessional Programs, creates interprofessional experiences for health professional students with experiential learning focused on systems-level changes and health care for all. This year’s competition, held in February 2025, invited learners to create a strategic plan on air quality to develop resilient health systems for a changing climate. Petronio and his teammate, Kathleen Velez (Veterinary Medicine), won first place—earning a spot at the National Case Competition—and received a Health Equity Innovation Award.
Andrea Li, DDS ’27, received third place with teammates Taiwo Aremu (Pharmacy) and Gurjot Singh (Public Health). Li also received a Best Presenter Award. “This project really forced us to think about the best way to present our material in a way that would emphasize the impact on the health of community members, while also balancing potential long-term financial considerations for the corporation,” reflected Petronio, who found it “rewarding” to win and to hear the judges’ positive comments. Li saw the competition as an opportunity to learn more about other health care professions. “I’ve always seen our careers as pretty separate, but I was curious to see how different disciplines could come together toward a shared goal,” she said. “This competition gave me the chance to see the bigger picture of health care as a whole.”
Aryan Shekarabi, DDS/PhD ’30, was named one of two University of Minnesota Libraries Student Innovators Fellows in 2025. Intended for extended reality projects that can make a meaningful impact on communities or society at large, the fellowship provides $4,500 for research. Shekarabi seeks to explore how high-resolution MRI can be integrated into virtual reality settings. Those large, detailed imaging files could potentially be adapted into a VR environment that clinicians and researchers can use for educational demonstrations or even to assist in clinical decision-making,” Shekarabi said. He studies musculoskeletal disorders, a leading cause of pain worldwide, and hopes to learn how virtual reality can help diagnose and treat them. “I hope this will be a stepping stone for others to build upon,” he said. “Eventually, I’d like to see more researchers and clinicians incorporate advanced imaging and VR into their projects. If our platform or approach can help facilitate that, I’ll consider it a success.”