Alumni

Deborah Lien, DDS ’83, MS, is the 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Dental Alumni Award at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.

The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry has been a big part of life for Geetha Damodaran, DDS ’95—in more ways than one. That relationship informed her decision to become a donor.
 

The School of Dentistry’s Division of Endodontics is investing in state-of-the-art equipment, and honoring valued members of the community along the way. 

Alumni returned to campus to connect with one another and with faculty, staff and students. They enjoyed networking, continued education, updates on the school’s priorities and the chance to watch the Gophers take on the Colorado Buffaloes.

First celebrated in 1993 in New York, the White Coat Ceremony marks the moment in which each clinical learner is bestowed with their first white coat, recognizing the professionalism and patient-centered care expected of the wearer.

Aruna Rao, DDS ’12, was named a 2022 10 under 10 award winner by the American Dental Association. The ADA 10 under 10 recognizes “dentistry’s rising stars: dentists who are making an impact in the profession less than ten years after graduating from dental school,” according to the ADA’s website.

A new effort from School of Dentistry Development is connecting dentistry students with their scholarship donors, building partnerships across generations of gophers.

Nearly seventy members of the President’s Club, alongside other notable donors, came together to celebrate the School of Dentistry and honor the ways donors make achievement possible. The School of Dentistry offered a special welcome to new President’s Club members Stephen Bejarano, DDS ’91 and Elizabeth Rydell Bejarano, DDS ’91.

Amy Full, DDS ’19, grew up in a cornfield. And today, she’s practicing dentistry in those same cornfields, fulfilling her lifelong dream to practice rural dentistry. Part of what made that dream possible was scholarship funding.