Third-Year DMD Students Join Forces to Advance Diversity

Two Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) third-year dental students, Mahogany Miles and Tatiana Novas, attended the 2009 Student Ambassador Program sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA) and American Dental Education Association (ADEA). This intensive one-day event—with the theme of Joining Forces to Advance Diversity—was held in Dallas, Texas on October 21.

The event was attended by 55 sponsored students from 38 dental schools nationwide. Miles was selected to represent the GSDM chapter of the Student National Dental Association (SNDA) at the event and Novas was selected to represent the GSDM chapter of the Hispanic Student Dental Association (HSDA).

The program featured speakers, break-out sessions, and the opportunity to network with students from other schools. For Novas the highlight of the program was seeing what students at other schools are doing in terms of outreach and being able to bring back some of these good ideas to GSDM.

Miles added, "I was interested to learn that many of the students in attendance were focused on increasing minority recruitment to dentistry and their universities. For example University of the Pacific students discussed how they have been working with 200 plus California high school students to educate them about career opportunities in health fields that they previously didn’t know much about. It was great to see how they are making a difference in younger students’ lives."

"I am very proud of Mahogany and Tatiana," said Dean Jeffrey Hutter. "To take time away from their academic responsibilities to attend this program in order to benefit the student population of our School is admirable. I look forward to seeing many of the great ideas they gained from this program implemented by the student organizations at GSDM."