The Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry family gathered May 25 for its annual OKU-Sutro Excellence Day, a celebration of notable achievements across research, clinical care and community service.

The event is a long-standing tradition that offers the school community the opportunity to publicly share their projects with colleagues, faculty, staff, alumni and special guests. Although there is a competitive component, Excellence Day is primarily a collaborative celebration of the multi-dimensional interests and talents of the Dugoni School family.

In addition to presentations from dental students and residents, this year’s event included presentations from students in the Audiology program in Pacific’s School of Health Sciences. The Audiology program is also housed at the San Francisco campus.

Dr. Karen Schulze, associate professor and chair of the OKU-Sutro Excellence Day Committee, opened the event with a greeting to attendees, followed by welcome remarks from Dean Nader Nadershahi. Next, Dr. Allen Huang of Stanford School of Medicine presented a guest lecture “Sleep and Smiles: Defining the Modern Dentist.”

Activities then spanned the clinical areas on the second floor where students and residents set up displays and posters about their research projects, clinical cases and community service activities. Clinical cases spanned implant dentistry, endodontics, removable prosthodontics, restorative, orthodontics, dental hygiene and more. Students also discussed the results of their Personalized Instruction Program (PIP) projects completed with guidance from their faculty advisors.

Faculty judges reviewed the projects and spoke with students to get key insights about their work.

For clinical cases, numerous patients were on hand to show off their smiles and share their successful treatment experiences provided by their dental student or resident.

“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer,” said Dr. Shreya Nerli, a student participant from the IDS Class of 2022. “Excellence Day is a massive platform to inspire people who hesitate to take the first step to showcase their excellent work and to also get inspired by others' work and ultimately deliver excellence.”

“Excellence Day was an absolute joy for me,” added Dr. Rupinder Brar, also a member of the IDS Class of 2022. “Besides, being able to share my work, I was able to learn so much from my colleagues. I enjoyed the enthusiasm and pride everyone took while participating and presenting on this special day!”

OKU-Sutro Excellence Day activities are sponsored by the school’s Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) chapter, Henry A. Sutro Award Endowment and the Dugoni School Annual Fund. 

Omicron Kappa Upsilon is a national dental honor society founded in 1914 at Northwestern University. The Dugoni School chartered its Delta Delta Chapter in 1934 to encourage scholarship and advance ethical standards of the dental profession. Membership is limited to 12% of the graduating class on the basis of scholarship, character and leadership.

Awards will be presented to students during an upcoming Brown Bag meeting with Dean Nadershahi in June.