One Final Send-Off: Recent Faculty and Staff Retirements

***These profiles appear in the UCLA School of Dentistry's Spring 2024 Magazine***

Dr. Earl Freymiller, holder of the Bob and Marion Wilson Endowed Chair, retired in June 2023 as chair of the Division of Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences and director of the Postgraduate Training Program in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. After training at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Harvard Medical School, and gaining a medical board OMFS certification, Dr. Freymiller joined the School of Dentistry faculty in 1989. In addition to his pre- and postdoctoral teaching responsibilities, he contributed to more than 45 peer-reviewed journal articles. The use of platelet-rich plasma to improve the success of bone grafting was among his focus areas.

In 2013, Dr. Freymiller became the first UCLA recipient of the California Dental Association Foundation’s Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni Faculty Award, recognizing educators affiliated with the state’s seven dental schools for exceptional leadership, innovation, collaboration, compassion, philanthropic spirit, and integrity. He was also recognized on numerous occasions for leading UCLA’s OMFS residents to Ensenada, Mexico, four times per year to perform complicated cleft lip and palate surgeries on children, an initiative he started in 1990 with partner Thousand Smiles Foundation.

Dr. Daniela Rodrigues Silva served as director of the Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program while holding the Dr. Thomas K. Barber Endowed Term Chair until her retirement in October 2023. After completing dental education, training, and running a private practice clinic in Goiânia, Brazil, Dr. Silva moved to Florida in 2004 to serve as residency program director for two clinics affiliated with the University of Florida College of Dentistry, moving on to Westwood in 2011. Dr. Silva received several accolades throughout her career, which was highlighted by her being named a fellow by the American College of Dentists in 2018. Also a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, she published research papers related to cariology, restorative dentistry, pulp therapy, and dental trauma. Featured in a January 2020 UCLA Magazine story on the university’s “problem solvers,” Dr. Silva stated: “My dream is to stop caries disease from happening to little ones.”

Dr. Bill Piskorowski's left his mark on the School of Dentistry as the inaugural Associate Dean for Community-Based Clinical Education (CBCE), a program he launched in 2017 with support from Dean Paul Krebsbach.

With a mission of enhancing students’ education while increasing access to care for vulnerable populations through sustainable community service, Dr.Piskorowski implemented CBCE as a pilot program in March 2018 with a select group of D.D.S. candidates completing a two-week community rotation. Now, current fourth-year dental students each complete at least six weeks of rotations with two different practice models. Approximately 28,000 patients in underserved communities have received over 67,000 dental procedures through CBCE.

Following a 25-year career in private practice, Dr. Piskorowski joined the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 2006 as director of outreach and community affairs. While in Ann Arbor he piloted the of a one-of-a-kind, financially self-sustaining CBCE model. Among numerous career honors, in 2013 he received ADEA’s prestigious William J. Gies Award for Outstanding Innovation by a Dental Educator.

Staff Retirements