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As we turned the calendar to 2024, the UCLA School of Dentistry commenced an exciting celebration … its 60th anniversary year!

At the core of this year-long commemoration, the anniversary is all about reflecting on the School’s incredible impact on oral health care over the past six decades – a short span relative to peer institutions – as well as looking forward to the continuing innovations ahead. Sixtieth-anniversary content will be visible via touchpoints such as:

A team of UCLA School of Dentistry researchers led by Takahiro Ogawa, D.D.S., Ph.D., has culminated a decade of dental implant research with the development of a cutting-edge technology that ensures near-perfect osseointegration, faster healing times, and significantly reduced complications for patients.

David T.W. Wong, D.M.D., D.M.Sc., has spent most of his 21 years at the UCLA School of Dentistry conducting pioneering research on the use of saliva as a diagnostic medium for early detection and monitoring of systemic diseases. Now, two recently awarded grants will empower his team at the UCLA Center for Oral/Head and Neck Oncology Research to identify biomarkers for lung and oral cance

Click here to view and download the UCLA School of Dentistry's Spring 2023 Magazine (PDF file)

In this issue:

• A Culture of Caring (page 2)
  • Timeline tracing the School's longstanding commitment to community service

For 30 years, students and faculty from the UCLA School of Dentistry have made regular journeys across the Pacific to Meikai University, just outside Tokyo, and Asahi University, about 75 miles northeast of Kyoto, to share and absorb the latest in dental techniques and technology — and get a taste of the local culture — with their Japanese counterparts.

Business leader, dentist, and UCLA alumna Naomi Ellison, D.D.S., ’81, will deliver the UCLA School of Dentistry’s 2023 commencement address on Sunday, June 4, at 10 a.m. in Royce Hall.

Dr. Bruce Molen, Class of 1968, was born in Great Falls, Montana, and grew up in North Hollywood, California. He was selected from among hundreds of applicants to become part of UCLA’s first dental class of 27 students. Following his dental education, Dr. Molen served as a captain in the dental branch of the U.S. Air Force. During his service he treated servicemen and servicewomen at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota for two years. It was during that time that he made the decision to continue his education and specialize in orthodontics.

By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications, UCLA International Institute

In honor of International Women’s Day 2022, the UCLA International Institute published a series of profiles of outstanding female Bruin students who will become tomorrow's leaders.

Dr. No-Hee Park, dean emeritus of the UCLA School of Dentistry and distinguished professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been given the Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award by the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research.

A $1 million grant from Delta Dental of California will endow a new scholarship at the UCLA School of Dentistry.

The Delta Dental Scholarship for Opportunity will be awarded annually to students in UCLA’s four-year D.D.S. program who have demonstrated strong academic achievement in the face of adversity, and who have demonstrated an interest in working in underserved communities. The first scholarships will be awarded during the current academic year.