The 50th-anniversary graduates of the now RSDM walked across the podium to receive their degrees in 1974. Half a century later, with some of those graduates among the crowd, 166 students crossed the podium at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 13 to obtain dental degrees.

RSDM's annual award ceremony brought together the school community and families on May 9 to celebrate the achievements of the graduating class. Forty-one students received various awards, with two sharing the prize for student with the highest GPA; for the first time in its history, RSDM had two graduating students with perfect 4.0 GPA over four years.

Many people quickly realize their inclination to health care, yet it often takes much longer to figure out their exact path. The same held true for Assistant Professor of Pediatric Dentistry Mary Beth Giacona. After graduation, she drove cross-country and began working in biotech in the Bay area. Then, wisdom found her while getting her wisdom teeth removed.

Early in his life, Roger Johansen ’84 saw the importance of building connections. For instance, it was his photography teacher at Rutgers that inspired him to go into dentistry. In another case, he started teaching at RSDM, when his faculty mentor recruited him upon graduation. His students as well as classmates became lifelong friends and colleagues.

Adeyemo Y. I., Aliyu M. H., Folayan M. O., Coker M. O., Riedy C. A., Musa B. M., Denloye O. O., "A 2-arm randomized controlled study to improve the oral health of children living with HIV in Nigeria: Protocol and study design," Contemporary Clinical Trials

Calderon S. J., Momeni S. S., and Coker M. O., "The Translational Science Conundrum for Junior Investigators," JDR Clinical & Translational Research

Dunegan K. A., Deas D.E., Powell C. A., Ruparel N. B., Kotsakis G. A., and Mealey B.L., "Subgingival scaling and root planing during minimally invasive periodontal surgery: A randomized controlled split-mouth trial," Journal of Periodontology

Hsu H., Zanettini C., Coker M., Boudova S., Rach D., Mvula G., Divala T. H., Mungwira R. G., Boldrin F., Degiacomi G., Mazzabò L. C., Manganelli R., Laufer M. K., Zhang Y., Marchionni L., and Cairo C., "Concomitant assessment of PD-1 and CD56 expression identifies subsets of resting cord blood Vδ2 T cells with disparate cytotoxic potential," Cellular Immunology

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