DDS, Dental Hygiene, Students

Three UNC Students Selected to Participate in National Program: Academic Dental Career Fellowship Program

Ms. Kelly Higgins, Mr. Kevin Ricker, (3rd year dental students) and Dr. Viviana Ruiz (dental hygiene graduate student) were three of eleven student/mentor teams among U.S. dental and allied dental education programs to be selected in the Academic Dental Career Fellowship Program (program co-sponsored by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Gies Foundation and the American Association of Dental Research (AADR).

The purpose of this program is to immerse dental students and allied dental health students interested in academics into a structured program providing experiences in clinical and didactic teaching, a research practicum, and interviews of faculty and administration with the ultimate goal of fostering, encouraging and preparing students for a career in academic dentistry or academic allied dental health.

The students will be mentored in this program by Dr. Michael Milano (Kelly Higgins’s mentor), Dr. Janet Guthmiller (Kevin Ricker’s mentor), and Visiting Associate Professor Shannon Mitchell and Professor Rebecca Wilder (Viviana Ruiz’s mentors).

The three students and their mentors participated in formal training sessions at the ADEA meeting in March in San Diego. The students will be participating in this program over the course of the next year and will formally present their experiences during the ADEA annual session in Orlando in March 2012.