From left are Dr. Lisa Itaya (faculty advisor), Caitlin Ha (treasurer), Hilary Parsons (secretary), Sammy Lee (president), Caitlin Konicek (social events chair), Shivali Bhatt (wellness chair), Victoria Saykally (advocacy and community service chair), Sarah Osborne (public relations chair), and Michelle Comroe (membership chair).
Not pictured: Sonal Anand (Vice President), Sarah Baik (social events chair), James Ichiuji (public relations), and Lizzie Santos (mentorship chair).
The student chapter at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry was recognized for “the positive impact it has had on the dental school community this year through the many unique events that the chapter has organized.”
These events included:
- Hosting 16 successful events, raising more than $600.
- Donating over $1000 to nonprofit organizations and charities.
- Hosting multiple educational and social events (seminar discussions, health and wellness events,
networking socials and philanthropic events). - Conducting a school-wide survey to better connect and mentor Pacific AAWD members with community dentists.
- Developing their own study to assess how students feel about recognizing and responding to domestic violence.
- Organizing an oral health fair for the families of a nonprofit organization in San Francisco.
- Performing free dental screenings and provided a referral list of community dental clinics.
Although this was the first year the Pacific AAWD student chapter has been recognized as an official chapter of the national AAWD, the chapter “has opened opportunities for leadership and mentorship, not only among female dental students, but for the dental school community as a whole. In all, the work the chapter has done this year has been very noteworthy to supporting the AAWD mission.”