SOD alums, oto residents, grad student garner acclaim

One School of Dentistry alum has assumed leadership of a national organization representing 39,000 dentists, while another of the school's graduates has become the youngest, most junior officer to receive a U.S. Army Dental Corps command. Meanwhile, otolaryngology residents have soared to new heights on their inservice exams, and a biochemistry graduate student received a research award.    

Dentistry alum assumes AGD presidency

Donald

Dr. W. Mark Donald, a 1988 graduate of the School of Dentistry, was installed as president of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) during the organization's annual meeting in San Francisco June 18-21. Donald is in full-time private practice in Louisville.

The AGD is a professional association of 39,000 general dentists dedicated to providing quality dental care and oral health education to the public.

"This year, I hope to share my passion as an advocate for the AGD and for the profession of general dentistry with not only our members and colleagues, but with the general public," Donald said. "AGD members are committed to lifelong learning, and this distinguishes us from others in our field.

" I look forward to expanding the awareness of AGD member dentists among the public and establishing AGD Fellowship and Mastership as signs of career achievement."

A member of the AGD for 28 years, Donald has been active on both the local and national levels, serving the Mississippi AGD as membership chair, vice president, president, and delegate to the AGD House of Delegates. Currently, he is the Mississippi AGD legislative chair. Nationally, he has served as the AGD vice president and speaker of the house. He also was the Region 12 regional director for six years, serving as chair of the regional directors for two years.

In 2009, Dr. Donald earned his AGD Mastership Award, the association's highest honor and one of the most respected designations within the profession.

Dentistry grad earns U.S. Army command

Reed

Maj. Demarcio Reed, a 2008 graduate of the School of Dentistry, has been selected to serve as the commander of the U.S. Army Dental Clinic Command in Japan, starting in July.

He will command two of the Army dental clinics at Camp Zama and Tori Station in Okinawa during the next three years. He will be the youngest and most junior officer to take command in the U.S. Army Dental Corps.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Reed was raised in Hazlehurst and received a B.S. in chemistry from Jackson State University in 2004. Upon his commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he was granted an educational delay and earned the D.M.D. at UMMC in 2008. During dental school, he served as the national corresponding secretary and national vice president for the Student National Dental Association.

He completed an advanced education in general dentistry program at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2010. He is currently pursuing board certification with the American Board of General Dentistry.

Otolaryngology residents reach inservice heights

Residents in the Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences finished among the top five programs in the country on the 2015 ABO to Inservice Exams.

The residents have consistently scored in the top 10-20 percent of all residency programs in the nation on these exams; this year, only two programs scored higher.

Grad student's project gets national recognition

Syed

Maryam Syed, a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Damian Romero in the Department of Biochemistry, recently received a Research Recognition Award from the American Physiological Society Endocrinology and Metabolism Section during the 2015 Experimental Biology Meeting in Boston.

Syed won the award for her research project, "MicroRNA-21 Ablation Exacerbates Aldosterone-Mediated Cardiac Injury, Remodeling and Dysfunction."