GSDM Hosts Students And Faculty From Three Chinese Dental Schools
Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) hosted students and faculty from three Schools of Stomatology in China this summer, during three separate 14-day visits. The visits were part of an ongoing Global Externship Exchange with three Chinese institutions that began in October 2013. The exchange allows fourth-year DMD students to spend three weeks—guided by a GSDM faculty member—at three Chinese dental schools, gaining clinical and cultural experience as well as course credit. The exchange also allows for students and faculty from the Chinese schools to visit GSDM. These corresponding visits have been taking place each year since 2013.
The three groups of Chinese students and faculty that visited GSDM this summer were from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Stomatology (SJUSS), Peking University School of Stomatology (PKUSS) and the Fourth Military Medical University School of Stomatology (FMMUSS). The visitors were each in Boston for 14 days this summer, touring GSDM and the city of Boston while observation all of GSDM’s academic and clinical programs, as well as the school’s other various scholarly and research activities.
The Chinese visitors participating in this cultural exchange program all specialize in postdoctoral programs, and many of the visiting Chinese students had specific interest in rotations of GSDM’s postdoctoral clinic such as Orthodontics, Endodontics, Periodontology, Prosthodontics, Oral Surgery and Pediatric Dentistry. Therefore, each 14-day schedule was tailored to the interests of the visitors.
Visiting first, from June 25 to July 7, were Dr. Ming Cai, Ying Chen (student), and ZhouXi Ye (student) from SJUSS in Shanghai.
Visiting second, from July 8 to July 19, were Dr. Yumei Zhang, Dr. Jing Gao, and Dr. Lingzhou Zhao from FMMUSS in Xi’an.
Visiting third, from August 24 to September 3, were Meili Dong, Keang Fan (student), Donghao Wei (student), and Jihao Zhang (student) from PKUSS in Beijing.
“I am delighted to see that this important cultural and academic exchange between GSDM and our partner institutions continues to be both immensely beneficial as well as enjoyable for everyone involved” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “It was a pleasure to get to know all of the visitors from SJUSS, FMMUSS, and PKUSS during their visits.”
The exchange program is overseen by GSDM’s Office of Global & Population Health. Dr. Laisheng Chou, Professor and Director of Oral Medicine and Professor of Biomaterials, and Consultant to the Dean on Far Easter Programs serves as the Program Director.
The exchange program started with SJUSS and FMMUSS in 2013 and expanded quickly to include PKUSS in 2014. In 2015, the program continues to grow. Both Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Tokyo, Japan, and Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Dentistry, in Bangkok, Thailand were recently added to the exchange program, with students from GSDM visiting those schools in September 2015, and students from the respective schools set to visit GSDM in the summer of 2016.
This means that visiting international students—from five schools—will be on GSDM’s campus for a combined length of nearly two months in the summer of 2016. At the same time, GSDM will continue to send its fourth year DMD students to five dental schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Tokyo and Bangkok for their global externship program.
The rapidly growing program is incredibly beneficial to GSDM students. The students who are selected to participate—only eight students can be selected into the program each year from a very competitive pool of applicants—receive fantastic exposure to the workings of international dental schools while also experiencing different cultures.
“The quantity and variety of the cases our students are exposed to at the dental schools in China, Japan and Thailand are remarkable,” said Dr. Chou. “It would certainly be unlikely for the students to experience the same type of cases in their short four-year DMD program in the United States.”
The schedules of the 14-day visits for this year’s incoming visitors from SJUSS, PKUSS and FMMUSS were jam-packed with events and activities designed to fully expose the Chinese faculty and students to the workings of GSDM, and help them explore any curiosities they may have about GSDM’s programs.
Each visit included a special dinner at Dean Hutter’s home, at which Dean Hutter personally welcomed the scholars and students from China to Boston, and thanked them for their continued support of the exchange program.
The Saturday and Sunday of each visit was reserved for sightseeing around Boston and the greater Boston area. DMD students were tasks with touring the Chinese visitors around the city. The DMD students who took part in these city tours were: Wenyu Qu DMD 17, Annie Xiaomeng DMD 17, Sen Wang DMD 17, Nic Branshaw DMD 16, Mohamed Bayoumy DMD 16, Kayla Cuddy DMD 16.
While the weekends of each of the visits this year were filled with laid-back, fun activities, the weekdays were packed tight with presentations and events designed to showcase GSDM to the Chinese visitors. Each group of Chinese scholars and students was given a tour of GSDM and the Medical Campus before immersing in their dense schedule of presentations and other activities.
The visitors were also able to observe GSDM’s Grand Rounds presentations and enjoy a lunch with the Boston University Asian Dental Student Organization (ADSO).
Faculty members participating in the SJUSS visit (faculty previously mentioned in this article will not have titles in the following list):
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Hussam Batal
- Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of General Dentistry, Assistant Dean of Students, and Director of Geriatric Dental Medicine Joseph Calabrese
- Laisheng Chou
- Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Health Services Research and Associate Dean for Global & Population Health Michelle Henshaw
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Director of the Preliminary Internship Program Timothy Osborn
- Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Periodontology Dr. Mingfang Su
Faculty members participating in the FMMUSS visit (faculty previously mentioned in this article will not have titles in the following list):
- Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences & Biomaterials and Clinical Director of the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Prosthodontics Alexander Bendayan
- Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Ishwar Bhatia
- Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Director of Credentialing at Boston Medical Center Steven J. Bookless
- Laisheng Chou
- Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Clinical Professor in the Department of General Dentistry John Guarente
- Michelle Henshaw
- Clinical Instructor in the Department of General Dentistry Eric Mandelbaum
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Endodontics Ramzi Sarkis
Faculty members participating in the PKUSS visit (faculty previously mentioned in this article will not have titles in the following list):
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Director of Faculty Practice Clinical Services Hussam Batal
- Assistant Professor in the Department of General Dentistry Louis Brown
- Joseph Calabrese
- Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Radhika Chigurupati
- Laisheng Chou
- Clinical Professor and Director of Pre-doctoral Education in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Vice Chairman of Dentistry and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Boston Medical Center Richard D’Innocenzo
- Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of General Dentistry and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics Yael Frydman
- Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Head of the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology George Gallagher
- John Guarente
- Associate Professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences & Biomaterials Russell A. Giordano
- Michelle Henshaw
- Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences & Biomaterials Ali Khiblil
- Professor in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and Associate Dean for Research Maria A. Kukuruzinska
- Eric Mandelbaum
- Professor in the Department of General Dentistry Carl McManama
- Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Associate Dean for Hospital Affairs Pushkar Mehra
- Clinical Professor in the Department of General Dentistry and Director of the Division of Pre-doctoral Removable Prosthodontics Ronni Schnell
- Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Director of Quality Assurance and Ambulatory Operations at Boston Medical Center Bradford Towne
Other GSDM community members participating in the PKUSS visit:
- Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Resident Gaby Bonilla
- Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Resident Natalia Lopez
Photos from the visits from SJUSS, FMMUSS and PKUSS visits can be found on Facebook and Flickr.
Submitted by GSDM Communications.