Dean Ferrillo with the faculty of
Guanghua School of Stomatology

Amid all of the attention on China’s impact on the global economy — from manufacturing to energy to its growing consumer culture — I recently had the chance to learn more about its approach to healthcare and dentistry, one area we don’t read as much about.

During the first week of January, a small group from our school visited China as part of a cross-cultural exchange. My traveling companions across many miles were Dr. Colin Wong, a graduate and former president of both the Pacific Dugoni Foundation and the school’s Alumni Association, and Gary Mitchell, current president of the Pacific Dugoni Foundation.

During the trip, we were fortunate to visit with students and faculty at the School & Hospital of Stomatology at Wenzhou Medical College in Wenzhou, a major city in the southeastern Zhejiang province. The leaders at the School & Hospital of Stomatology were kind and knowledgeable hosts to our group. They organized a tour of the school and meetings with faculty, where I learned more about their opportunities and challenges. Jianfeng Ma M.S.D, Professor and Dean of the school, recently spent time at the Dugoni School of Dentistry here in San Francisco where she and several colleagues gave a presentation, visited with our faculty and toured our facilities.

We also spent time in Guangzhou at the Guanghua College of Stomatology at Sun Yat-sen University where I gave a presentation and met with students and faculty. It was an honor to be presented with a letter of appointment from University President Huang Daren naming me as a visiting professor to the school for two years.

Our group was very grateful for the extraordinarily warm hospitality the Chinese extended us both in Wenzhou and Guangzhou. They truly opened up the doors for an exchange. I believe these dental schools together with the Dugoni School of Dentistry can develop ways to improve the quality of dental education.

As always, I am immensely impressed with the rapid development going on in China. The Chinese economy will rank second in the world, if it has not already, only below the United States. They continue to make tremendous progress in developing their economy and I’m greatly interested in continuing to follow their development.

As president of the International Federation of Dental Educators and Associations, I’ve had the pleasure to meet with many of the leading dental educators around the world to hear what’s working in their countries. By sharing best practices and learning from other educators, we can raise the standards of dental education globally and improve oral health for people around the world.

Students collect donations during a break at school.

The impact of our dental school on people in our community reaches far beyond our school’s walls and the dental clinics here on campus. I wanted to highlight a few special activities taking place this holiday season, since many of our students are volunteering above and beyond their typical dental school schedule.

On Wednesday, Dec. 9, students and faculty members will provide dental services for people in need during Project Homeless Connect at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. For over two years, students have taken an active role in organizing the dental services that are part of this event held several times a year. At each event, more then 1,000 community volunteers partner with government agencies, nonprofits and the private sector to provide a one-stop shop of health and human services for homeless San Franciscans. During PHC’s events, participants are able to accomplish in one day what might normally take eight months.

During the Dec. 9 event, our school will provide expanded oral health services in addition to the usual screenings. People who need further treatment will be taken back to the school for additional dental services here on campus. To learn more about Project Homeless Connect, visit www.projecthomelessconnect.com.

In another special activity this month, students involved in our American Student Dental Association (ASDA) school chapter have “adopted” a family at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco. The ASDA students have been collecting gifts and will present them to the family before the holiday break.

Last month, November 10-20, students organized a holiday food drive to benefit the San Francisco Food Bank. More than 400 cans or boxes of food were donated. Students also took up a collection, raising an additional $1,674 for the Food Bank.

Both the “adopt a family” program and food drive are part of an initiative called Pacific Pays it Forward. This is a student-led series of activities to give students, faculty and staff a chance to get involved in volunteer activities outside the scope of dentistry. The ASDA chapter has been busy exploring other ideas and planning for the new year, so we look forward to future opportunities to help.

My hat goes off to all of our students who are so involved in these projects to benefit the community. It is inspiring to see their commitment to assisting others, whether by providing oral health services for the public, or providing a helping hand in other ways not connected to dentistry.

To our students, present and future:

Each year, when we matriculate a new class, I have the opportunity to spend some time talking to you about oral health and how important a role you are going to play, the greatness of the dental school, and about the friendships that you make during the three years you will be at the Dugoni School of Dentistry. I tell you to look to your right, look to the left, look in front, and look behind you, because some of those people will become some of your best friends for life. I think that is true for all of us, and I think our past graduates can testify to that.

Throughout your life, with your closest friends, you are going to celebrate your accomplishments and mourn sad occasions. Last week, I had that experience of celebrating and mourning: honoring the life of one of my great friends from dental school after his recent passing. He was the inspiration to a group of us to continue on, no matter how difficult it got.

When I attended the Baylor College of Dentistry, it was a three-year program, much like ours in some ways, yet very different in some important aspects. Here, our school is the prime example of the humanistic environment. In those days, Baylor was just the opposite. Much has changed since then, but at that time it was not a place where students were treated with respect and dignity. In fact, even the faculty did not treat each other respectfully for the most part.

In order to get through those difficult and stressful times, you had to draw on your friendships. My friend, Randy Clark, was that person we would turn to. Even though he was in the beginning stages of his body‘s long deterioration as a result of juvenile diabetes, he kept a strong presence, always laughing and keeping our spirits up. At the celebration of his life, I and others made similar comments to his wife Janie: “You dealt with a lot. His antics, his life, and sense of fun, but giving back so much of his time to the people he cared about so much.”

While this was a sad event, it was also a happy moment to celebrate that he finally had come to his resting place. In the true form of an Irish wake, my friends, many of whom I had not seen in 30 years, and I went out one evening to celebrate his life, our friendships and all the good and bad times we have experienced throughout our lives.

The good news is always the good times will highly outnumber the bad times.

Build those friendships, cherish those friendships and work on those friendships.

In July 2009, Dr. Pamela A. Eibeck became the 24th president of University of the Pacific. Over the four months since she has been in her role, I’ve been impressed with the collaboration and openness she brings to her involvement with all of the University’s schools, including the dental school.

As part of her transition, President Eibeck is conducting an extensive “listening and learning” tour to gather input from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members in Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco. The Dugoni School of Dentistry looks forward to hosting her at the San Francisco campus on November 11 for a series of departmental meetings and a town hall meeting for the whole school. While she has been to our campus several times before and met with campus representatives, we are pleased to welcome her again for some more in-depth gatherings.

University of the Pacific has built a very solid foundation when it comes to academic programs, people, financial stability and other aspects of the University community. It’s an exciting time to plan for the future under the direction of a new president. Our team at the dental school is looking forward to working with her more closely and seeing her ideas for the University unfold.

On a personal note, she is a joy to work with. She is a great listener and a quick study. Her enthusiasm rubs off, instilling me to do even more for the Dugoni School of Dentistry and the University. I look forward to many great years working with her.

President Eibeck follows in the footsteps of a respected and successful President, Dr. Donald DeRosa, who served in his position for 14 years. In her new role, I can see President Eibeck is already building up a positive track record through her enthusiasm, ideas about the future and collaborative style.

My experience becoming dean of this dental school more than three years ago also gave me a deeper understanding of what it’s like to follow in the footsteps of a leader with a storied track record, Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni in our case.

In any leadership position, I think it’s important to respect history and learn from the past, while planning new ways forward. A change at the top brings a chance to do all of these things.

President Eibeck is in a unique position to build on our strengths by continuing to enhance educational quality, deepen the University’s involvement in community engagement and build national visibility for the University – all areas in which she has expressed interest. We wish her all the best as we continue to work together for the good of the entire Pacific community.

A video of President Eibeck’s recent fall address can be watched below.

Dr. Gerald Kim (left), Dr. Joseph Yamamoto (center) welcomed alumni with true Hawaiian friendliness

I looked forward to meeting up with colleagues and leaders in our profession at the American Dental Association’s Annual Session in Hawaii during the first weekend in October. This year is a significant milestone for ADA, which celebrated its 150th anniversary during the meeting.

We had a contingent of numerous faculty members, administrators and alumni, as well as some student leaders who made the trip. I was proud to see all of the familiar faces from San Francisco so actively involved, including some who presented lectures.

Our involvement also included significant representation in the ADA House of Delegates, part of the association’s governance. I was very impressed with the University of the Pacific presence when I looked around the room in the House of Delegates meetings. With our strong network of alumni, our school is among the dental schools with very significant involvement in the ADA House of Delegates. This reflects one of our school’s values — leadership.

The Alumni Association also held a reception over weekend to give Pacific graduates a chance to get together. It was great to see the large turnout and I was impressed by the energy in the room. I know people really enjoyed themselves and many stayed well past the event’s closing time.

I would like to thank the Alumni Association for organizing a successful event, along with the help of Alumni Association President Dr. Marvin Carnow ’74A and local organizers such as Dr. Gerald Kim ’98 (and ’00 Orthodontics). Dr. Joseph Yamamoto ’49 was a wonderful host who greeted guests at the door with special macadamia treats and brought a smile to everyone’s faces. It was an inspiring opportunity to visit with some of the Hawaiian dental professionals who are part of the long legacy of our school.

The Dugoni School of Dentistry has a history of close involvement in organized dentistry, and I was glad to see this tradition continue at the ADA event. We make a direct impact on the future of our profession through our involvement in local dental societies on up through the state and national dental associations.

Dental school dean Patrick J. Ferillo visits with the Faculty of Dentistry at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

I recently had the opportunity to represent our school during a fascinating trip to Thailand. The trip gave me several chances to meet with representatives of the dental community from around the world.

At the 9th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry, held in Phuket, Thailand, I gave a presentation on “Global Actions to Improve Oral Health from the Dental Education Perspective.” The International Association for Dental Research, the main host, organized the event with the World Health Organization, FDI World Dental federation and the International Federation for Dental Educators and Associations. (Read an overview of the event, which happens every four years)

While I was in the country, I had the pleasure to meet with the Faculty of Dentistry at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok (whom you can see in the photo). Following a presentation I gave, we had a fruitful discussion about current issues and challenges in dental education.

All of us who are in education have some similar issues. The dental curriculum constantly needs to be refined. We need to create effective learning environments that are different from years past, based on the unique ways in which students learn today. There is a strong need to develop faculty and commit resources to faculty training. All dental schools face these challenges, and by exchanging information with our colleagues around the world, we can learn from each other and move our schools ahead.

Our school is fortunate to have a long history of leadership within the field of dental education. I always enjoy sharing some of the secrets of our success, and also learning what is working at schools in other countries. Despite all of the digital communication technology at our fingertips, nothing ever takes the place of seeing another colleague, school or country up close and in person.

I left Thailand with two extraordinary impressions. The first was the Chulalongkorn University faculty’s dedication for excellence and the desire to be on the cutting edge of dentistry within Thailand. My second impression is of the warmth and friendliness of not only the people at the dental school, but all the people of Thailand. Their openness and willingness to help, always with a smile, is a model that we should all live by. I hope in the future I will have the opportunity to once again visit the people of Thailand — or that my hosts will visit us so that we can extend the same sort of hospitality that they extended to me.

Our school’s Associated Student Body (ASB) is an extraordinary group of people who work very hard for the student body and the entire school. Leadership is one of our school’s values and we deeply appreciate the involvement of these students. I am very proud that our student leaders recently gave up one of their weekends to enhance their leadership skills.

I had a chance to sit in on some of the discussions that students were having as part of their leadership training. During the presentations, Dr. Karl Haden, from the Academy for Academic Leadership, talked about the significance of vision. To illustrate his points, he showed a film clip of Martin Luther King Jr.’s great speech “I Have a Dream.”

During the weekend, I began to contemplate not only King’s remarkable speech, but everything else that went on in the 1960s. For those of us who were growing up in that period, it was a frightening time in many ways.

We had — and lost — three leaders who had great vision: Martin Luther King, President John Kennedy, and Senator Robert Kennedy. All three of them were tragically assassinated within a short span of years, denied the chance to see their visions fulfilled.

We also had a very unpopular war in Vietnam going on during that same period of time which ultimately drew in many young adults. For our students currently here at the Dugoni School of Dentistry, they have no idea what the draft meant. I can remember the evening we sat and watched the lottery. Depending on which number was selected for our birth date to determine our fate whether we could stay in college and universities, or we would have to go off and fight this unfavorable war.

Lyndon Johnson meeting with civil rights leaders.jpg President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Civil Rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young and James Farmer on January 18, 1964. (Source: Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Image Serial Number: W425-21)

President Lyndon Johnson, while he did much for civil rights and for programs that enhanced the population (such as Medicare), got bogged down in a war which most Americans no longer saw as justified. That led to a period of massive anti-war demonstrations, as well as fiery civil rights protests. Those of us who were around during that period of time will never be able to forget the burning of Watts and Detroit and other great cities. And how could one forget the massive demonstrations and violence that broke out at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago?

To top it all off, late in the decade, we elected a new president, only to see him leave his office in shame a few years later, when threatened with impeachment for criminal acts in the Watergate scandal.

It is important to remember those times, to remember the tumultuous period when we wondered if the United States of America would survive as a nation. In the end, the will of the people and the desire to move forward kept us alive and brought us out of that terrifying era to a period of stability, an expansion of civil rights, and a reconsideration of the decisions that had condemned so many young people to war. The draft ultimately was ended. The country was able to move on.

Returning to where I began: this weekend’s leadership activities brought my mind to reflect on those three great gentlemen and visionaries we lost in the 1960s. Part of their vision has been achieved. Even though oppression still exists, we also see greater equality than ever before.

I would imagine that Martin Luther King, Jr. would say today that part of his dream was achieved when our country elected its first African-American president.

Robert Kennedy fought hard to help people in need. Today, we continue to fight that battle and continue to help those underserved who are living in poverty with poor education and a lack of services the more fortunate among us sometimes take for granted.

And at least one of President Kennedy’s dreams — to bring luster to the United States of America and establish it as a world power in the face of the Soviet Union — certainly came true.

While we are experiencing difficult financial times today, I have faith in the American people that we will come out of this tumultuous period just as we did after the 1960s.

A cioppino feast for incoming dental school students

In case you haven’t heard of it (or unlike me, haven’t spent much time with a big Italian family), cioppino is a fish stew derived from the various regional fish soups and stews of Italian cuisine.

A group of alumni have been organizing this event for many years. Their work starts early in the morning when they go to the fish market to choose their ingredients, and continues as they spend the day preparing the cioppino feast. This year, they gathered to cook at Gaspare Pizza, a restaurant owned by Gaspare and Robin Indelicato, who are the parents of one of our students. After a day of camaraderie, cooking and eating, the group then comes to the school to serve the cioppino to more than 160 incoming students in the DDS and IDS programs.
This wonderful event is an incredible example of the passion for Pacific and the friendships that are developed during the time our students spend here. This group of alums has been together as friends since they day they started school. I expect that the incoming class will begin to form similar ties.

In order to help build those relationships, first-year students also travel to the University of the Pacific’s main campus in Stockton during their second week for a class retreat. They spend two days together interacting in scheduled and unscheduled activities such as bowling and playing sponge dodge ball. Between the cioppino dinner and the first-year retreat, we hope that students get to know one another and forge bonds that will last throughout their dental school experience. It’s likely they’ll even make some friends for a lifetime.

Dr. Dudley Cheu

On Sunday, July 12, I attended a touching event in honor of an extraordinary person. It was a celebration of Dr. Dudley Cheu’s life. Dr. Cheu, who had been teaching at our school since 1994, was an assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry. It was a very sad event due to his early passing and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

I learned a great deal about Dr. Cheu’s life at the ceremony. I knew him at campus from his smiling face; incredibly positive attitude; compassion and desire to help our students; and the fact that he always got things done around the school. He was always commendable and supportive when interacting with our students. And the students clearly felt just as positive about him. A year ago, for example, students honored him at an awards dinner as an outstanding faculty member.

With his passing, we should all contemplate what lessons we can learn from his positive approach to life. As I watched more than 300 people gather to commemorate his life and listen to his friends talk about him, I learned what an extraordinary role model he was for us all, including myself.

Dr. Cheu clearly knew how to balance his life. His family, including his wife Genevieve, two sons Jason and Derek, and grandchildren were important parts of his life. He loved his profession and his patients, and at the same time had the opportunity to enjoy many other aspects of life. He was well travelled, enjoyed great food and fantastic wines. We should all remember his approach as an example to live by – a person who knew how to balance his priorities and do it well. He embraced life and enjoyed it to the fullest. He will be missed by all, but never forgotten.

• Dr. Cheu’s obituary on SFGate.com
• Online condolences guestbook

Last Monday, I had a fantastic opportunity to play one of the top golf courses in the country, the Lake Course at the Olympic Club, just south of San Francisco.

More impressive than the quality of the course, however, was the goal of this special event, the 12th annual “Kids in the Klinic” Golf Classic. Our school raised nearly $90,000 through the tournament, silent auction, live auction and sponsor donations.

The Kids in the Klinic endowment helps fund dental services for underserved children throughout Northern California. More than 1,500 children, including some with special needs, extensive medical conditions and debilitating conditions, call the Dugoni School of Dentistry their dental office. This year especially, the endowment plays a critical role in providing care in this time of economic need by so many families.

While my golf game could use a tune-up, I felt great about my round, no matter what the score. This event brings out the best in our school family. We had student and staff volunteers, donors, alumni, recent graduates and friends of the school all participating and getting involved to produce a unique event at one of the most historic athletic clubs in the country. If you were there, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven’t yet participated, please keep it in mind for next year.

Dr. Susan Bittner, one of our school’s graduates, started Kids in the Klinic in 1997. She had the vision and took the initiative to create this endowment, which has positively impacted thousands of children over the years.

I’d also like to also thank our event chairman Steve Mollinelli, who put so much time into the Golf Classic. He and his wife just welcomed a new baby boy a few weeks ago. We’re thankful for everything he did to organize the event amid his busy schedule with his newborn son.

Our corporate sponsors also stepped up to the tee to support this cause. You can read our full list of sponsors, as well as a recap of the event, by visiting the news story posted here. Thanks again to everyone involved!