VCU School of Dentistry has named Terence Imbery, D.D.S., as chair of the Department of General Practice, effective July 1. 

“Dr. Imbery is a valuable member of our faculty and has been an exemplary leader for General Practice,” said Lyndon Cooper, D.D.S., Ph.D., dean of VCU School of Dentistry. “I would like to thank Dr. Imbery for his service as interim chair and the entire department for their hard work and dedication during the interim period. Dr. Imbery will advance our standard of excellence in General Practice.”

Imbery graduated from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 1983 before entering the U.S. Air Force Dental Corps, from which he honorably retired in 2007 with the rank of Colonel. His professors who had served in the dental corps inspired him to enlist post-graduation.

“By joining the Air Force Dental Corps, I had the honor of serving my country and providing essential dental care to service members,” Imbery said. “Having lived in eight different locations over 23 years, I learned the importance of diversity and inclusiveness. The military is probably the most diversified career in the country. All in all, it turned out fine and I am collecting a retirement check once a month!”

He completed a General Practice Residency in 1984 and a two-year General Dentistry Residency in 1991. Imbery joined VCU School of Dentistry’s Department of General Practice as an assistant professor in 2006, and from 2009-2019 he served as Vice Chairman of the department. In 2015, Imbery was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, and in 2020 he was promoted to full Professor with tenure. In 2023, Imbery was named interim chair of the Department of General Practice after the retirement of Al Russell, D.D.S. He continues to serve as Group Leader for General Practice Group Three.  In addition to these roles, Imbery is a valued member of our Faculty Practice.

“I wish to instill integrity, compassion, excellence and service in our dental students. As a profession, dentists must be honest, accountable and humble. Excellence does not imply perfection, but rather we must strive to perform our best,” Imbery said.

A renowned educator and researcher, Imbery has been recognized with numerous teaching awards during his time at the school, served on a variety of faculty committees, chaired a number of national faculty searches and has served three terms as President of the Kappa Chapter of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society. He has held national positions as president of his dental specialty board and as a member of the Advanced Dental Admissions Test Construction committee. His research interests include dental materials, the science of color and dental education, and he serves as a peer reviewer for 10 dental journals. 

Imbery’s greatest passion is seeing his students succeed. 

“My most rewarding aspect of my job remains watching our students achieve great accomplishments. Key performance indicators demonstrate that our students are knocking it out of the ballpark in respect to clinical experiences. I believe the more one practices, the better they perform on game day,” Imbery said.

He noted the exceptionally high pass rate for students’ first attempt on CITA Examination for endodontics (99%), fixed prosthetics (98%) and restorative dentistry (97%), which is the highest the scores have been at VCU School of Dentistry and one of the best in the nation.

“For our profession to survive, we will need service through leadership in organized dentistry, and to serve by providing treatment to underserved communities,” Imbery said. “We must demonstrate compassion in our speech, through kindness, apologize when we error, listen carefully and accept others for who they are.”