We had a very productive year at the predoctoral clinic during the 2022-2023 academic year. I kept myself busy revising and improving the curriculum, planning new activities, and mentoring students.

The curriculum restructuring allows the second and third year students to have more endodontic experiences earlier in their education, improving their critical thinking. Those experiences are only possible when we work as a team. Having novice students in the clinic means more time explaining basic concepts and techniques. Shout out to our amazing predoctoral instructors Dr. Amber Ather, Dr. Bruce Justman, and Dr. James Heffernan whose commitment and dedication are essential for the success of our students.

New and interactive activities were planned with D3 students to review concepts, materials, and techniques. The class enjoyed learning as they played games of Jeopardy and Kahoots. Food and prizes were provided for these extracurricular activities which made for a fun and healthy competition. 

A major goal of our department is to guide and mentor students to discover their potential and so that they can succeed in all aspects of their careers. Ben Kordsmeier (D3) and Shree Patel (D3) mentored by Dr. Andrada, and Suraj Kandalam (D2) mentored by Dr. Myers, have completed the ADEA Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program (ADCFP), where they were able to explore and learn about life and experiences as dental faculty. We are very proud to have had Shree and Suraj represent VCU SoD at the 2023 ADEA Annual Session in Portland. All three students presented their posters at VCU Research Day in April.

Our Endodontic Senior Selective course is getting stronger each year with extra clinical cases being performed and CE and hands-on workshops being offered. We are grateful to our Affiliate Faculty (Dr. Richard Sedwick, Dr. Deepika Ganesh, Dr. Kenneth Yuth, and Dr. Enrique Oltra) who complement our team bringing their expertise along with tips and tricks from a private practice standpoint.

There is still a lot of work to be done and improvements to be made, but we are heading in the right direction to make the VCU Endodontics predoctoral program the best in the country.