Adjunct Faculty Profile - Familiar Faces
October 2022
Please join us in welcoming two familiar faces from the Class of 2022.
Alicia Gordon was a Student Issues representative on UWODSS and participated in several other clubs such as the mentorship program as a mentor and SPEA as the executive of finance. She also participated in the SDROP program, conducting research related to geriatric dentistry programming at the undergraduate dentistry level with Dr. Cecilia Dong.
Alicia and Dr. Dong currently have two manuscripts in process which they are hoping to share with the Schulich community in the new year.
When asked about her favourite memory of dental school, Alicia didn't have too think too far back. "I loved the Dentertainment skits in fourth year. They were a great laugh," she shared. "I can also never forget the countless hours in the clinic lab working on my prosth cases."
Upon graduating, Alicia started working immediately at a local practice in close proximity to several retirement residences and apartment and frequently serves an older adult population.
Inspired to teach by the efforts of several of her mentors, Alicia described that she learned best through case discussions and that "when something finally clicked, it was a great feeling."
"Had those dentists not taken their time to engage in those discussions," she went on to say, "I would have had a much harder time grasping some tricky concepts, like RPD design." Alicia hopes to be able to provide the same guidance and engagement to students that was provided to her.
She is excited to return to more in-person learning and hopes that fewer restrictions on the simulation and main clinics will provide excellent practical experiences for students.
A student mentor herself throughout her time in the DDS Program, Nour Abuali is now being mentored by senior dentists and has been working at two dental offices since the day she graduated. She has also been focusing on continuing dental education on oral sedation, nitrous oxide, as well as cone beam CT.
Nour recalls "friendship day," when students learn to inject local anaesthesia as one of the highlights of dental school and appreciates the lifelong friendships that were developed during her four years of school.
"I have always had a passion for teaching," Nour shared, as she described her experience as a fourth-year student partnered with third-year students who had never performed extractions. "Now, as a clinical instructor, I can relate to my students' current struggles, and I am able to reassure them that things will be okay."
Nour is looking forward to seeing her students improve their hand skills and grow over the next two years. "I look forward to teaching them in the main clinic next academic year and walking them through their first year working on real patients."
Welcome back, Alicia and Nour!
