Faculty Updates - June 2023

June 2023

Dr. Bruce Hill will be retiring at the end of June. Dr. Hill has been an instructor in the Graduate Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopaedics Program and has been an adjunct clinical professor in Dentistry for about 30 years. 

Dr. Peter Fendrich, adjunct clinical professor in Dentistry, was presented with The Ontario Dental Association's highest honour, the Honorary Membership Award. As per the ODA, the award recognizes sustained and outstanding contributions to the profession for over a 30-year period.

Dr. Sharat Pani will be leaving us on June 30, 2023. Dr. Pani will be taking his next professional step through Dental Specialty Assessment and Training in paediatric dentistry at the University of British Columbia. We appreciate Dr. Pani’s tireless contributions to our school and congratulate him on his next chapter. Onward and upward, Sharat!

We are also pleased to announce that three new assistant professors will be joining us on July 1, 2023. 

Dr. Anwar Al-fayume will be joining the Division of Operative Dentistry. Dr. Al-fayume is a general dentist in London, has a Master of Dental Science in Crown and Bridge Prosthodontics from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and a Master of Education from University of Ottawa. He was part of our adjunct clinical team in the 2021/22 academic year, covering endodontic clinics and operative dentistry, as well as urgent care. 

Dr. Leonor Hernandez will be joining the Division of Paediatric Dentistry. Dr. Hernandez is a paediatric dentistry graduate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and has held previous academic roles at Case Western and at the University of Otago, Department of Microbiology & Immunology in Dunedin, New Zealand. Dr. Hernandez has a particular interest in comprehensive oral health care for children and adolescents with special needs and you will find her in the Dentistry Surgical Care Unit and Children’s Clinic.

Dr. Jeffrey Lovell will be joining the Division of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr. Lovell is a recent graduate of the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program. Before entering the OMFS residency, he worked in general practice and taught as an adjunct clinical professor at the school. Many know Dr. Lovell as an exceptional young surgeon, educator, and colleague, and he will no doubt help us move our OMFS residency, general practice residency, and DDS program to the next level.

Welcome, Anwar, Leonor, and Jeff, we are looking forward to working with you!

Dr. Henry Lapointe retires after 37 years with Schulich Dentistry:
Many staff, faculty and special guests joined us on June 28^th to celebrate the career of Dr. Lapointe. The following farewell messages were written on Dr. Lapointe’s kudoboard by faculty and students.

• “Thank you, Henry, for your incredible contributions to our dental program. Countless classes of dental students, GPRs and OMFS are more knowledgeable, safer, and better, more competent clinicians because of you and your commitment to teaching excellence.”
• “There are literally thousands of dentists that are better practitioners because of your efforts and passion. You have definitely left the profession better than you found it.”
• “You have contributed to our profession in so many ways. Decades of Learners have benefited from your teachings, not only in their didactic and clinic knowledge but in what it means to be a dentist. You represent the best of our profession in both the care you have provided for patients and the example you have been for the profession.”