Faculty and Staff Updates
Winter 2024/2025
We are pleased to announce some changes in Dentistry. Mary Tran has hit the ground running in the role of Program Manager, Continuing Education. Reporting to Education Manager Terri MacDougall, Mary is providing administrative oversight and leadership to the staff team that supports continuing dental education and postgraduate education. Previously a faculty member in the Dental Hygiene program at Fanshawe College since 2014, Mary brings a wealth of experience in diverse learning modalities and EDI initiatives. With a background as a Clinical Program Coordinator at Fanshawe and a recent Master of Education graduate from York University, Mary's expertise and leadership will be appreciated at Schulich Dentistry.
There is more good news for the Education team. Erica McCurdy, who was in a contract role providing support to various administrative areas of Dentistry, was appointed Postgraduate Program Assistant on October 1, 2024. Also reporting to Terri, Erica will mainly provide support to the Oral Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS), General Practice Residency (GPR), and Graduate Orthodontics programs.
We are also pleased to announce that Cindy Taggart has accepted the role of Finance Assistant. For two years Cindy, who has prior finance and research-related experience, has been an Administrative Assistant in Dentistry. Cindy now reports to Financial Officer Idowu Alao and we look forward to her putting her extensive finance experience to work as a member of the Director's Office team.
There are and will be some new - and returning - faces on the clinic floors this fall as we welcome a number of new (and not so new!) adjunct clinical faculty:
- Dr. Abdulhalim Abdulrahman
- Dr. Mohamad Abu Sharkh
- Dr. Cecilia Aragon
- Dr. Timucin Ari
- Dr. Tamara Chau
- Dr. Hassan Elnashoukaty
- Dr. Chadia El-Khatib
- Dr. Frank Ferreira
- Dr. Clive Friedman
- Dr. Adam Hasanee
- Dr. Mohamad Itani
- Dr. Don Lee
- Dr. Ramy Mansour
- Dr. Elahe Memari
- Dr. Olaf Plotzke
- Dr. Krizia Proia
- Dr. Ramez Salti
- Dr. Ankit Shah
- Dr. Revan Birke Koka Ünsal
- Dr. Yufeng Zuo
Dr. Aragon, Dr. Ari, Dr. Friedman, and Dr. Plotzke have all taught at Schulich Dentistry previously, and a number of the new faces are graduates from our program.
In addition to the welcomes above, Dentistry also said goodbye to Akili Aitcheson. After almost three years in the Director's Office, Akili accepted a position in Engineering and her last day was October 18th. Her cheerful greetings and willingness to lend a hand were appreciated, and her warm and friendly presence is missed.
Have an update we missed? Please reach out to schulich.dentistry@schulich.uwo.ca so we can share the news!
Note: This article was written with the assistance of internal announcements and Microsoft Co-Pilot.
