Annual Report 2013-2014 | Page 17

Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) —Committed to Bridging the Dental Divide Twenty–five years ago, in 1988, LMC Dental started its AEGD PostDoctoral Dental Residency Program in Brooklyn, NY. I couldn’t be more proud of the success of our program and of the profound impact that we have had over the last 25 years on thousands of alumni who we have trained and millions of patients who we have served in underserved communities. Our pioneering program started with 2 residents in our single location in Brooklyn, NY. This past year, in the Spring of 2014, we graduated 194 PGY1 and PGY2 residents, each of whom trained in one of more than 175 CODAapproved training sites throughout the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It has been a uniquely gratifying personal journey since completing my own GPR certification with LMC Dental in 1992. I am delighted to report that my 20th anniversary as the Director of LMC Dental’s AEGD program coincided with the 20th anniversary of the AEGD Program’s first expansion into our second training site in Albany, New York. Our dual service-learning mission is as true today as it was years ago. This past year marked enormous growth for our program. We welcomed 211 new PGY1 and PGY2 residents in July, 2014. We added 15 affiliated training sites and 2 new regions to our already expansive LMC Dental network, in keeping with LMC Dental’s status as the largest, most highly sought after and diverse postdoctoral dental residency programs in the world. Our commitment to curriculum excellence and hands-on learning was recognized by CODA, who approved LMC Dental in resident expansion in three affiliated health centers in Arizona, one in California, and one in Colorado. We were cited by the Board as a center of excellence in teaching, resident training, and community service. Our AEGD training site in Arizona, under the direction of Dr. Maureen Romer, developed a PGY 2 program in special care dentistry. Our faculty developed several CE programs as well as enrichment programs that provide AEGD residents with deeper experience in treating medically compromised patients and those with complex conditions and comorbidities. “I am pleased with our progress and innovation, but feel most proud about our program’s success in helping residents and future practitioners become confident and highly skilled clinicians fully equipped for t