Dear James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine and friends,
As we start 2024, I want to share with you some of our highlights from 2023, which was a year of exciting and critical transformation for the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine.
While my annual Top 10 list may not be as popular as your Netflix Top 10, I hope you will find our continued success in the genres of dental education, patient care, and oral health research as exciting for the future of dental medicine as I do! Of course, others may have their own favorite accomplishments. There are so many to choose from!
Top 10 of 2023
- We implemented a new electronic health record: Informed by the American Dental Association’s resolutions promoting deeper integration of oral and systemic health, our completed transition to the Epic health record system positively impacts clinical education and prepares our students and residents for what we believe will be the future of practice.
- We added over 130 clinical rotation slots for students at our Dental and Oral Health Center at the MUSC West Ashley Medical Pavilion: This four-chair location gives students experience in an environment similar to that of a private practice.
- We named the college’s first endowed chair: An endowed chair is the most prestigious honor any faculty member can receive. The endowment gifted by Dr. James B. and Mrs. Ann Edwards supports Dr. Martin Steed, a nationally sought-after oral surgeon, who has already leveraged the Edwards’ visionary generosity to fill a gap in our state’s healthcare by bringing in a fellowship-trained pediatric oral and maxillofacial surgeon to MUSC and South Carolina.
- We graduated the class of 2023: This class was the first full cohort to take the Integrated National Boards and they earned a 98% first-time pass rate. An outstanding achievement, especially remembering that they navigated the pandemic-necessitated transition to online learning.
- No increase in tuition: For the sixth consecutive year.
- The Class of 2024 aced the first section of the ADEX: Our third-year students performed exceptionally well in the first part of their ADEX licensure exam in October, which covered periodontics, fixed prosthodontics, and endodontics.
- We completed a restructuring of the college’s academic departments: The college is enabled to function with better alignment of clinical, education, and research collaborations. The department structure also positions us to achieve imperatives of expansion and integration with greater impact, while advancing our national leadership in innovation and education.
- We hosted our inaugural Digital Innovation Symposium for a whopping 12 continuing education credits: Digital innovation has changed almost everything in dentistry – from intraoral scanning, to in-office restoration and prosthetic fabrication, to dental laboratory workflow, to implant dentistry. Designed for current practitioners, on Dec. 7-8, four of our own faculty brought the latest and greatest to the lecture series, which was followed by a hands-on workshop in our facilities.
- We launched the dental pipeline champions initiative by partnering with HBCUs through a grant from CareQuest Foundation: The statewide launch was held at our new Center for Rural Oral Health Research and Community Engagement, which officially opened on July 25 in Mullins, SC.
- Our residency program in oral and maxillofacial surgery achieved top marks during its accreditation site visit: A promising sign for the accreditation cycle of our other accredited programs, which ramps up in 2024.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sarandeep Huja, Dean, James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
Sarandeep S. Huja
Dean & Professor, James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine
Sarandeep S. Huja, D.D.S., Ph.D., has served as professor of the Department of Orthodontics and dean of the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) since October 2017.
Dr. Huja initially received his dental (1987) and orthodontic (1992) training from the Government Dental College and Hospital, Bombay. From 1993 to 2001, he was associated with three U.S. institutions, receiving his Master of Science (1995) from Marquette University, his Doctor of Philosophy in Dental Science (1999) and Orthodontic Certificate (1999) from Indiana University, and his Doctor of Dental Surgery (2001) from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry. His Ph.D. was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. David Burr from the Department of Anatomy and Dr. W. Eugene Roberts in Orthodontics from Indiana University. From 2001 to 2011, he served as faculty at the Ohio State University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Katherine Vig, a world-renowned orthodontist and educator. In 2011, he joined the University of Kentucky as chief of the Division of Orthodontics. In 2016, he was appointed the program director of Orthodontics and associate dean for Faculty and Student Development and Graduate Studies at the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Huja has served as advisor for both the Ph.D. and Master's graduate students and taught Orthodontics and Bone Biology to dental and graduate students. His research seeks to understand bone remodeling, osteoclast biology, and adaptation to physical forces, including tooth movement. His students have been recognized with national awards for projects related to tooth movement and implant adaptation biology. He also served as the president of the Craniofacial Biology Group of the International Association of Dental Research.
At MUSC, Dr. Huja has worked on the expansion of off-peninsula oral and dental clinics at Ryan White and in West Ashley and Summerville. He also recently moved the college to an integrated electronic health record system, Epic Wisdom, and is focusing the college's attention on rural expansion throughout the state and integration into MUSC Health facilities.
Dr. Huja is a member of the Midwest component of the E.H. Angle Society and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He also maintains an intramural faculty practice.
