Dental grads help next gen succeed

By Stephanie Patrick                                  

Drs. Britni Duffie, program aide in student affairs at Texas A&M University College of Dentistry in Dallas, and Dawn Miller McElroy, formerly a program aide, smile when someone mentions they’re new Class of 2026 dentists. They worked hard to earn dental degrees, and both have gold stars in perseverance.

Duffie said she attended nearly every predental program A&M Dentistry offers, while Miller McElroy called her path “the scenic route” to dentistry when describing her decade-plus academic climb. That’s why they led this year’s Summer Pre-Dental Enrichment Programs (SPEP), designed to provide high school and undergraduate students with opportunities to attend at no charge, with stipends, to learn about the dental profession and increase their chances of getting into both college and dental school.

Part of the college’s Bridge to Dentistry academic enrichment programs for prekindergarten through college, SPEP and other initiatives are supported by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers of Excellence grants. High schoolers, college students and others have been on campus from late spring through the summer learning the basics of dentistry, conducting research and preparing for the admissions process.

A goal of Bridge to Dentistry is to grow health professionals who will address the needs of populations and communities that are underserved in dentistry, said Dr. Rosemarie Zartman, clinical associate professor of comprehensive dentistry and interim director of student development.

“We encourage all of them to succeed in the programs and eventually ‘give back’ in service,” she said. “These two doctors are now coming full circle and represent the success stories that we are able to be connected to every year.”

More than 70 students enrolled in SPEP this year. Students learn about the dental profession, prepare for the SAT, visit colleges and work to improve their chances of admission into competitive institutions. Miller McElroy entered before attending UTD to earn a bachelor’s in healthcare studies, encouraged by Dr. Jonathan Clemetson, clinical faculty in comprehensive dentistry, and who continues to support SPEP students. “He talked about work-life balance,” she said. “If you’re a dentist, you can still have time for family, you can have hobbies and you can enjoy your life while still being part of healthcare. Going into college, I knew I wanted to go into dentistry.”

Miller McElroy also attended Collegiate I and Collegiate II. Each student takes two non-science courses at no charge at Dallas College’s Mountain View campus, then attends a preclinical course and a lab at A&M Dentistry and another course to prepare for the DAT. They also shadow dentists and dental students.

“It’s a commitment, and we want students to understand that,” she said. Miller McElroy struggled at UTD, in Collegiate II and on the DAT, despite doing well academically in high school. To improve her chances of acceptance to a dental college, she worked as an orthodontic assistant at a practice in Plano and took an extra year of classes at Southern Methodist University. Miller McElroy also worked at an Apple Store and took a brief career detour with a ministry apprenticeship.

After earning her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from A&M Dentistry in May and teaching the SPEP participants, Miller McElroy headed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to begin a one-year general dentistry residency. Her drive resonated with Fredor “Fred” Bihizi, a student in Collegiate II, who took the class to prepare for the DAT and immerse himself in dentistry. Originally from Burundi, he earned a bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Maine but developed an interest in dentistry after a recent opportunity to shadow a dentist in Tarrant County.

Bihizi found the program while researching online. SPEP showed him what first-year dental students encounter, gain insights from Miller McElroy and Duffie and to meet A&M Dentistry faculty, including Clemetson and Dr. Shaun Logan, instructional associate professor in biomedical sciences.

He plans to take the DAT for the first time before the end of the year. “I’m well prepared, and I feel like this is going to help me beyond the application,” Bihizi said. “I’m looking at how I can be successful in dental school, not only just getting in, but also being the best student I can be at the school and performing well.”

A&M Dentistry is his first choice. The application deadline is Oct. 1 to be considered for Class of 2031.

Duffie plans to go into general dentistry after SPEP ends. She wants meaningful work. “I got to experience what a joy it is to give back to the students the way others gave and poured into me,” Duffie said. “I truly enjoyed working with the summer programs, and I hope that any work I do in the future will be more driven by the desire to do work that is personally fulfilling than by external metrics of success.”