Dugoni School’s Excellence Day Showcases Outstanding Care, Research and Service

Outstanding achievements across clinical care, research and community service were proudly on display during the Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Sutro Excellence Day held in May at the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry (Dugoni School).

This long-standing annual tradition offers the school community the opportunity to publicly share their projects with classmates, colleagues, faculty, staff, alumni and special guests.

Photo credit: Chris Woodrow, Dugoni School.

Following introductory remarks from Interim Dean Elisa M. Chávez, D.D.S., and Associate Dean for Research Rebecca Moazzez, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.D.S., FDSRCS, FDSRCS (Rest.), MRD, FICD, FPFA, John Featherstone, Ph.D., M.Sc., gave the keynote presentation, “From Chemistry to Innovative Clinical Reality.”

As Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry, Dr. Featherstone is internationally recognized for his decades of research on tooth decay. Over his 50-year career, he helped establish the scientific understanding of how fluoride works, pioneered research on laser interactions with hard tissues and led the development and clinical implementation of caries management by risk assessment (CAMBRA).

Photo credit: Chris Woodrow, Dugoni School.

The event then moved to one of the school’s clinical floors, where students, residents and visiting scholars spent three hours presenting research posters, clinical cases and service projects. Faculty judges evaluated 94 projects and engaged presenters in discussions about their accomplishments throughout the academic year. 

Photo credit: Chris Woodrow, Dugoni School.

Clinical presentations featured comprehensive care, implant dentistry, removable prosthodontics, restorative dentistry, endodontics and orthodontics. Poster presentations included educational research, community health service, leadership initiatives, literature reviews and projects from the school’s Personalized Instructional Project (PIP), a student-driven activity combined with mentorship and in-depth experiential learning. Eight students from the University of the Pacific School of Health Sciences’ Audiology Department also presented projects for review and judging.

In addition, 16 first-year students in the University of the Pacific International Dental Studies (IDS) program competed in the IDS First-year Literature Review category.

“My experience so far has been amazing,” said Shriya Gupta, a class of 2027 D.D.S. student. “I think Excellence Day really motivates you to do something outside of schoolwork. You like it when people come around and look wide-eyed and share the same passion as you have for your topic.”

The Dugoni School’s commitment to community outreach—locally and globally—also featured in several presentations, including a project highlighting the school’s service trip to Guatemala that took place during the week of spring break in March.

“We were able to reflect on our week in Guatemala in presenting this project, including things that went right, things that we could have improved on and things that we enjoyed,” said trip co-leader Steph Tu, a class of 2027 D.D.S. student. “It was an easy project to work on because we were so passionate about everything that we experienced and how much we cared about the trip. It was honestly such a pleasure to share our thoughts and experiences with the judges and with our peers.”

OKU-Sutro Excellence Day activities were sponsored by the school’s Omicron Kappa Upsilon chapter, Arklign, Haleon, James Standfield Catering, LumaDent, SHOFU Dental Corporation, Kuraray and Wallaby Care.

Harmony Matshik Dakafay, Serenity Sassorossi, Dr. Moazzez and Daniel Abrahams served as co-chairs of this year’s OKU-Sutro Excellence Day Committee.

Omicron Kappa Upsilon is a national dental honor society founded in 1914 at Northwestern University. The Dugoni School chartered its Delta Delta chapter in 1933 to encourage scholarship and advance ethical standards of the dental profession. Membership is limited to 12% of the graduating class on the basis of scholarship, character and leadership.

Courtesy of Dan Soine, M.B.A., Associate Dean of Marketing and Communications, University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry

Published on June 10, 2026