20 June 2025

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2025 UFCD Spring Synergy Winners

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The UF College of Dentistry hosted its 2025 celebration of research, continuing education and the American Student Dental Association – Spring Synergy – on Friday, April 11 at the Reitz Union, co-sponsored by UF Continuing Dental Education, UFCD’s Office of Research and the UF chapter of the American Student Dental Association, or ASDA. A record breaking total of 87 students, faculty and staff presented posters at Spring Synergy. Nine students, ranging from pre-dental/undergraduate students to Ph.D./postdoctoral students, earned first- and second-place honors in the poster presentation competition.

Natasha Patel was the college’s SCADA — Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application — winner. Patel’s SCADA win designates her as the College of Dentistry’s representative in the 2026 SCADA competition at the 2026 IADR/AADOCR Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, including pre-paid conference registration, air travel and hotel accommodations.

Thank you to our faculty members who served as judges for the day’s poster competition.

The Robert L. Kaplan Scholar at Spring Synergy is annually supported by the Robert L. Kaplan Visiting Professorship Fund, which honors Kaplan who was past president of the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry. Kaplan was the chairman of the Dental Advisory Committee that was instrumental in making the case for a dental school in Florida and played a critical role in establishing UFCD.

Lastly, thank you to our local ASDA chapter for sponsoring and organizing the vendor fair portion of Spring Synergy. We appreciate all those vendors who took the time to visit UF to showcase the latest and greatest equipment, swag and gear for our dental profession and those graduating Gator Dentists going into clinical practice.

Please join me in congratulating our 2025 Spring Synergy winners who receive $1,000 (first place) and  $500 (second place) to fund presenting their research in a scientific meeting. The SCADA winner will represent UFCD in a competition at the next IADR/AADOCR meeting in San Diego.

Source: https://dental.ufl.edu/