19 December 2025

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2025: An ASOD year in review

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It’s been an exciting year at Adams School of Dentistry, and we’d like to look back at some of the impactful, poignant and amazing moments we’ve had during 2025. This was a special year as we celebrated our 75th anniversary, an important milestone for our school, students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. We also experienced our accreditation review with the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), welcoming site visitors to our school so they could get learn more about our programs and people. 

We launched our new strategic plan, focusing on the pillars that make up ASOD – People and Environment, Resources and Operations, Education, Patient Care, Research, and Service and Engagement. You can see these pillars at work in the stories that follow, as we celebrate our extraordinary people, exemplary scholarship and extraordinary care. Enjoy a look back at our amazing year!

Every year, dental students who are preparing to graduate apply to residencies to further their education. In January, many Adams School of Dentistry students found out where they would be spending the next few years of their lives at schools across the nation during Match Day.

February saw the launch of our brand new ASOD website! After many hours and feedback sessions, we launched the new site, designed by University Creative. GKAS ASOD’s annual service event, Give Kids a Smile, providers saw 174 patients, offering procedures such as extractions, stainless steel crowns, fillings, sealants and cleanings. We also announced our H.E.A.R.T. award winners, honoring staff members who “Help Everyone Achieve Results Together.”

March was a month for our researchers to shine during the annual Research Day event! Shelley Earp, MD, was the featured speaker and attendees enjoyed presentations from every aspect of oral health research. Kimon Divaris, DMD, PhD, MS, along with Penn’s Hui Wang, published a study in the journal Cell where findings showed adults had a higher occurrence of periodontal disease and gum inflammation in adults with a specific DNMT3A gene mutation associated with CHIP.

In April, we held our our White Coat ceremonies for dental hygiene and DDS students, celebrating a milestone on their journeys to becoming oral health professionals. The Oral Cancer 5K offered a great opportunity to get some exercise and support a good cause!

May is always a great time of year for us, as we held our commencement ceremony! Jennifer Harmon, RDH, won a Chancellor’s Teaching Award for her work as a professor in the Department of Periodontology, Endodontics and Dental Hygiene. We also partnered with UNC Pembroke to create an early assurance partnership, designed to give students at UNCP a direct pathway to a career in oral health care. 

In June, a virtual event showed the world that Adams School of Dentistry is at the forefront of oral health education and care with a livestreamed autotransplantation procedure. The complex procedure was performed by a team of oral health care providers. 

In July, Aimin Peng, PhD’s research to help increase success in treating patients with oral cancer targeted a possible vulnerability in this cancer type. By exploiting replication stress in oral cancer cells, researchers hope to develop more effective and targeted therapies for patients with oral cancer, the sixth most common cancer.

August brought an exciting new school year for our dental hygiene and DDS students, and we held an all-school kickoff to welcome our students back and kick off the year in style. 

September saw ASOD send off long-time academic dean Ed Swift in style, with a retirement celebration attended by hundreds. Swift remains in a part-time role, and the school noted his many academic achievements and impact on our students. We also launched a new Oral Health Policy program this year, and four students were named as its first cohort of scholars. Congratulations on this amazing first step!

ASOD’s favorite month of the year is October, and Halloween was another fun day for all! We held a successful DEAH DAY, where students, faculty and staff volunteered around the Triangle in honor of three lives lost in a tragedy. 

November, while a whirlwind of activity, was also a month to remember! After much preparation and work, we welcomed our CODA site visitors who got an inside view into our school, our students, and our faculty and staff. We know our people are our greatest asset, and the site visitors mentioned how welcome they felt during the visit. Thank you for making the visit possible. We couldn’t have done it without all of you!

December is finally here, and we’re looking forward to closing out our 2025 with some fun, activities and a pep rally to mark our 75th year. In addition, the annual Dean’s Holiday Breakfast will be held Dec. 17 to kick off the celebratory season!

We are looking forward to another great year in 2026. See you in January!

Source: https://dentistry.unc.edu/