Touro College of Dental Medicine Hosts 7th Annual Gala Honoring Distinguished Leadership
Event Exceeded Goals, Raising Funds to Support TouroCARES, a Center Devoted to Providing Dental Care to People with Special Needs
Westchester County, New York—On March 3, Touro College of Dental Medicine (TCDM) celebrated its seventh annual gala. Held at The Rockleigh in New Jersey, the event brought together over 400 partners, friends, faculty, alumni and current students of TCDM, to honor three distinguished leaders in the TCDM and oral healthcare communities and raise funds in support of TouroCARES, the Center for Access, Respect, Empathy and Social justice. TouroCARES will provide exceptional oral healthcare for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
The nearly $400K raised during this event will support the opening of the TouroCARES oral healthcare facility, which will be designed specifically for those individuals with IDD along with other compounding medical conditions. In creating such a facility, TCDM will be able to provide care for 10-15 patients a day, meeting the demands of this marginalized community in the lower Hudson Valley.
“Access to oral healthcare is compromised in so many areas of the state due to the lack of general dentists, and that issue is exacerbated even further for patients with disabilities,” said Ronnie Myers, DDS, dean of TCDM. “This is why we are thrilled to raise funds for TouroCARES, which will provide training opportunities for the next generation of providers. By helping to expand this workforce, Touro will be addressing this need for decades to come.”
The facility will also provide dental students an opportunity to learn about the management and the treatment of individuals with IDD, preparing them to treat many of these patients in a private practice setting and preventing them from being forced to go to the emergency room or hospital for what will become emergent oral healthcare.
Among those honored included Salomon Amar, DDS, Ph.D., Touro University provost for biomedical research, senior vice president for research affairs and vice dean for research at TCDM, Rhonda L. Kaufman, DDS, assistant dean for clinical education at TCDM and Steven Sloane, sales manager at Brasseler USA.
“Touro Dental Health is passionate about delivering excellent healthcare with complex knowledge utilizing state-of-the-art technology, to diverse communities. The TouroCARES program is designed to facilitate the treatment of a segment of the population that is often marginalized. This will enable those dentists, who we train including students, faculty and outside practitioners, to bring these skills to their communities. I am truly excited and proud to be part of this mission,” said Dr. Kaufman.
