dr - University of Washington School of Dentistry

Capable, concerned and committed
dr. Dolphine Oda’s recognition as one of this year’s
recipients of the UW Distinguished Teaching Award
surprised nobody at the School of Dentistry. A faculty
member since 1985, Dr. Oda has been chosen outstanding teacher
by the students no less than 14 times.
“In my experience, her record of teaching effectiveness is
unparalleled,” wrote Dr. O. Ross Beirne, her department chair,
in a letter supporting her nomination for the UW award.
Students’ evaluations of her oral pathology classes make
it clear why she’s so highly regarded. “Dr. Oda is an amazing
teacher, lecturer and mentor,” one student
wrote. “There are no surprises on her exams.
You have to work hard in this class,
but the layout of her class and her expectations
make you want to work hard. I absolutely
love this class and Dr. Oda!”
Wrote another: “This is the best course
I’ve taken at dental school.”
Dr. Oda’s aptitude for teaching follows
from an abiding love of learning. “I always
enjoy the questions I’m asked, especially
the ones I don’t know,” she says. “That’s
the challenge, when you have to go look
the answers up.”
Dr. Oda grew up in the Iraqi city of
Kirkuk, the site of the ancient capital of Assyria. Her family
moved to Baghdad not long after her father died in a car
accident in 1953, and she attended dental school there. Her
mother finished raising the family’s six children with the help
of a large extended family and plenty of loving friends and
neighbors.
After dental school came a residency at the University of
Manitoba, where she obtained her master’s degree in pathology.
She also taught gross anatomy and enjoyed it immensely.
“That’s how I found out I love to teach,” she says.
Then came stints as a postdoctoral fellow in cancer research
at the University of California at San Francisco and at
the Indiana University School of Dentistry, where she earned
a certificate in oral pathology.
She then came to the UW, where she started as a professor
faculty spotlight
Dr. Do l p h i n e oD a
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
of oral biology and then became professor of oral and maxillofacial
surgery in 1997.
“Ever since dental school, I knew I would end up in academia,”
she says. “I was always inquisitive, and I was not interested
in private practice.”
One of her former UW students, Anacortes oral surgeon
Pardeep Brar, says her connection with students goes well beyond
what’s required.
“I think she really cares about her students, and she really
loves what she’s doing. She does a lot of things on her
own time that go above and beyond.
She’ll review cases with students at any
time,” he says.
Dr. Oda’s concern for people also extends
well beyond the UW campus. She
has donated all her continuing education
speaker’s fees to Child Haven and other local
organizations.
In 2006, she and her husband, George,
started the Assyrian Children’s Fund in
2006 to help war-stricken Iraqi youngsters.
“The war in Iraq left a lot of families
with nothing,” she says. “There are a lot
of families who have a decent meal maybe
once a week.”
She and her husband, an ardent amateur historian and linguist
who is working on an online Assyrian-English dictionary,
have two children: a daughter who is a PhD student at Harvard,
and a son who graduated from Seattle’s Garfield High
School this year and plans to study medicine.
With the nest empty, Dr. Oda would like to travel to developing
countries two to four weeks out of the year, teaching or
doing clinical work. She also would enjoy more time for her
hobbies — reading (science, religion, politics) and long walks
around her Magnolia neighborhood.
But she has no plans to slacken her pace at the School of
Dentistry, where she has donated extensively to an endowment
fund.
“I promised myself, the day I feel bored, I’ll retire,” she
says. “I like to stay excited about what I do.”
SUMMER / FALL 2009 DentalAlumninews 25