The West Virginia University School of Dentistry Alumni Association celebrated distinguished alumni, alumni achievement and milestone anniversaries for the Doctor of Dental Surgery classes of 1963, 1968 and 1993.
Alumni from across the country were in Morgantown the weekend of April 27 to reunite, visit the school and attend continuing education courses.
Alumni Association Awards
A Friday luncheon honored the alumni association’s 2018 award recipients.
They included Laura Stevens Aliff, the first dental hygienist to be president of the alumni association, Dr. C. Richard Gerber, a West Virginia Dental Association president, and Dr. Donald Patthoff, also a West Virginia Dental Association president.
Laura Stevens Aliff is a 2018 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. She was born and raised in West Virginia and earned her Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene from the WVU School of Dentistry in 1982.
Over 35 years, she has cared for and treated West Virginians through private practice and community dental groups including Milan Puskar Health Right.
The alumna has traveled the state presenting programs and serving on oral health advisory boards.
Aliff has been actively involved and has served in leadership roles of the West Virginia Dental Hygienists’ Association, the West Virginia Rural Health Association, the West Virginia Oral Health Coalition and the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.
Included in her leadership roles, Aliff has served as president of the West Virginia section of Sigma Phi Alpha, the national dental hygiene honor society.
The Bridgeport resident is actively involved in her community assisting with local, regional, and international events. For her dedication, Aliff was named a 2015 Michael L. Benedum Fellow.
Aliff was first appointed to the WVU School of Dentistry Alumni Association Board of Governors in 1991. She has since served on four of the alumni association’s boards. In 2007 she was the first dental hygienist to be elected as BOG president.
Dr. C. Richard Gerber also received a distinguished alumni award. Upon his 1983 graduation from the WVU School of Dentistry he was added to the family legacy of dentists that includes his father, brother, daughter and niece.
His final year of dental school, 1983, Gerber served as president of the West Virginia section of the Student American Dental Association. While studying at the WVU School of Dentistry, Gerber was a delegate to the WVU student chapter of the American Dental Association and a president of the Chi Chi Chapter of Delta Sigma Delta dental fraternity.
Early in his career Gerber became involved in organized dentistry serving as both secretary/treasurer and president of the Blennerhassett Dental Society.
In 1985 he was elected to the executive council of the West Virginia Dental Association, which culminated in 2002 when he was installed as President.
Gerber is one of only a handful of dentists who has served as both the president of the WV Dental Association and the WV Board of Dentistry.
Among the many awards received over the years, the alumnus is a Fellow in both the American College of Dentists and International College of Dentists. He also received the state’s highest honor as a Distinguished Fellow in the Pierre Fauchard Academy.
The School of Dentistry Alumni Association’s alumni achievement award was given to Dr. Donald Patthoff, a long-time provider in the state’s eastern panhandle.
Patthoff was born and raised in Delphos, Ohio. Although, he has been a loyal mountaineer for nearly all of his professional career.
Patthoff received a Bachelor of Science in zoology from the Ohio State University and did graduate work at Antioch College before entering dental school at the University of Detroit where he graduated in 1974.
Dr. Patthoff then traveled the country roads to West Virginia where in 1974-5 he completed a general practice residency at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center.
For close to 45 years Patthoff has been in private practice and associated with the VA hospital.
Patthoff has served as the president of the Eastern Panhandle Dental Society and the Academy of General Dentistry. In 1986 he was named as the 80th president of the West Virginia Dental Association.
Through positions with the Academy of Laser Dentistry, Patthoff has been one of the leaders in both ethics and laser dentistry in the state. He is an American College of Dentists Fellow and has presented multiple programs over the years on ethics. That includes more than 70 programs at local, state, national, and international societies. Patthoff has work in more than 50 publications.
Faculty Fund Donation
The School of Dentistry alumni weekend included the association’s second installment to a faculty fund matching campaign. Board of Governor’s President Dr. Ron Richardson presented a $25,000 check to Dr. Anthony Tom Borgia, the school’s dean. The alumni association committed to match up to $100,000 for the fund.
Continuing Education
As part of the alumni association Dr. Clarence C. and Maxine Davis Cottrill Endowed Lecture, Dr. Dennis R. Bailey presented the continuing education course “Practicing Sleep Medicine as a Dentist: What the Dentist and Team Need to Know”. Bailey presented methods for dentists to recognize sleep disorders and understand the risks of sleep disorders. As part of his lecture, Bailey taught visiting dentists how to identify medical conditions related to breathing disorders and how to treat the problems with the potential use of oral appliances.
Photos from the weekend of events are on the School of Dentistry facebook page.