Michael DeBourg II DDS ’22 overcomes personal loss, a chronic disease and the specter of low expectations to craft a fulfilling life. AFTER HIS FATHER PASSED AWAY in 2007 from pancreatic cancer, Michael DeBourg II went soul searching. The first in his immediate family to earn a high school degree, the then-21-year-old DeBourg had settled […]

First-generation college student Erika Correa DDS ’22 wants to use her career to help improve others’ lives. IT WAS A FABLED TRIP to the orthodontist to get braces that first sparked then-13-year-old Erika Correa’s interest in a dental career .  “My new smile after my braces gave me confidence, which really changed my life for […]

ASPID student Artem Cheshkov has overcome a multitude of challenges on his path to graduation. CONSIDER ARTEM CHESHKOV’S DAILY SCHEDULE: After putting in a full day attending courses and working in the lab as part of Ostrow’s Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID), he heads over to Bright Horizons Daycare to pick up his […]

Ostrow graduate Anna Adjei DDS ’22 says Commencement will be a family affair. NO MATTER HOW BUSY Ostrow student Anna Adjei DDS ’22 is, her mother and father are never far from her mind. In fact, with graduation day a stone’s throw away, the first-generation college student says, “This degree is for my parents. They […]

The researcher was recently promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Dentistry with tenure. TO SOME, IT MIGHT SEEM UNUSUAL that Jian Xu, whose PhD research focused on cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure, would find her academic home at the Center for Craniofacial Biology, part of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC. […]