This article originally appeared on UPenn’s Dental Medicine website.
The fellowship will support programming within the Dept. of Oral Medicine for veterinary dentists or oral medicine fellows with an interest in veterinary oral medicine.
Philadelphia, July 13, 2018 – A new fellowship has been established that will support and encourage study across disciplines. The Dr. Thomas P. Sollecito One Health Fellowship in Oral Medicine will provide financial support for educational programming within Penn Dental Medicine’s Department of Oral Medicine for veterinary dentists or oral medicine fellows with an interest in veterinary oral medicine. The fellowship was established through the generous support of Dr. Jamie G. Anderson.
Dr. Thomas Sollecito, for whom the fellowship is named and who will administer the programming, is Professor and Chair of Oral Medicine. Dr. Sollecito is a world-renowned educator and clinician. He has received several federal, foundational, and institutional research grants focused on the study of oral mucosal diseases and oral cancer. Dr. Sollecito is the recipient of multiple teaching and clinical awards, including the Pennsylvania Dental Association Recognition Award, the Samuel Charles Miller Award from the American Academy of Oral Medicine, and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Anderson, a practicing veterinarian from California, established the fellowship in honor of Dr. Sollecito. Dr. Sollecito has shown a long-term interest in oral conditions of veterinary patients and has mentored Dr. Jamie G. Anderson, a diplomate in Veterinary Dentistry and Internal Medicine since 2004.
After earning her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from UC Davis in 1989, Dr. Anderson completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Penn Vet and continued on at Penn to complete a residency in veterinary dentistry in 1991, and a residency in small animal internal medicine in 1993. She is board certified in veterinary dentistry and internal medicine and focuses her clinical and research efforts in Oral Medicine. Dr. Anderson appreciates the important role of oral mucosal disease in animals and envisions subspecialty development in veterinary dentistry.
“I am excited to offer this fellowship as a means toward understanding the frequent chronic and painful oral mucosal diseases in our household cats and dogs,” says Dr. Anderson. “Painful diseases in cats and dogs occur commonly, yet we know very little about them. With the help of the Oral Medicine department, we hope to make inroads into answers.”
Drs. Anderson and Sollecito developed the fellowship program and hope to recruit an interested clinician within the next academic year. They anticipate that the two-week fellowship will support the One Health concept between Oral Medicine specialists at University of Pennsylvania and veterinary dentists interested in veterinary oral medicine and who are committed to lifelong learning.
The successful applicant will be engaged in a two-week immersion program in clinical oral medicine. The program will include observation in patient care and active participation in rounds, while having an opportunity to discuss and design a research topic.
“The goal is to promote understanding of oral mucosal diseases in companion animals and to further encourage scholarship through inter-professional collaboration,” says Dr. Sollecito.
This article originally appeared on UPenn’s Dental Medicine website.