Three UConn residents were recently honored at this year’s American Academy of Oral Maxillofacial Radiology’s Annual Session, sweeping all the major awards during the awards ceremony.
“It was a pleasure and a matter of great pride to see our residents do so well and achieve such phenomenal heights,” said Dr. Aditya Tadinada, program director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (OMFR) residency program and associate dean for Graduate Research, Education, and Training. “To me it underscores an important point that our program has always strived to achieve- to strike the right balance between clinical and research interests of our specialty and this recognition is a testament to our efforts and that we are doing it well.”
The awards were based on research portfolios or a demonstrated commitment to academia.
“The unprecedented showing of residents and recent graduates of the UConn OMFR program, sweeping the three major awards at the AAOMR Annual Meeting, is testament to the basic principle of this program: the education of scholarly clinicians in OMFR,” said Dr. Alan Lurie, professor and chair of Oral and Maxillofacial Diagnostic Sciences. “Throughout its history, this program has emphasized academic excellence coupled with clinical strength. Our graduates are leaders in the field, both in the USA and abroad, and these awards show that this leadership through academic excellence will continue.”
Dr. Archna Sharma, a third-year resident, won the Albert G. Richards Graduate Student Research Award for her ongoing research and the potential future direction of her project. Sharma’s award was based on her research proposal for identifying and quantifying various fracture patterns in the maxillofacial region including traumatic, sports and intimate partner violence.
The Howard R. Raper Award recognizes oral and maxillofacial radiology graduate students who intend on pursuing a career in academia. Dr. Juliana Melo da Fonte, a third-year resident, won the award based on her portfolio that demonstrated a commitment towards a career in academia.
Dr. Anusha Vaddi was recognized for an outstanding body of research relevant to oral and maxillofacial radiology with the Williams H. Rollins Award. Anusha is a 2022 graduate of the UConn OMFR residency program and is currently an assistant professor of Oral Diagnostic Sciences at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry. She won the award based on her work in Raman Spectroscopy and its potential applications in dentistry.
During the meeting, Tadinada gave a two-hour presentation on “Navigating an Academic Career in Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology: Glowing without Burning.”
“This topic was very well appreciated for the roadmap it provided for a career in academic radiology and to be mindful of the blind spots and potential burnout,” Tadinada added.
