VIDEO: Teaching Goes Beyond the Textbook for UK Dentistry Professor
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 21, 2017) — For Gitanjali Pinto-Sinai, teaching in the UK College of Dentistry gives her the opportunity to not only pass along valuable lessons, but to impact the level of care future patients will receive at the hands of her students.
Watch the video above to discover why the student who nominated her to win the 2017 Great Teacher Award says Pinto-Sinai has taught her about so much more than dentistry.
Pinto-Sinai is an assistant professor in the UK Division of Restorative Dentistry of the College of Dentistry. She received her dental training and Doctor of Dental Science degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in 2001. She completed a two-year general practice residency program at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut. After six years in private dental practice in New York and Chicago, she relocated to Lexington.
She began her career as a dental educator at UKCD in 2009. After three years as a part-time faculty member she accepted a full-time position in 2012. She divides her time between clinical and pre-clinical instruction of student dentists. She is the course director for a dental simulation lab course which focuses on the restoration of teeth with dental crowns. She also continues to practice as a general dentist at the UKCD Faculty Practice Clinic.
In addition to serving as a formal mentor to students, Pinto-Sinai is the faculty advisor for the Delta Sigma Delta (DSD) dental fraternity. She volunteers with DSD and the Hispanic Student Dental Association, both providing dental treatment and supervising student dentists treating uninsured patients at the Mission Lexington Clinic in downtown Lexington.
The Great Teacher Award, started in 1961, is the longest-running University of Kentucky award recognizing teaching. In order to receive the award, educators must first be nominated by a student. The UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee, in cooperation with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa, then makes the final selections. Recipients receive an engraved plaque and a monetary reward.
The UK Alumni Association is a membership supported organization committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association or to become a member, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 1-800-269-2586.
