Outstanding achievements across clinical care, research and community service were proudly on display during the Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Sutro Excellence Day held May 6, 2026 at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry.

This longstanding annual tradition offers the school community the opportunity to publicly share their projects with classmates, colleagues, faculty, staff, alumni and special guests.

Following introductory remarks from Interim Dean Dr. Elisa Chávez and Associate Dean for Research Dr. Rebecca Moazzez, Dr. John Featherstone gave the keynote presentation, “From Chemistry to Innovative Clinical Reality.” Dean emeritus and professor emeritus of UCSF School of Dentistry, Dr. Featherstone is internationally recognized for his decades of research on tooth decay. Over his 50-year career, he helped establish the scientific understanding of how fluoride really works, pioneered research on laser interactions with hard tissues and led the development and clinical implementation of CAMBRA® (caries management by risk assessment).

The event then moved to one of the school’s clinical floors, where for the next three hours, students, residents and visiting scholars presented research posters, clinical cases and service projects. Faculty judges evaluated 94 projects and engaged presenters in discussions about their accomplishments throughout the academic year. 

Clinical presentations featured comprehensive care, implant dentistry, removable prosthodontics, restorative dentistry, endodontics and orthodontics. Poster presentations included educational research, community health service, leadership initiatives, literature reviews and projects from the school’s Personalized Instructional Program (PIP). Eight students from the School of Health Sciences’ Audiology Department also presented projects for review and judging.

In addition, 16 first-year students in the International Dental Studies program competed in the IDS First-Year Literature Review category.

“My experience so far has been amazing,” said Shriya Gupta, DDS ’27. “I think Excellence Day really motivates you to do something outside of schoolwork. You like it when people come around and look wide-eyed and share the same passion as you have for your topic.”

The Dugoni School’s commitment to community outreach — locally and globally — also featured in several presentations, including a project highlighting the school’s Guatemala Service Trip that took place during the spring break week of March.

“We were able to reflect on our week in Guatemala in presenting this project including things that went right, things that we could have improved on and things that we enjoyed,” said trip co-leader Steph Tu, DDS ’27. “It was an easy project to work on because we were so passionate about everything that we experienced and how much we cared about the trip. It was honestly such a pleasure to share our thoughts and experiences with the judges and with our peers.”

OKU-Sutro Excellence Day activities were sponsored by the school’s Omicron Kappa Upsilon chapter, Arklign, Haleon, James Stanfield Catering, LumaDent Inc., SHOFU Dental Corporation, Kuraray and Wallaby Care.

Harmony Matshik Dakafay, Serenity Sassorossi, Dr. Rebecca Moazzez and Daniel Abrahams served as co-chairs of this year’s OKU-Sutro Excellence Day Committee.

Omicron Kappa Upsilon is a national dental honor society founded in 1914 at Northwestern University. The Dugoni School chartered its Delta Delta Chapter in 1933 to encourage scholarship and advance ethical standards of the dental profession. Membership is limited to 12% of the graduating class on the basis of scholarship, character and leadership.

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