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For Every Dollar the AAOF Has Invested, It Has Generated Unimaginable, Exponential Returns

Dr. Sarandeep Huja
University of Kentucky

Dr. Sarandeep Huja

Dr. Sarandeep Huja

Thank you for the opportunity to express my gratitude to the AAOF for the support I have received.

Early in my career as an assistant professor, two teaching fellowships (2002 and 2004) were critical in helping with my student loan indebtedness to institutions and friends who supported my education from 1993 to 2000.

As a foreign national, I was able to secure only private loans. The AAOF support helped to rapidly pay off a six-figure debt over a short period of three years. I share the amount to allow readers to understand how greatly I value the opportunities I received.

While securing the loan and assuming the burden was daunting, an acquaintance in casual conversation once suggested encouragingly that I might be surprised how well things could turn out. I often think of those words, and I consider myself extremely lucky in so many ways to have become full-time faculty.

I also have seen how greatly AAOF awards have benefited so many of my dedicated colleagues and friends, which makes the impact of the AAOF even so much greater. It is with immense humility that I thank my mentors for their support of the various AAOF applications. In my mind, what is very significant is that the AAOF has been very dynamic in understanding and adapting to faculty needs and has consequently come up with positive changes in the awards program.

The AAOF has targeted and had forceful impact on development of faculty and research careers. The true influence of the AAOF will be judged only when dental historians look back to trace the progress made by many individuals and leaders who were molded by AAOF support for the collective goal and mission of the AAOF and the orthodontic specialty. Another way to attempt to understand the influence of the AAOF is to imagine for a moment what might never have occurred had the AAOF not existed.

My translational research attempts to investigate the role of bone remodeling in the jaws. Two of the AAOF biomedical awards that I received (2006 and 2008) have investigated the role of bone remodeling in jaws of mice and in larger animal models to study the effect of bisphosphonates on bone healing around implants and extraction sites. The AAOF funding was the nidus for additional successful grant applications. The support allowed me to develop new research ideas and engage dental students, residents and a postdoctoral researcher. It also has given me the opportunity to present at various AAO meetings, other invited lectures and to prepare and publish manuscripts.

The AAOF has thus generated a large body of knowledge through the support of various investigators. The knowledge generated fuels further discoveries and ideas by funding organizations unrelated to the AAOF.

To put it simply, I think for every dollar the AAOF has invested, it has generated unimaginable and exponential returns and thus is securing the future of our specialty.