Dear Colleagues,
As the 2025-2026 academic year comes to an end, I feel it is important to celebrate with you all our significant accomplishments of this past year.
In January 2026, we hosted our second annual Research Day and were able to showcase the intense research activity of our undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students and faculty. The event was a great success and was organized and co-hosted by Kathy Yerex (School of Dental Hygiene) and Dr. Ayesha Saleem (department of oral biology). I wish to thank them, and all our sponsors, for their generous support.
During the same month we were notified that our researchers had exceeded the research funding from the previous year for the sixth consecutive year in a row. An outcome of this outstanding performance was the award — for the first time in the history of our College — of a Canada Research Chair Tier 2. We have already started the recruitment process for this Chair, in collaboration with the Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute and CancerCare Manitoba, that will be in the oral cancer biology sphere.
The past year also marked the formation of the first student-led research group in dentistry called ART (Academic Trainee Research) Group with Dr. Anil Menon as faculty advisor. The purpose of the ART Group is to foster a vibrant, cross-cohort research culture among dental trainees by connecting undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows, through shared academic and scholarly activities.
On the education side, under the guidance of the Ad Hoc Curriculum Review Committee, our curriculum review is continuing at a good pace with the mapping of our whole curriculum for both dental hygiene and dentistry; we have identified areas of improvement and areas of excellence to prepare our future dental hygienists and dentists to enter the profession. To further support our education mission, we have, through our Digital Infrastructure Committee and with the expert assistance of Dean Katzenberger, our IST specialist, explored various digital equipment. I have also appointed a College Undergraduate Digital Lead, Dr. Cristina Fiuza, to help us finalize pre-clinical and clinical workflows to be implemented in our new state of the art digital facility.
This year, we also worked hard to mitigate the effects of the Canadian Dental Care Plan through the Targeted Oral Health Access Fund and the School of Dental Hygiene Oral Health Access Community Fund. I am happy to report that over $170,000 was spent to support patient care in our undergraduate clinic for patients that had no other financial resources (uninsured, newcomers and unhoused). This improved our student clinical experiences while at the same time providing oral healthcare services to individuals in need. Dean Walter Siqueira (University of Saskatchewan) and I were also able to advocate with the Federal Government and have them agree to be allowed to carry over some of these targeted funds, so that we could utilize them towards providing further services in the upcoming academic year.
At UM, we are also proud to share that all our undergraduate and graduate students continue to consistently perform exceptionally well in national and international board examinations (NDEB, NDHCE, NDSE, RCDC and American Board examinations).
Our thanks to the Manitoba Dental Association (MDA) Mentorship Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Michelle Jay and Dr. Carolyn Robertson, who organized and hosted a beautiful welcome to the profession event for our dental students. We were also very appreciative to the MDA for sponsoring the graduation breakfast, where new members of our dental hygiene and dental professions were introduced to those in attendance. We believe they will serve the Canadian public well in their chosen fields.
As far as our fundraising and building efforts are concerned, I am happy to share we are now at about 85 per cent of our goal with some preliminary indications we will meet or exceed expectations in the upcoming year. Most of our fundraising so far has been supported by you and other alumni, and for this, I am extremely grateful.
We will be receiving in August 2026, from our construction company, a projected move-in date into our new clinical facilities; we anticipate this will be sometime in 2027. We look forward celebrating all together the opening of our new dental clinics in the upcoming year. Be sure to look for a “Save the Date” communication from the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry in the fall term!
We hope to reconnect with many of you at our University of Manitoba Dental Alumni Association Alumni of Distinction Dinner on September 18, 2026, and our Homecoming and College tours on September 19th, 2026.
Wishing you all a great summer!
Kindest Regards,
Dr. Anastasia Kelekis-Cholakis
Dean, Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry
Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba