Raising the bar: Alumni of Influence 2023
The three recipients of the 2023 Alumni of Influence Awards have some key qualities in common. A shared passion for the dentistry profession, certainly, but also a fierce dedication to giving back. Be inspired by these three leaders who have helped create meaningful change.
Whether through teaching, research, university building, government relations or expanding access to dental care, these three honourees have enhanced the credibility and momentum of dentistry in Canada.
DANIEL HAAS
Daniel Haas can still recall how it felt to be a new dentistry graduate 44 years ago. He had no idea, back then, that he’d go on to become an internationally renowned expert in dental anaesthesia, an award-winning researcher, professor and dean of the U of T Faculty of Dentistry. Yet, his modesty remains today. “If anything of note was accomplished during my tenure as dean, it was only because of the great people around me,” he says.
Haas’ career boasts an extensive list of notable achievements, such as heading up the graduate specialty program in dental anaesthesia from 1998 to 2013, holding the Arthur Zwingenberger Decanal Chair and earning numerous accolades, including the Horace Wells Award from the International Federation of Dental Anesthesiology Societies in 2018, the only Canadian to do so. (He’s the only Canadian to earn three other distinguished international awards, too.)
His passion for building a positive culture and improved facilities to help students, educators and researchers meet their potential defined his legacy as dean. In that role, Haas spearheaded a faculty restructuring, the creation of a strategic plan and the phased modernization of 124 Edward St., in lieu of a costly new build, so that clinical, teaching and research programs could continue. Those plans also led to the opening of the Faculty’s state-of-the-art satellite clinic. During the early months of the pandemic, Haas negotiated to get Faculty clinics re-opened quickly and safely.
“Our clinics provide care for over 15,000 patients — many of whom have difficulty accessing care elsewhere — and students who need to train in-person,” explains Haas, who skillfully articulated on campus and beyond that dental care is essential health care.
Even on his current administrative leave, Haas is still teaching and working on examination boards. His advice to those new to dentistry: “Keep learning,” he says. “That is one of the reasons that dentistry is such a great profession — it continues to evolve and advance, and we evolve and advance with it.”
LYNN TOMKINS
It’s been an immensely busy and exciting time for Lynn Tomkins. As president of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA), she participated in the shaping of the new Canada Dental Benefit throughout 2022. “We’ve been in Ottawa to meet with the minister and MPs, and to participate in senate committee and ad hoc committee hearings,” she says. “Finally, oral and dental health are getting the profile they deserve from the government.”
Tomkins’ career deserves high praise, too. In addition to building a successful private practice in Toronto, she has served on countless boards and associations to advance the profession and the oral health of Canadians, plus she’s an award-winning teacher in U of T’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Oral Medicine. Yet she doesn’t stand on ceremony. “Dr. Tomkins is always genuinely happy to see students in clinic — she gives you a sense of belonging,” says former student Emel Arat 0T0, now assistant professor, teaching stream, at U of T. “I always keep her welcoming and inclusive approach in mind when I interact with my students.”
Having served as the third female president of the Ontario Dental Association and now the second female CDA president, Tomkins’ passion for diversity is evident. “I’ve seen tremendous change,” she says. “But we still need to focus on creating an even more welcoming environment for people of all genders and backgrounds.”
Tomkins believes that there’s no better time for dentistry students to consider how they can serve, either through organized dentistry or teaching. “Dental schools — who rely on part-time clinical instructors — are the backbone of the profession,” she says.
A true renaissance woman, Tomkins spends her downtime savouring Shakespeare and exploring Canada’s most remote national parks with her husband, Daniel Kmiecik 8T1. She also fits in fulfilling her duties as an associate member of the senate of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada.
Her love of dentistry reflects a similar, wide-ranging curiosity. “Dentistry is about evidence-based treatment, medicine, engineering, psychology, human resources, business management, and it’s also a social and surgical art,” she says. “I’m tremendously proud of the dental profession.”
VIKRAM MALHOTRA
Vikram Malhotra had goose bumps. He was in dental school when renowned dental public health researcher and advocate James Leake 6T6, 6T9 Dip DPH, 7T8 MScD explained the dichotomy of access to care. “He shared Julian Tudor Hart’s ‘inverse care law’; that those who need care the most are often least able to access care,” says Malhotra. “I really took that to heart.”
Malhotra was inspired to make a difference from the start, initially working in northern and Indigenous communities, and then with a Toronto company offering dentistry to long-term care residents. He also volunteered with organizations offering care to low-income adults. Today, in a job that could not suit him better, he works toward achieving more accessible and equitable oral health care as dental manager at Toronto Public Health (TPH).
In this role, he helped earn a large capital funding envelope from the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program to open new clinics and create a long-term care dental program.
Malhotra lights up when he talks about the potential of dental public health — in synergy with private practices and universities — to help improve access for marginalized communities, reassess current models and expand research on minimally invasive dentistry, teledentistry and mobile dentistry. “It’s about holistic and compassionate care that improves quality of life,” says Malhotra, who leads TPH’s Infection Control and Prevention portfolio. As well, he both proposed and now heads its Research and Program Development portfolio.
His vital role in keeping TPH dental clinics open during the pandemic, while intense, also buoyed his optimism about the rising recognition of the essential value of dentistry. “The pandemic revealed the depth of dentists’ professionalism and our willingness to be partners within public health and the larger healthcare system,” he says. Malhotra hopes more new DDS graduates and young dentists will see public health as a fulfilling career path, as he has. “It’s a really exciting time,” he says. “As dentists we have a lot of power, so we also have a lot of responsibility.”
Written by Lisa Murphy
Photo credit: Stef & Ethan