Gamifying gifts

By Suzanne Bowness

Game on, fellow specialists! You may have already heard the sound of the gauntlet being dropped at the recent Canadian Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (CAOMR) meeting, but as a reminder: the rumours are true.

A longstanding member issued an exciting challenge to match all donations to the Faculty of Dentistry’s oral and maxillofacial radiology graduate program, up to a maximum of $10,000. The anonymous gift of $10,000 prompted 10 additional gifts totalling $23,650 bringing the grand total raised to $33,650. Gifts will support both the student experience and the research mission of the graduate program. 

So why did the mysterious member create this generous matching fund? We caught up with the donor to ask. They say it’s all about encouraging others to give back by remembering the rewards of graduate school. 

“The challenge is a way of getting people to participate, and also getting people to think about donating,” says the mysterious dental professional. “The graduate program is probably the best training in the country, and that didn't happen by accident.”

Asked about their anonymity, the masked dentist says virtue is its own reward. “It gives it a little bit more mystery. I don't want any recognition for it.”

Trish Lukat 1T3 MSc OR, CAOMR president, applauds the friendly competition. “If we want to keep students coming out of our program, I think we have to challenge ourselves to make sure that the support is there for those students,” she says. “It's not a cheap endeavour to undertake, so if members have the opportunity to offload a bit of the financial burden, that's important.”

Lukat, who did her DDS at the University of Alberta, says that her move to specialize turned out to be a great decision. “I feel like it was 100 percent worth it to hone in on a very specialized area that was up-and-coming in dental practice,” she says. Moving to Toronto to undertake her graduate training also turned out to be a great experience. “The residency program gave me a solid foundation and the program is second to none,” she recalls, adding that by the time she started grad school her mentor from U of A, Ernest Lam, had also become the program director at U of T. 

Lam also made a generous donation to the fund. 

After graduation, Lukat moved back to Calgary and opened an oral radiology practice. “Private practice has been super rewarding. It's been extremely busy and the practice has grown every year, even amidst recessions in Alberta. It’s definitely been a very fulfilling career decision,” she says. 

For Lukat, her own career trajectory is another major reason to give back. “Looking around, I feel like we've all been blessed with very successful careers. We've been lucky to be involved in a time where our specialty has really taken off, from what used to be a fairly obscure part of dentistry to something extremely mainstream. I think everybody has truly benefited from that,” she says.

Bob Wood 8T2, 8T6 MSc OR, who took up the challenge by donating $1,000, agrees with this logic. “I think people should think about supporting the programs which gave them the opportunity for their career,” says Wood, who rose to head of dentistry at Princess Margaret Hospital. Now in private practice, he still supervises graduate students at the Faculty and is eager to witness the program’s continued success. 

Lukat hopes this fundraising challenge will meet and even exceed its target. ”I think it's important to be able to attract top-notch talent and to give back to the program that basically gave most of us our start. It’s something that I think everybody should be very proud of and see as a really good cause.”