Four awards were presented to distinguished alumni during the recent William F. Slagle Dental Meeting and College of Dentistry Alumni Weekend hosted by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). There were a total of 834 attendees at the meeting.
DeWayne B. McCamish, DDS, MS, and the late Carl L. Sebelius, DDS, received the 2017 Outstanding Alumnus awards. Nathan Cory Glenn, DDS, received the 2017 Recent Alumnus Award, and William F. Alfonso, DDS, received the 2017 Distinguished Service Award. More than 220 people attended the student scholarship awards banquet and 124 scholarships totaling $240,000 were awarded to College of Dentistry students.
The Slagle Dental Meeting is sponsored by the UTHSC College of Dentistry Alumni Association. All profits from the event are used to support dental education programs at UTHSC.
Outstanding Alumnus: Dr. DeWayne McCamish
Dr. McCamish might have chosen a different career, were it not for an active sport life during high school and college. Interactions with three men in particular — all dentists — during youth softball and high school and college football encouraged him to study dentistry and specialize in orthodontics.
Dr. McCamish recalls being initially encouraged in his hometown of Chattanooga to pursue dentistry by his church softball team coach and pitcher, Dr. Larry Fogo, a well-respected dentist, who suggested orthodontics. A few years later, Dr. McCamish took a hit in his face during a high school football game, fracturing his right central incisor. The kind treatment from team dentist, Dr. Fox Monroe, stayed with him. When the crown was replaced due to a football facial injury in college at Middle Tennessee State University, team dentist, Dr. Ken Ezell, became a mentor and friend.
Dr. McCamish graduated from MTSU in 1967 with a double major in chemistry and math and a minor in biology.
Pursuing his dream of becoming a dentist, he enrolled in the UTHSC College of Dentistry, earning a DDS in 1970. Heeding Dr. Fogo’s advice, he continued his studies, and in 1973, he earned a master’s degree in orthodontics from the UTHSC College of Dentistry Graduate Orthodontic Program.
In his 44 years of dental and orthodontic practice, Dr. McCamish has devoted countless hours in support of his profession through membership and service in numerous organizations. The pinnacle of this service occurred in March 2016, when Dr. McCamish was inducted as the 109th president of the American Association of Orthodontics. He has also served as past president of the Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO), the Tennessee Association of Orthodontists, the University of Tennessee Orthodontic Alumni Association, and the Third District Dental Society (now named the Chattanooga Area Dental Society).
He is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, and a Fellow of the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.
Dr. McCamish has received numerous awards for professional service, including the Oren Oliver Distinguished Service Award from the SAO in 2001. He was named Outstanding Alumnus by the UTHSC Graduate Orthodontic Program in 2008.
Dr. McCamish is proud of the patients he has treated in 44 years of practice, especially when he sees them in the community and knows he has been “a little part in their lives and their smiles.”
He considers his 50-year marriage, his three children and his five grandchildren to be his highest achievements.
Outstanding Alumnus: Dr. Carl Sebelius, Jr.
As a child, Dr. Carl Sebelius, Jr., always wanted to know how things worked, and dreamed of becoming a scientist. He was inspired to pursue a career in dentistry by his father and grandfather. Hewas the third ‘Carl Sebelius’ in his family to have a DDS behind his name.
Dr. Sebelius attended Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1961. He received his dental degree from UTHSC in 1964, and completed his internship and residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at UTHSC in 1967.
His career spanned nearly 50 years. Following completion of his residency, Dr. Sebelius received an invitation for a one-year faculty appointment in the College of Dentistry from Dr. L.C. Templeton. In 1968, he joined the college as assistant professor in the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery.
The one-year appointment turned into a career in academia with UTHSC. Dr. Sebelius worked his way from assistant professor to associate professor, and in 1981, professor. In 2006 he was named Professor Emeritus, and retired from the UTHSC faculty in 2009.
Dr. Sebelius’ dedication to the college and his students was illustrated by his faculty involvement. He served on the faculty senate, was chairman of the committee of faculty, and served on the administrative council. He served on a total of 18 committees for the college.
Dr. Sebelius also maintained a robust private dental practice from 1968 to 1985. From 1985 to 2000, he was a practitioner with the University Dental Practice group.
He served on the staff of Baptist Memorial Hospital as chairman of the Department of Dentistry from 1990 to 1996, and was courtesy staff with LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center and Methodist Healthcare until his 2009 retirement.
Dr. Sebelius served as president of virtually every organization of which he is a member, including the Memphis Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; the Memphis Dental Society; Tennessee Dental Association; Omicron Kappa Upsilon, Psi Chapter; Xi Psi Phi Fraternity; and the American Dental Interfraternity Council. He also served as a Regent for the American College of Dentists.
Dr. Sebelius held leadership positions for the American Dental Association, the Tennessee Board of Dentistry, and the Regional Medical Center at Memphis (now Regional One Health).
He received numerous awards, including the Richard Doggett Dean and Marguerite Taylor Dean Honorary Odonatological Society International College of Dentistry Award in 1964; the Tennessee Dental Association Fellowship Award in 1992; the American College of Dentists Fellowship Award in 1994; and the Memphis Dental Society Humanitarian Award in 2009.
In his retirement, Dr. Sebelius traveled extensively for organized dentistry meetings, as well as for personal enjoyment. He and his wife, Judy, had two grown daughters and several grandchildren.
Recent Alumnus Award: Dr. Nathan Cory Glenn
Dr. Nathan Cory Glenn’s’ trajectory for success since his 2008 graduation from the College of Dentistry has been called unprecedented by his classmates and colleagues.
In the online dental community, Dentaltown, Dr. Glenn’s posts are among the most-followed. Yet, he considers himself just a small-town dentist who loves to learn.
Dr. Glenn grew up in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and always wanted to be a dentist or a physician. He attended Arkansas State University for his undergraduate work, majoring in biology and chemistry. While there, he took an introductory course on medical and dental careers with weekly visits from health care professionals. He found the dental professionals to be consistently enthusiastic. He secured a job with an oral surgeon while completing his bachelor’s degree, and considered himself “hooked” on dentistry.
Following his graduation from UTHSC, Dr. Glenn was accepted to a residency in Advanced Education in General Dentistry with a focus on comprehensive care and dental implants. Upon completion of the residency, he purchased an established practice in Winchester, Tennessee.
His colleagues consider him a “MacGyver” of dentistry, because of his innovation. In his practice, Dr. Glenn performs all types of dentistry, with a focus on using technology and innovative techniques to provide treatment in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Dr. Glenn is a graduate of the Georgia Maxi-Course in Implant Dentistry, the American Orthodontic Society’s Comprehensive Ortho Program, and is credentialed as an Associate Fellow in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry.
He is immediate past chairman and current continuing education director for the Middle Tennessee Dental Study Club, and vice president of the Southern Tennessee Christian Medical and Dental Association. His additional professional and communal affiliations include membership in the American Dental Association, the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Rotary International, Gideons International, and the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Glenn lives by the advice he once received, “Don’t ever buy in to the lie that money or things will make you happier.” He is pleased with his professional accomplishments, however, he considers his wife, Amanda, and daughters Allie, Audrey, and Leah, to be his proudest accomplishment.
Dr. Glenn has spent the last eight months away from his practice in treatment for leukemia. As much as he loves practicing dentistry, he said, “(leukemia) put into perspective what is most important.”
Distinguished Service Award: Dr. William Alfonso
“Those to whom much is given, much is expected in return.” Dr. William Alfonso, DDS ’77, has lived both his personal and professional life with this as his motivation. He is the co-founder of Operation New Life, a multidisciplinary surgical mission group.
Dr. Alfonso is an honors graduate and Pierre Fauchard Academy Award winner from the UTHSC College of Dentistry, and completed a residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the City of Memphis (now Regional One) Hospital. Following his residency, Dr. Alfonso joined a private practice in Memphis, and in 1982, moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas, to open a solo oral and maxillofacial surgery practice. He is a Fellow in the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Dr. Alfonso feels called to serve God as a missionary, using his skills to help those without proper access to dental care. His journey to medical missionary work came after prayer and discussion with others who traveled the same path.
He began short-term medical missionary work in 1998. He sold his practice and became an independent contractor. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Alfonso and his wife, Sandra, traveled as missionaries to Honduras several times a year performing dental procedures.
He formed Operation New Life in 2004 with Little Rock plastic surgeon, Dr. Kris Shewmake. Both had done medical missionary work. Together, they realized they could make a greater impact on the indigent population in Honduras.
Since forming Operation New Life, Dr. Alfonso has made the one-week trip three to eight times a year. On each trip, he leads a team of surgeons, nurses, and non-medical missionary workers, who bring lectures and medical equipment to teach the physicians skills they do not have any other way of learning. The trips are all self-funded. Operation New Life has trained two oral and maxillofacial surgeons.
Dr. Alfonso and his wife plan to continue serving, now in the Dominican Republic, traveling one week at a time, working where needed.
The 2018 William F. Slagle Dental Meeting is scheduled to be held March 2-4, 2018.