Dental Innovators, Creators & Entrepreneurs (DICE) is the first student-led entrepreneurial incubator at University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and a recipient of a Shils Fund grant in September 2020.
Founded in the fall of 2017, DICE’s dental student members focus on facilitating the development of problem-solving and the design process of businesses that address unmet needs in dentistry. To complement these efforts, DICE also holds an internal business plan competition and solicits funding to advance students’ start-up projects and the organization.
In June 2021, DICE’s New Dental Entrepreneurial Program (NDEP) program was launched. The program is designed to fill an educational and business acumen void for fourth year dental students and recent graduates as they progress into the dental field. NDEP is a self-paced conference style course with workshops, learning modules, and networking opportunities that span over several weeks. NDEP participants enjoyed a strategic range of specialized subject matter and the benefit of enhanced marketplace skills, thus helping to ensure their success as innovators, as well as in advancing the social good for the communities they will serve.
Coming in 2022, DICE will be holding a “Bootcamp” program for the NDEP participants with the goal to provide exposure to the next generation of leaders in dentistry beyond what is provided in dental school. The bootcamp will be a weekend filled with education and inspiring speakers and conclude with a “Think-a-thon” event.
Alyse Mongalo O’Kelly, DMD, graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, is the CEO and Co-Founder of DICE.
Read Dr. Alyse O’Kelly’s Bio
Dr. Alyse J. Mongalo O’Kelly
CEO, Co-Founder of Dental Innovators, Creators & Entrepreneurs (DICE)
UPENN Dental Medicine, 3rd -Year Student
Dental Innovators, Creators & Entrepreneurs (DICE) is the first student-led entrepreneurial incubator at University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and a recipient of a Shils Fund grant.
Founded in the fall of 2017, DICE’s dental student members focus on facilitating the development of problem-solving and the design process of businesses that address unmet needs in dentistry. To complement these efforts, DICE also holds an internal business plan competition and solicits funding to advance students’ start-up projects and the organization.
Its’ CEO and Co-Founder Alyse Mongalo O’Kelly, born into a family of business entrepreneurs and a business school graduate, decided to avidly pursue a career in dentistry after a transformational trip to Nicaragua. Her experience there witnessing an impoverished community in desperate need of quality oral health care revealed a life-changing way to match her love of business with her drive to help others.
In addition to her work with DICE and her studies as a third-year dental school student, Alyse is also President of the Student National Dental Association at Penn Dental Medicine.
Her professional background includes extensive experience in the areas of mentoring, education, programming, medical and dental patient care, research, conference organization and presentations, diversity, business competitions, and social good efforts, such as her work cofounding Citizen Water, a values-based water bottling start-up which donated a portion of its proceeds to the community.
Alyse lives with her husband in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.