DTA/Shils Scholarship

It means a great deal to me that there is a group of individuals that believe in me and my vision to bring Culinary Medicine to Dentistry. The financial and moral support will help me on my mission to help children live healthier lives. After being awarded the scholarship, I looked up Dr. Edward B. Shils and his many accomplishments. He was an innovator in entrepreneurship education and is someone that I admire. If I can accomplish 1/10^th of what he did in his life, I know that I will have made an impact on the world and left it a better place. Thank you again for your support and believing in me!

I chose dentistry because I knew I would be able to live by my personal values of compassion, inclusivity, empowerment, and service every day. This scholarship not only helps relieve some financial stress from dental school tuition, it reinforces my belief that dentistry is intimately intertwined with service. Your endorsement makes it a much easier decision to stay committed to community service once I graduate. Please know your organization is making a huge difference in my life. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to continue learning and growing as part of a respected and community-oriented profession.

Along with this great career comes a responsibility to be charitable. Every person that has been in dental school has struggled at some point and needed someone pick them up. Dentists are often small business owners and are viewed as leaders of the community. It is our obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard and build up those in the community we are fortunate to work in.

Thanks to The Shils Fund‘s generous support, I am now able to graduate dental school as a first-generation student with less of the fear from the overwhelming amount of loans. Growing up as a Chinese-American with an immigrant background in South Philadelphia, the feeling of being less than everyone around me and inferior to the rest of the world scarred my mind. Even to this day, I still struggle with this feeling, but it is minuscule compared to what it was before. Now, I get a chance to pursue research and scholarship as well, to provide care to my patients. However, most importantly to me, is being able to lead community efforts in my city. Now I have SO MUCH to dream about here. With your grant, I could realize and pursue all these dreams, particularly the ones meant to serve my community–my home– and to further increase their access and utilization of dental services. 

This scholarship will fuel my efforts and passion to continue serving the community beyond dental school. I learned that community service is beyond just the individual, but is fueled by the efforts of an entire organization and funding. Community work commitment will be a big part of my life as I move forward. I hope to inspire future young leaders into pursuing dentistry while promoting oral health in order to fight against the dental diseases that plague our communities.

I am honored to have received recognition from the DTA for my community service involvement. I recognize the ongoing disparity faced by many individuals in our communities, and the negative impact it has on their health and quality of life. I guarantee that my current community involvement is just a projection of the time I will dedicate to the community in the future. I personally aim to work with underserved populations, both locally and globally, and will not forget to incentivize young professionals entering our field, the way that you have done for me.