Dr. Gerry Uswak joined the University of Saskatchewan as an associate professor in Community Dentistry in 2005 and served as the acting dean for the past two years. As an accomplished teacher, researcher and administrator, Uswak gladly accepted a five-year term as dean starting July 1, 2008.

“I never thought this would happen,” said Uswak about the appointment. “I didn’t come to Saskatchewan with this in mind. I’m looking forward to getting this college moving in terms of being active members of the University community”

Uswak received his Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Manitoba and specialty training in public health from the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill School of Public Health. From 2002 to 2005, he was CEO of the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority, which included Canada’s most northerly hospital.

Currently, Uswak acts as a clinical supervisor in northern Saskatchewan where be believes a gap exists in dental care as a public service to people with “care barriers,” including those people living a thousand of miles away from a clinic.

“The biggest challenge is engaging our stakeholders,” said Uswak. “It’s important that we work toward oral health care and well being… that the government embrace dentistry as health care with more money for those lacking treatment.”

There are obstacles for the dental profession, he says, like an aging workforce of baby-boomers, the decreasing number of practices in rural communities and the limited amount of care given to those with low incomes and other care-barriers.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge!” he says.

- Mark Ferguson, On Campus News