At the June 7 Gala, Dr. Serena Kassam received a 2021 Women of Distinction Award in the Health/Wellbeing category from the YWCA of Vancouver. The Award is given to a woman with “an unwavering commitment to delivering, promoting and advocating for healthy lives and communities.”
Dr. Kassam has helped hundreds of children born with cleft in underserved areas of the world as a Global Smile Foundation (GSF) volunteer, Advisory Board member, and Presurgical/Dental Director. She helped GSF launch the first advanced training program in NasoAlveolar Molding (NAM) therapy in outreach settings as part of Comprehensive Cleft Care in 2012 in Latin America. NAM therapy helps infants born with cleft lip and/or palate before surgery by reducing the size of a cleft and improving surgical outcomes.
Dr. Kassma is a Pediatric Dentist at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and BC Children’s Hospital, Associate Clinical Professor at UBC, and maintains her faculty appointment with NYU College of Dentistry.
About Dr. Kassam
Dr. Kassam completed her BA/DMD at Tufts University and Pediatric Dental Residency through Lutheran Medical Center at St. Josephs Hospital in Providence, RI. She completed a research fellowship at New York University Langone Medical Center, Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery in Craniofacial Pediatric Dentistry and Nasoalveolar Molding (NAM). She has worked as clinical attending with St. Josephs Hospital (through Lutheran Medical Center), Clinical Assistant Professor at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and in private practice. She has served as the team pediatric dentist with the Rhode Island and the Tufts Cleft and Craniofacial Teams and established NAM clinics at both sites.
Dr. Kassam was the former Director of Pre-Doctoral Pediatric Dentistry and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the New York University College of Dentistry. Dr. Kassam is a Diplomate, American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and a Fellow, Royal College of Dentists of Canada. She also holds dental licenses in MA, RI, and NY.
