Above: Dr. Serena Kassam and Ricky, a patient from Ecuador.
Global Smile Foundation (GSF) is proud to share that Dr. Serena Kassam has been nominated for the 2021 Women of Distinction Award in the Health/Wellbeing category from the YWCA of Vancouver. The Award “honors extraordinary women and businesses” in the Vancouver area. Dr. Kassam was nominated for her work in the cleft care field. Winners will be announced on June 7, 2021. (For more information about the awards, click here.)
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. She has volunteered with GSF for more than a decade as dentist in Ecuador and is also a member of our Advisory Board and our Presurgical/Dental Director. In 2012, she helped GSF establish a pre-surgical Nasoalveolar Molding (NAM) clinic at our Comprehensive Cleft Care Center based in Guayaquil, Ecuador. NAM therapy helps infants born with cleft lip and/or palate before surgery by reducing the size of a cleft and improving surgical outcomes.
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.