Three IFDEA board members recently travelled to China to foster further international relationships and collaboration among dental educators. The group met in June 2010 with Chinese dental education leaders at two schools to discuss trends and share best practices in dental education.

Participating in the weeklong trip were IFDEA Executive Director Dr. Anders Nattestad, IFDEA President Dr. Patrick J. Ferrillo, Jr. and IFDEA Vice President Dr. Nader Nadershahi. The visit included a meeting with students, faculty and administrators at the Guanghua School of Stomatology at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. School leaders gave a tour of clinic and school facilities and hosted a discussion and reception for the representatives. The team presented a certificate to Dr. Ling Jun-qi, Professor and Dean of Guanghua School of Stomatology, to recognize her selection as a member of the IFDEA board of directors.

While in China, the group conducted an IFDEA board meeting with colleagues in other parts of the globe.

The group also visited the School & Hospital of Stomatology at Wenzhou Medical College in Wenzhou where they toured dental clinic facilities and participated in discussions about current trends in Chinese dental education.

The group visited China, in part, to pursue two key IFDEA objectives involving faculty leadership development and using the web to share educational materials among dental educators. The IFDEA leaders explored the possibility of establishing a regional IFDEA site in China to facilitate leadership development among dental school faculty. Discussions also highlighted the IFDEA web site as a way to share educational resources submitted by leading faculty members in order to lift the bar of quality among dental educators worldwide.

"Any time we can exchange information about current trends in dental education with international counterparts, we enhance our own ability to educate students and improve oral health for patients," said Dr. Ferrillo.