News Brief

‘We are all Americans’ Indian dental students raise money for access through ADA Foundation

By KAREN Fox

New York—With surplus monies on hand from fundraising activities, the 150-member Indian Student Dental Association at New York University’s College of Dentistry sought advice on how to spend it, and they knew just where to go for guidance.

“I kind of back off; I don’t like to tell them what to do,” said Dr. Chad Gehani, an NYU faculty member and advisor for the ISDA.

But why not donate the funds to the ADA Foundation? “These are your future patients,” Dr. Gehani told the students. “Why not use it for Give Kids A Smile, or something that is constructive to the people you’ll serve?”

The ISDA presented a $2,000 donation March 26 to the ADA Foundation during the Annual Conference on Membership Recruitment & Retention at ADA headquarters. At first, the ISDA had collected $1,200— mostly from member dues and charity events— but thought it too paltry a sum for the ADA Foundation. To seal the deal, Dr. Gehani offered to make it an even $2,000 by making up the difference out of his own pocket.

The ISDA-NYU chapter’s president, Kiren Gehani, was on hand to give the check to ADA President Eugene Sekiguchi.

“The ADA Foundation works to get all Americans dental care. The ISDA is very enthusiastic about raising money, and very proud to give back to the community,” said Ms. Gehani, who is also Dr. Gehani’s daughter.

The Gehanis are a true American success story. Dr. Chad Gehani attended dental school in India and emigrated to the United States in 1975 for training in endodontics at NYU.

“I had never been to the dentist before going to dental school," said DL Gehani, who had an early interest in medicine. “The public dental school was more affordable because I came from a poor family. Once in school, I found that I loved dentistry” He now practices with his wife Rekha, an orthodontist, in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Two of their three children are in dental school: Kiren, in her third year at NYU, and Daniel, a second-year student at State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine. The Gehanis’ youngest son, Neal, is in medical school at Albany Medical College.

Now the executive director of the Indian Dental Association, Dr. Gehani has had an active role as a volunteer in organized dentistry. Among his many posts, he is a New York State Dental Association team leader for the Tripartite Grassroots Membership Initiative and a former member of the ADA Council on Membership.

“When you’re new to the country, you see things differently, not because you want to see things differently, it’s just a lack of education," he said. “I try to educate Indian dentists that working together with the American Dental Association makes a lot of sense. The ADA is here to further the advancement of the science of dentistry as well as for the protection of the American public. After all, we are all Americans."



Reprinted by permission, ADA News, Volume 25, No. 7