Raynald Desameau ’19 receives American Dental Association Foundation Scholarship

The East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine is pleased to announce that Raynald Desameau, DMD Candidate 2019, has been awarded an American Dental Association Foundation (ADAF) Underrepresented Minority Predoctoral Dental Student Scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year.

The Foundation awards 30 to 50 scholarships of up to $2,500 annually to help academically gifted predoctoral dental students to defray a part of their professional education expenses. Students must be nominated by faculty to receive a scholarship.

Raynald Desameau ’19 received the American Dental Association Foundation (ADAF) Underrepresented Minority Predoctoral Dental Student Scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year. Dean Greg Chadwick (at left) and Vice Dean Maggie Wilson were pleased to present Raynald with the scholarship.

Raynald, who is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, in Cumberland County, is an active member of the Student National Dental Association (SNDA) and the American Student Dental Association (ASDA). He serves as a mentor for the ECU Health Science Academy and the School of Dental Medicine Preparing Tomorrow’s Dentists program. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor of science in biology.

“Ray’s strong academic achievements and his dedication to community engagement led us to nominate him for the ADA Foundation Scholarship, and we are incredibly pleased that he was chosen as the recipient,” said Dr. Margaret Wilson, vice dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “Ray shows his dedication to improving oral health care each day as a student, and we are confident that he will continue to live out this mission as an oral health practitioner in the future.”

Raynald said, “My goal is to become a competent and holistic dental provider, maintaining every effort to continue learning and striving toward excellence. I view the ADA Foundation scholarship as motivation to continue working to be the best practitioner that I can be.”

As a rising third-year dental student, Raynald serves dental patients under the supervision of dental faculty in Ross Hall, the school’s teaching and clinical facility at ECU. During his fourth year, he and his classmates will complete rotations at the school’s dental learning centers in eight rural and underserved communities across the state, a unique opportunity among dental schools.