Kernersville native, ECU dental student, receives 2018 Dental Trade Alliance Foundation Scholarship

Greenville, N.C. (October 31, 2018)—Jiwon Lim, a third-year student at the ECU School of Dental Medicine, has been selected to receive a 2018 Dental Trade Alliance (DTA) Foundation Scholarship for $5,000 to help defray educational expenses.

The DTA is an association of companies that provide dental equipment, supplies, materials and services to dentists and other oral care professionals. The DTA Foundation functions to broaden awareness of oral health’s impact on overall health and increase access to oral health care. 

Third-year student Jiwon Lim received a 2018 Dental Trade Alliance (DTA) Foundation Scholarship.

The DTA Foundation awards scholarships to rising third- and fourth-year dental students who have demonstrated academic excellence in dentistry and have an established commitment to community service.

A native of Kernersville, N.C., Ms. Lim graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2014 with a double major in biology and music. She is president of the ECU School of Dental Medicine Student Chapter of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry. She has also served on the executive boards of the school’s Student Chapters of the American Association of Women Dentists and the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry. 

Ms. Lim was selected for the 2018-2019 J. Bradley Wilson Schweitzer Fellowship Program sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, through which she and ECU Brody School of Medicine student Niki Winters are expanding an interprofessional medical-dental free clinic for homeless and uninsured patients. The clinic was launched last year by another dental-medical team of ECU Schweitzer Fellows.

“I’m so grateful to be chosen as a recipient of the DTA Foundation Scholarship,” said Ms. Lim. “Serving the community is a passion of mine, and for the DTA Foundation to recognize my efforts is such an honor. It would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family, classmates, faculty, and staff.”

“Jiwon is to be commended on receiving this award,” said Dr. Margaret Wilson, the dental school’s vice dean and associate dean for Student Affairs. “Her selection by the DTA Foundation recognizes her academic achievements as well as her commitment to promoting the mission of the ECU School of Dental Medicine.”

After graduation from dental school, Ms. Lim plans to join a residency program to gain advanced training in general dentistry or in an area of specialized dentistry.

During her fourth year of dental school, Ms. Lim and her classmates will complete three 9-week rotations at the school’s Community Service Learning Centers located in eight rural communities across North Carolina—a unique opportunity to deliver care and learn about population health challenges in different parts of the state.