Lasting Impressions | Fall 2014

16 © LASTING IMPRESSIONS Alumni Impressions There are many paths one can take after the College of Dental Medicine (CDM). Alumna Elizabeth Feldman , D.M.D., took one of the rarest. The 2005 graduate leads the dental section of the Thoracic/Head and Neck Cancers Department at UF Health Cancer Center— Orlando Health. This is one of the few hospital-based cancer clinics in the United States in which the practice is devoted to maxillofa- cial prosthodontics—treating cancer patients whose disease has caused defects of the head or neck. This includes intraoral as well as extraoral defects, those inside and outside of the mouth. In this program, patients are seen before they start treatment, during, and after treatment to ensure proper oral care. Although the program is centered on head and neck cancer patients, Feldman sees many patients who are battling other types of cancer. Feldman calls this work richly rewarding, but it took some seri- ous graduate work and dedication to get to this point. In her third year at CDM, she applied for a postgraduate pro- gram in prosthodontics. As part of an honors prosthetics program, Feldman worked with the graduate students, participated in their journal club, and learned how the latest technology is applied to prosthodontics. Later, Feldman was accepted to the University of Florida’s postgraduate prosthodontics program, where she had a rotation in maxillofacial prosthodontics. This was followed by a fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. During her fellowship, she was hired by Orlando Health to start up a maxillofacial prosthodontics/dental oncology department in its cancer center, which is now known as the UF Health Cancer Center—Orlando Health. Her career is steeped in compassion. Elizabeth Feldman sees cancer patients during all phases of their treatment to ensure proper oral care. By John Dolen A portion of this story originally ran in the Orlando Medical News .