NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Fall 2018

18 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE make sure my students understand is that it is more impor- tant to diagnose cancer on time than to do any dental work. I want them to learn all the dental work, with the consider- ation that first is the life of the patient.” Velez said that the hardest part of her job was finding a diagnosis of cancer and having to tell a patient. The experience did not make it any easier to deal with her own diagnosis. However, she said that that she lived 12 happy years with cancer, thankful that she was able to still do her job and enjoy life. She attributed her well-being to her practice of meditation and a healthy, vegetarian diet. Meditating had also helped her peacefully accept the “next step” that was coming, she said. After retiring, Velez and her husband moved to Texas to be close to their son, who is a physician. She was looking forward to spending time with her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, painting, doing embroidery, listening to opera, and doing other things she enjoyed—all of which she accomplished before her death. “I want to do what I love while I can,” she said. Velez’s former coworker, Lynn Solomon, D.D.S., M.S., professor in the Department of Oral Medicine and Diag- nostic Sciences, agreed that Velez will be missed personally and professionally. “ ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world.’ This is a quote Dr. Velez often used at the end of lectures. It sums up the way she lived her life and performed in her profession,” Solomon said. “Her inspiration continues on in the thousands of students and colleagues who had the privilege of being taught by, or working with, a person with such high standards and deep integrity,” Solomon added. “At the CDM, we will miss Ines every day.” u Top and bottom: Ines Velez’s CDM colleagues and students joined her during the emotional farewell ceremony. Center: Dental students Zohaib Munaf, left, and Peter Mai present Ines Velez with one of her many accolades.