NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Fall 2018

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 37 More than two decades ago, 2001 alumni Jeffrey Starkman, D.M.D., and Sharlene Yap Starkman, D.M.D., were study partners at the CDM. Today, they are partners in life: husband and wife, parents of three children, and partner doctors at nine Great Expressions Dental Centers in South Florida. Yap Starkman completed a pediatric dental residency at the CDM for the first year and at Miami Children’s Hospital during the second year, serv- ing as chief resident for both years. Starkman completed a three-year residency in periodontics at the CDM. They married in 2003. Yap Starkman, a pediatric dentist, said she chose the CDM because “It was a brand-new school at the time, emerging from this state of affairs where dentistry seemed to be falling by the wayside.” Jeffrey Starkman, a periodontist, added that be- cause the college was new at the time, he saw a chance to grow with the program. Other dental schools at the time were “entrenched with tradition and century- old dental techniques,” he said. In contrast, the CDM had state-of-the-art equipment and—being a new school—an excitement in the air that he wanted to surround himself with. An all-inclusive academic environment with medical, dental, and pharmacy students set up to help people was also attractive to Yap Starkman. Both held leadership positions during their time at the CDM. During their final years, Starkman was the dental school president, and Yap Starkman served as fourth-year class president. Yap Starkman said she and her husband hit it off because they both understood the other’s challenges of the long, grueling hours of study and labs. “Dental school is definitely not for the faint of heart,” she said. “You have to be very disciplined and make lots of sacrifices.” But, she said she was unaware of the significant physicality dental school demands. “It involves working with your hands, bending, and back-breaking demands,” she explained. “In pediatrics, a lot of it is very physical, especially if we have to assist a child or a special needs patient. We have to be on our feet at all times and be very alert.” Her desire to work with children was behind Yap Starkman’s decision to choose pediatric dentistry after majoring in psychobiology with an emphasis in developmental psychology. She said it was a natural fit. The work transcends clinical aspects to encompass Parents and Partners Couple Balances Dental Practice, Family Obligations BY CAROL BRZOZOWSKI Jeffrey Starkman and Sharlene Yap Starkman are partner doctors at nine dental centers in South Florida.