Dental Tribune South Africa Edition

5University NewsDental Tribune South African Edition - December 2013 Professor Andre van Zyl The Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine at the University of Pretoria, School of Dentistry, will present their first Post Graduate Diploma in Dentistry (Implantology) in 2014. This is a direct result of the ITI Center of Excellence status that the department achieved in 2013. The PGDipDent (Implant) is a collaboration of the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine with the International Team for Implantology (ITI) and will feature the Pretoria ITI Education Week. The PGDipDent (Implant) will feature a Faculty boasting the best in local and international speakers. The ITI Education Week will form part of the PGDipDent (Implant) and will feature Prof H-P Weber from Tufts University in Boston, USA; as well as Dr Waldimar Polido from Brazil. They will head the international Faculty and will join Dr’s Gerrit Wyma, Paul van Zyl, Christiaan Vorster, Billy Lombard, Prof Andre van Zyl, Johan Marnewick and Johan Hartshorne to present the first ITI Education Week in South Africa and Africa. International speakers have been lined up as far ahead as 2015 and 2016. Postgraduate students specializing in the department will also be involved as lecturers, giving them the unique opportunity to mingle with a top national and international faculty as part of their training. The need for a PGDipDent (Implant) in South Africa that addresses all aspects of implant training and has international collaboration is overdue. With limited registration for this diploma, the course has First Diploma in Implantology at TUKS – 2014 proved to be extremely popular and to date we have a full class for 2014. The course runs over one calendar year and will feature hands-on training, didactic input, live demonstrations and examinations in the basic subject of Anatomy and main subject of Implantology. Students from as far as Nigeria and Uganda have registered for this course. The Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine is proud to be associated with the ITI in this endeavour and we look forward to welcoming the first class in 2014. The course will run from July 16 to July 20 2014 at the Oral and Dental Hospital, University of Pretoria. For more information please visit: www.iti.org. DT Professor Yusuf Osman, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of the Western Cape has recently been appointed to the Board of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) for a 3 year term by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. The term of office begun on the 1st of November 2013. This is an honour for Professor Osman as it comes at a time when the MRC is beginning to revitalise itself and re-establish itself as the custodian of medical research in South Africa. In addition, Prof Osman will be part of the process and selection of the Board’s new president before March 2014. The MRC’s mission is to ‘To improve the nation's health and quality of life through promoting and conducting relevant and responsive health research’. DT Professor Yusuf Osman appointed to the Board of the MRC Professor Yusuf Osman. Professor Andre van Zyl.