About Us
We are the collaboration of the six California dental schools: Loma Linda U, UCLA, UCSF, UOP, USC, and Western U. Together, we serve the needs of our students and advocate for your voice to be heard on a larger scale. That larger scale is National ASDA, which is comprised of District 11 and ten other districts from around the nation.
- Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry at University of the Pacific
- California Northstate College of Dental Medicine
- Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at University of Southern California
- Loma Linda University School of Dentistry
- University of California, Los Angeles – School of Dental Medicine
- University of California, San Francisco – School of Dental Medicine
- Western University, College of Dental Medicine
WHAT ARE WE DOING FOR YOU?
This year is all about you. After speaking with your representatives, I committed my term to the following set of goals that would truly serve our membership. With the goal of making your dental education experience better and fuller, District 11 ASDA has been working to make each of these small but meaningful steps happen.
#1. Provide financial support for chapter events and member participation.
Allocate district funding to create scholarships for new attendees from each chapter to attend regional and national ASDA conferences. We have already awarded sponsorships to District 11 Meeting and we will be awarding sponsorships to the National Leadership Conference through a video challenge. Be on the lookout for future opportunities to win sponsorship to our Advocacy and Public Health Academy in San Francisco and to Annual Session in Pittsburgh!
#2. Boost inter-chapter and professional relations.
Host more social events between schools, create a collaborative culture between chapter leaders, and regularly recognize the individual member. We love to regularly and publicly appreciate outstanding individual ASDA members from each chapter through our Member Monday posts! For the first time, we invited all chapter presidents to attend our annual District 11 Cabinet Leadership Retreat in May. Your chapter presidents input was pivotal in creating this years District 11 strategic plan.
#3. Enhance information accessibility and student engagement via social media and the new D11 website.
This year we’re releasing our first District 11 website! Here you’ll find information about events, chapters, and our amazing newsletter! We publish quarterly newsletters that showcase writers from each chapter, as well as events and highlights from each school. We’re always looking for writers so please reach out to our newsletter co-editors Ashtin and Omid with ideas for our next newsletter!
#4. Increase transparency between district leadership and members through mentorship and member support.
We know how difficult and stressful dental school can be so we want to help you in any way we can. We organize leadership and advocacy meetings to help expand your vision of the dental profession. If there is any other way in which we can help you through your 4 years of dental school, please let us know!
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
Currently, the District 11 Cabinet is comprised of 15 direct members, with 6 Chapter Presidents acting as our extension. We meet regularly to plan events and execute our strategic plan and in doing so, have become great friends! In March, following the election of our new Trustee, District 11 will select a new group of promising leaders to make up this Cabinet. If you are interested in getting involved, however, do not wait until March! Contact me, Anthoula Vlachos, at anthoula.vlachos@gmail.com after the conference. There will most certainly be a way for you to pitch in to this group effort!
