|
Welcome
Dr. Robert Laughlin
We are
pleased to welcome Robert
M. Laughlin, DMD,
new chair of the
Department of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery. Dr.
Laughlin, who joined LSUSD
on May 1, retired at the
rank of commander from the
Naval Medical Center in
San Diego. He received his
DMD from the University of
Pittsburgh School of
Dental Medicine in 2002
and completed his
residency at LSUSD and
Charity Hospital in 2006.
He has received fellowship
training in head and neck
surgery and microvascular
reconstruction at the
University of Michigan and
Shanghai Jiao Tong
University in China.
|
|
Robert Laughlin,
DMD, in front of
portrait of
his mentor, Dr.
John Kent
|
Dr. Laughlin
served with the U.S. Air
Force from 1990-1998 and
then joined the U.S. Navy
in 1998. After completion
of his training in 2007,
he joined the Naval
Medical Center in San
Diego, where he served as
attending surgeon,
residency program
director, and department
chairman.
The recipient of numerous
awards, he placed as
runner up for Charity
Hospital Intern of the
Year in 2004. For his
extraordinary service as
acting chief resident at
Charity Hospital during
Hurricane Katrina, he
received the John Kent
World Famous OMFS Award in
2005 and the American
Association of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgeons
Community Service and
Leadership Award for
Residents in 2006. In 2008
he received the Navy and
Marine Corps Commendation
Award and in 2014 he
became the first oral and
maxillofacial surgeon in
the Navy to receive the
Master Clinician Award
from the Naval Medical
Center in San Diego.
Dr. Laughlin is co-editor
with Dr. Christopher
Haggerty of the Atlas of
Operative Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery,
published by
Wiley-Blackwell in 2015;
he also co-authored 14
chapters in this volume.
He is co-author of
chapters in four
additional textbooks. When
the OMS department
established the James R.
Peltier Endowed Chair in
1988, the LSU Medical
Center's first $1 million
chair, Dr. John Kent
occupied the chair as its
first eminent scholar
until 2012. Dr. Laughlin
has been designated the
current holder of the
Peltier Chair.
Dr. Laughlin brings to
LSUSD the goal of
rebuilding his
department’s relationship
with undergraduate dental
students and general
dentists. He believes in
practicing the "Four
A's: Availability,
Affability, Ability,
Accountability".
During Hurricane Katrina,
Dr. Laughlin coordinated
the survival of patients,
residents, and staff, and
after the storm he worked
hard to continue the
department's service in
Baton Rouge. He will apply
this same attitude toward
leadership of the OMS
department, serving
students, residents,
faculty, patients, and
alumni.
Leaders
in Endodontics
Mark Odom, DDS,
assistant professor of
endodontics, has been
appointed a trustee on the
American Association of
Endodontists Foundation
Board. He received both
his DDS and certificate in
endodontics from LSUSD.
Dr. Odom returned from
North Carolina to LSUSD in
the summer of 2018, and is
now director of the senior
endodontics course. With
the recent retirement of
Dr. Van Himel, Dr. Odom
has been named interim
chair of endodontics.
Kent Sabey, DDS,
associate professor,
director of the program in
advanced education in
endodontics, has been
appointed as a director of
the American Board of
Endodontics (ABE). Founded
in 1956, the ABE is the
only certifying board for
the specialty of
endodontics. Dr. Sabey, a
retired colonel in the
U.S. Air Force, joined
LSUSD in 2011. He received
his dental training at the
University of the Pacific
Arthur A. Dugoni School of
Dentistry in 1982 and
received certificates in
AEGD and endodontics at
the Lackland Air Force
Base Wilford Hall Medical
Center, in San Antonio.
From 2006-2011 he served
in the endodontics
department at the USAF
Postgraduate Dental School
in San Antonio. He worked
in private practice and in
community dental clinics
in Arizona from 1982-1990.
|
