November 13, 2009
Annual WESTOP meeting
The yearly meeting of the Western Society of Teachers of Oral Pathology provides oral pathologists an opportunity to increase their scientific knowledge, expand their teaching resources, and socialize with colleagues from around the country. The 2009 Annual WESTOP Meeting was planned and hosted by LLUSD faculty, Lane Thomsen, DDS, department chair, Oral Diagnosis, Radiology, and Pathology and Susan Richards, DDS, associate professor, Oral Diagnosis, Radiology, and Pathology.
Dr. Lane Thomsen Dr. Susan Richards
Convened on Sunday evening, September 13, in the art gallery of the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, California, the WESTOP Welcome Reception featured fine food and live entertainment by country and western vocalists Autumn Williams and Teri Bennett. Teri is a dental hygienist who works with Dr. Thomsen in private practice at Dental Faculty Associates in Loma Linda.
audience participation numbers. An impromptu victim, Lane Thomsen
acquired items as one particular song progressed—the car, the funny
glasses, the leather jacket.
Monday, Dr. Thomsen moderated the scientific session continuing education course, “Smoking Cessation in the Dental Setting: Essential Issues for Dental Educators,” that focused on nicotine addiction. Featured speakers were David P. L. Sachs, MD, director, Palo Alto Center for Pulmonary Disease Prevention, and Linda Hyder Ferry, MD, MPH, associate professor, LLU School of Medicine and School of Public Health, as well as chief, Preventive Medicine Section, Loma Linda Veterans Healthcare System.
Dr. Richards moderated the annual teaching case exchange on Tuesday, September 15. The teaching case exchange is a highlight of the meeting each year. At the conclusion of the meeting, those who contributed examples of interesting and uncommon oral diseases received a CD with digital copies of the entire year’s teaching case collection.
Dr. Lee Slater (Scripps Institute); Dr. Lane Thomsen (LLUSD);
Dr. Robert Greer (U of Colorado), Dr. Russ Christensen (UCLA);
Dr. Hope Wettan (OmniPath Diagnostics); Dr. Bill Carpenter (UOP);
Dr. Mark Bernstein (U of Louisville); (front row, L-R): Dr. Seddi
Moussavi (private practice, La Jolla); Dr. Susan Richards (LLUSD);
Dr. Liz Andrews (Western University of Health Science): Dr. John
Hellstein (U of Iowa); Dr. Lan Su (UCLA).