LLU School of Dentistry Journal

Journal

Spring 2002

Alumni life

Jack Sloan, SD'63, and his wife, Doris

Jack Sloan, SD’63, was profiled in an article in the Fall, 2001, issue of Star and Lamp of Pi Kappa Phi. He has been a member of Pi Kappa Phi for 53 years. The article is titled, “From suspension bridges to dental bridges: Berkeley Pi Kapp’s engineering career shifts to dental surgery with a humanitarian service that took him to jungle rainforests and communist China.”

In 1950, Dr. Sloan graduated from University of California at Berkeley with three majors—math, physics, and chemistry. He then built petroleum refineries, bridges, and petrochemical plants around the world.

While in college Dr. Sloan served as the fraternity chaplain, and competed for the fraternity in intramural sports including softball, badminton, and handball, and was Berkeley’s fraternity table tennis champion.

Dr. Sloan met his wife-to-be, Doris, who worked at a petroleum refinery in California. The couple had a mutual friend, a dentist, who encouraged them to consider something different for their lives. “Doris first took the jump,” reports Star and Lamp, “and returned to college at USC [this was before the program existed at LLU], and obtained certification as a dental hygienist. She went on to practice dental hygiene for 40 years.”

Dr. Sloan found that the only prerequisite he needed to apply to dental school was zoology, and completed the coursework in the evenings at USC. He eventually applied, and was accepted into dental school at both USC and Loma Linda University.

He entered LLU at 36 years of age and graduated first in his class, in 1963. For the next 32 years, the Sloans shared their work days in a dental office they established in Paso Robles.

They raised two boys and a girl, and were named, “1986 Paso Robles Family of the Year.”

The couple provided dental care through the Flying Doctors organization, traveling to Mexico and Ecuador caring for the Chamula and Cechua Indians. In 1997, Dr. Sloan served as director of a dental clinic in Hangzhou City, at the invitation of the Chinese Communist government. Doris was the first dental hygienist to provide care in China.

Now retired at age 75, Dr. Sloan enjoys retired life with his family, swimming, walking, and biking.

This photo was taken in one of six dental operatories in the Adventist Health Centre, Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa. Pictured, from left: Patricia Kuzala, dental receptionist; Ken Trefz, relief dentist; Justin Nkhoma, dental therapist; Esau Jameson, dental aid; and Cecelia Kwenda, senior dental therapist.

Ken Trefz, SD’76, traveled to Adventist Health Centre, Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa, where he volunteered for three months as a relief dentist. Dr. Trefz returned to Canada in December. While in Malawi, he relieved Dr. Jessie Agra while he was on furlough in the Philippines.

Dr. Trefz is gathering educational materials to assist the Adventist Health Centre clinic staff in the areas of endodontics, and crown and bridge work.

Dr. Trefz resides in Kelowna, BC, Canada.

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