Dr. Timothy J. Finkler (D.D.S. ’01, Endodontics ’11) was raised in Chester, Va. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990. In 2001, he received his D.D.S. from the VCU School of Dentistry. He followed dental school at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Va., for a two-year General Practice Residency.After time in private practice, he returned to VCU and joined the Department of Endodontics. In 2011, he received his certificate in endodontics and M.S.D. from the VCU School of Dentistry and retired from more than 20 years of service in the Virginia Air National Guard.In 2011, he joined Commonwealth Endodontics. He is the first endodontist to provide IV Conscious Sedation to patients in the greater Richmond area.Finkler currently resides in Glen Allen, Va., with his wife Kim and their four almost always perfect children. He enjoys sports, most any outside activity and spending time with his family and friends. Finkler finds teaching very rewarding and a great way to give back. He has enjoyed teaching at the McGuire Hospital GPR and the VCU School of Dentistry general practice and endodontic departments.
Part-time faculty at VCU
Here in the Department of Endodontics, we owe a debt of gratitude to the part-time faculty who volunteer at the school. Whether it is for a half-day once a month or one day every week, they contribute so much to the department, the residents and the field of endodontics. We appreciate their time and commitment. Here are just a few of the people that give their valuable time back to the school.
Dr. Timothy J. Finkler (D.D.S. ’01, Endodontics ’11) was raised in Chester, Va. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990. In 2001, he received his D.D.S. from the VCU School of Dentistry. He followed dental school at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Va., for a two-year General Practice Residency.After time in private practice, he returned to VCU and joined the Department of Endodontics. In 2011, he received his certificate in endodontics and M.S.D. from the VCU School of Dentistry and retired from more than 20 years of service in the Virginia Air National Guard.In 2011, he joined Commonwealth Endodontics. He is the first endodontist to provide IV Conscious Sedation to patients in the greater Richmond area.Finkler currently resides in Glen Allen, Va., with his wife Kim and their four almost always perfect children. He enjoys sports, most any outside activity and spending time with his family and friends. Finkler finds teaching very rewarding and a great way to give back. He has enjoyed teaching at the McGuire Hospital GPR and the VCU School of Dentistry general practice and endodontic departments.
Dr. Madelyn Gambrel (Endodontics ’03) was born and raised in Bonham, Texas, a small town northeast of Dallas. She received a B.A. in Spanish from Baylor University in 1993 and graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio dental school in 1997. After receiving her D.D.S., she joined the U.S. Navy and served as a dental officer in Rota, Spain, until 2001. She then attended the VCU School of Dentistry, where she received her certificate in endodontics and Master’s degree in 2003. Upon graduation from endodontic residency, Gambrel moved to San Diego, where she completed her obligated service to the U.S. Navy in 2005. She then returned to Richmond, Va., in the fall of 2005 and joined Commonwealth Endodontics.
Gambrel is very active in the Richmond community and is a member of several local study clubs. She enjoys spending free time with her family, and her hobbies include attending live music concerts, movies, skiing, sailing, traveling and interior decorating.
Gambrel teaches at the VCU School of Dentistry because she loves interacting with the residents and giving them any advice she can to help guide them both clinically and professionally. The residents also help her stay current on the latest and greatest endo gadgets, technology and research. So she learns a lot from them too!
Dr. Kalisha C. Jordan (D.D.S. ’05, Endodontics ‘11) received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She pursued a dental degree at the VCU School of Dentistry, graduating in 2005. Jordan continued her education with an AEGD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006.
Jordan practiced dentistry in Richmond, Va., from 2006 to 2007 and then joined the VCU School of Dentistry faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of General Practice. She taught from 2007 to 2009, after which she decided to specialize. Jordan received her M.S.D. in endodontics from the VCU School of Dentistry in 2011. She currently is in private practice in Williamsburg, Va., with Jordan Endodontics.
Jordan continues to teach at the school because she feels that giving back to the community and the specialty starts at the academic level. She, along with other adjuncts, devotes her time and experience to young endodontic residents, and they see that others care about their education and are committed to growth of the specialty of endodontics.
Dr. Harold J. Martinez (Endodontics ’00) was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He attended Kansas State University and, in 1989, received dual B.S. degrees in exercise physiology and foods and nutrition. In 1995, he obtained his D.D.S. from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University of Maryland Dental School. He continued his dental education as a Dental Officer in the U.S. Air Force where he completed an AEGD in 1996 while stationed at Barksdale A.F.B. in Louisiana. After serving two additional years as a general dentist in Tyndall A.F.B. in Panama City, Fla., he came to Richmond, Va., to attend the VCU School of Dentistry, where he earned his certificate in endodontics in 2000.
Since graduating from the endodontic program, Martinez has been in private practice with Commonwealth Endodontics and serves as a part-time clinical instructor with the Department of Endodontics at the VCU School of Dentistry. He genuinely enjoys teaching the residents in the graduate endodontic clinic and providing them with the clinical knowledge gained through his years in private practice.
Martinez lives in Short Pump, Va. with his wife, Conchy, and their two children. He enjoys sports and nutrition, baseball, traveling and spending quality time with his family and friends.
Dr. Vaughn Mayo graduated from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 1979. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy and completed a GPR at Balboa Hospital in San Diego in 1980. The GPR helped prepare him for assignments in Gulfport, Miss., Puerto Rico, Diego Garcia, and New Orleans. Following his military service, Mayo completed an endodontic residency at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio.
Immediately after completing endodontic training in 1985, Mayo moved to Virginia Beach, Va., and practiced endodontics as part of a group for 24 years, including 17 years in practice with Dr. Rick Archer. Mayo started a solo practice, Mayo Endodontics in 2009.
In July 2010, with coaxing from Archer, Mayo joined the VCU School of Dentistry as an adjunct professor in the Department of Endodontics. He enjoys teaching and sharing his perspectives and experiences handling challenging endodontic cases with the residents. He find their intelligence and enthusiasm contagious. Working with them helps him stay current on research, literature, technology and provides a great break in the routine of a solo endodontic practice.
On the personal side, Mayo is married to Jill, and they have two children plus a yellow lab. Their son, Chet, is a fourth-year student at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, and their daughter, Katie, is a fourth-year engineering student at the University of Virginia. He enjoys spending time with his family outdoors and especially likes to fly fish and engage in archery activities including bow hunting. Mayo is active with All Saints’ Episcopal Church.
Dr. Nick Schroeder (D.D.S. ’12), a 2012 graduate of the VCU School of Dentistry, is the current intern and will matriculate into the VCU School of Dentistry Endodontic Residency Program as a first-year resident in 2015. Schroeder is newly engaged to his fiancée Erica, and, during his free time from planning the wedding, he is either cooking or playing with his two dogs.
Dr. James Stanley (D.D.S. ’80, Endodontics ’91) is a native of Virginia and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., a Master’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and completed his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree with honors at the VCU School of Dentistry. He also completed a general practice residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Ill., prior to completing his endodontic residency at the VCU School of Dentistry in 1991. Stanley holds a faculty appointment as associate professor in the Department of Endodontics at the VCU School of Dentistry.
Stanley routinely takes continuing education courses so he can keep abreast of the latest endodontic advances. He introduced the use of advanced microsurgical endodontic techniques into his practice in the early 1990’s, one of the first in Virginia to do so. These techniques allow him to provide exceptional care, usually in a single appointment. Stanley is certified by the American Board of Endodontists. By taking the initiative to achieve Diplomate status, Stanley has gone beyond the endodontic specialty education and licensing requirements of the American Dental Society and the state Board of Dentistry. Stanley also has completed a comprehensive training program in implant dentistry offered through the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry, Atlanta Institute for Advanced Education and American Academy of Implant Dentistry.
Stanley, who has practiced endodontics for more than 20 years, remains an active member of several dental organizations, including the American Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association, the Lynchburg Dental Society, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry and the American Association of Endodontists.
Dr. Ronald N. Vranas (D.D.S. ’96, Endodontics ’02) was born and raised in Mesa, Ariz. He attended the University of Arizona and received a B.S. in chemistry in 1990. In 1996, he obtained his D.D.S. from the VCU School of Dentistry.
After completing dental school, Vranas joined the U.S. Navy as a dental officer and completed an AEGD in 1997 while stationed with the marines at Parris Island in South Carolina. After serving three additional years as a Navy dentist at the Naval Air Facility, Atsugi, Japan, he returned to the VCU School of Dentistry, where he earned his certificate in endodontics in 2002. Vranas has been with Commonwealth Endodontics since 2002.
He lives in Richmond, Va., with his wife of 22 years and their four children. Vranas loves teaching part-time as an adjunct professor in the Department of Endodontics at the VCU School of Dentistry and has been teaching since 2002. He loves meeting and teaching the new residents, learning their stories and watching their knowledge of endodontics grow during their time in Richmond, Va.
Captain Terry D. Webb, Dental Corps, U.S. Navy, is currently the chairman of the Endodontics Department, program director of the Endodontics Residency Program and Specialty Leader for Endodontics to the U.S. Navy Surgeon General, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He received his D.D.S. from the University of Tennessee in 1992. After a brief private practice experience, Webb joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed at NDC, San Diego. From there he spent 28 months stationed onboard the U.S.S. Fort McHenry (LSD-43) in San Diego and Sasebo, Japan. After a three-year tour at NDC Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Webb entered residency training where he received his certificate in endodontics in 2001 from the Naval Postgraduate Dental School along with an M.S. from George Washington University. After tours at 2D Dental Battalion, 2D FSSG, 12th Dental Company Cherry Point, N.C., and NDC, Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, Va., he joined the staff of the Naval Postgraduate Dental School in 2006. He has served as the endodontics residency program director since 2008. He is a fellow of the International College of Dentists, an associate professor at the Postgraduate Dental College of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Endodontics at the VCU School of Dentistry and a Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics.
The reason why Webb sought out the additional educational experience with VCU was to gain experience with a civilian residency program and also to gain a better understanding of how an endodontic residency program operates with a university setting and a dental school it supports. He continues to volunteer at VCU because he believes in the philosophy of giving back and enjoys working with the residents in a clinical setting. He appreciates how valuable an outsider’s perspective can be and hopes to help the residents in the clinic as well as help the staff in any way.