UMSOD’s Class of 2026 Graduates with a Promise to Serve
Two years ago, Marina Fileva, DDS ’26, walked into a Silver Spring, Md., orthodontics practice with questions about a specialty she was considering. On May 15, she walked across a stage at the Hippodrome Theatre to receive her Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree — hooded by the dentists who inspired her.
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(L-R) Kevin Kim and his sister Cathy Kim
Lisa DeMarco, DDS ’83, and her partner Nancy Tilkin, DDS ’85, both graduates of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry’s (UMSOD) orthodontics program, had welcomed Fileva into their practice as a shadow and watched her grow into the graduate who will now pursue an orthodontics residency at UMSOD.
“We feel lucky and blessed every day that we’re dentists, that we’re orthodontists — how lucky can we be?” DeMarco said moments after placing the doctoral hood over Fileva’s shoulders. “We couldn’t be prouder.”
Their story was one of many at UMSOD’s 2026 Honors Convocation, where the school’s values of mentorship, service, and giving back ran through nearly every speech, hooding, and conversation in the lobby of the historic theater.
More than 150 graduates received DDS and Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene degrees at the ceremony. Founded in 1840 as the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, UMSOD is the world’s oldest dental college.
For Kevin Kim, DDS ’26, who is from Ellicott City, Md., the thread connecting him to the profession runs through his family. He credits his sister, Cathy Kim, a dental hygienist, for steering him toward the profession. “She brought me into her office, showed me around, and told me this was a good experience,” said Kevin Kim, who was heading to Texas next to practice pediatric dentistry.
His sister, who attended the ceremony, described why she wanted the same career for him that she had built for herself. “Dentistry is serving others — and every day is my happiness,” Cathy Kim said. “I know his personality and my personality, too. We just love to help others, and that’s what we do every day.”
UMSOD’s dean, Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, framed the day around the same values the graduates had seen modeled throughout their training. “At the School of Dentistry, we take immense pride in equipping our graduates for leadership roles in clinical care, education, research, and public service,” he said.
Reynolds also presented a University of Maryland, Baltimore honorary Doctor of Public Service degree to Mark Wagner, DDS, whose career at UMSOD spanned more than three decades as an educator, program director, and associate dean. Wagner founded the Maryland Special Olympics Special Smiles program in 1996 and later helped expand Special Olympics International’s health programming to hundreds of events worldwide. Now retired, he volunteers in UMSOD’s clinics.
“Dr. Wagner’s career is defined by service, leadership, and a steadfast dedication to improving the human condition,” Reynolds said.
Service also defined the Class of 2026. During their time at UMSOD, they completed nearly 4,000 hours of community service at the local and statewide levels, including Mission of Mercy programs in Montgomery County and the Eastern Shore of Maryland as well as a variety of oral health education and career pathway programs.
John Ji Hun Yang, DDS ’26, president of UMSOD’s Student Government Association, told his fellow graduates that their profession demands more than technical skill. “Let us be healers, servant leaders, and people of character,” Yang said. “May we leave every patient, every community, and every place we serve better than we found them.”
Emily Chaffer, president of the dental hygiene class and a summa cum laude graduate, agreed that service was the underlying theme of her class’ time at UMSOD. “We didn’t just learn together, we served together,” Chaffer said. “Each community engagement program reminded us why we started — to protect smiles, prevent disease, and care for people.”
Clinical instructor James Cope, DDS ’92, offered the last word, drawing on more than 30 years of practice to explain the power of service and being a source of healing.
“Care for that person well,” Cope said. “Do that enough times, and one day you will look back and realize you made a good life.”
