Dr. Martin Kim, DMD’07, was honoured at the annual Montreal Alumni Cocktail with the Faculty of Dentistry Outstanding Alumnus Award. Dr. Kim’s tirelessly gives his time and resources to help both the Faculty and needy community all over the world. “I’m really happy and surprised to be honoured with this award. I really didn’t expect it,” says Dr. Kim. “I’ve just been in the right places at the right times and the opportunities to help communities in need have presented themselves. I couldn’t refuse and enjoy being involved.”
Dr. Kim supports the Faculty and has generously donated to both clinical and research activities in the Faculty. His appreciation of research began as a student when he was a summer student in Dr. Simon Tran's lab. Now practising in Richmond, BC, Kim credits Tran with inspiring him to become a periodontist. He looks back fondly on his summers spent doing research in Tran’s lab. “I learned so much about how to do research, and how research is applied to clinical practice,” Kim says. “I owe my success to his coaching and mentorship.”
Dr. Kim’s humanitarian efforts began about 5 years ago when he was approached by the founder of the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project. The project teaches local dentists to provide more complex treatments, as well as offering treatment to those that cannot afford basic dental care and has a mobile clinic that travels to a local orphanage and a women’s prison. Dr. Kim travels to Kabul a few times a year to teach local dentists and provides part of the funds for the charity’s operating budget.
He also supports the Kenya Medical Dental Project in Nairobi, Kenya where he travels three or four times per years. There he works with various community groups to set up medical and dental screening and treatment camps in impoverished areas surrounding Nairobi. The support he offers helps to empower locals to work and serve their community. In Kenya he also supports the Food Distribution Program which distributes food to single mothers in need.
Locally, in his home province of British Columbia, Dr. Kim is involved with the charity Hope for the Nations. The charity has projects around the world to help impoverished communities. He also owns and treats patients at his private periodontics practice and teaches for a local implants study club.
Linked to this award each year is an award to a GPR resident who has demonstrated excellent clinical care for patients in the McGill GPR program. This year, three awardees have been chosen for the Dr. Martin Kim Award for Excellent Patient Care in the GPR Program:
- Dr. Gabriel Oliel (Jewish General Hospital)
- Dr. Roland El-Khoury (Montreal General Hospital)
- Dr. Virginia Bertucci (Montreal Children’s Hospital)
Congratulations to these residents for the outstanding work they have done in their program this year. These awards have been created through a very generous donation to the Faculty of Dentistry from the Courthill Foundation. The purpose of the award is twofold:
- To recognize and reward alumni of McGill’s Faculty of Dentistry who have demonstrated, over a period of time, exceptional contributions to the Faculty and commitment to the betterment of dentistry in various ways.
- To support residents in the Faculty of Dentistry’s GPR Program. The resident is to be chosen on the basis of excellent quality of clinical care they have provided to patients as a dental student.