Ambika Sharma

UConn School of Dental Medicine, Class of 2019

I was born in Syosset, NY, and I grew up in Morristown, NJ. I received my B.S. in Nutritional Science from the University of Connecticut in 2015

At UConn, I was a member of UConn Empower, where I helped raise money for non-profit organizations in Africa and Asia and attended a service trip to a school in Rishikesh, India. In 2013, I worked as an Oral Health Intern for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where I researched and proposed improvements for the state elderly citizens’ oral health. I returned to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2014 as an Oral Health College Aide, where I worked on creating policy memos examining the state of oral health in New York City.

Through my volunteer and paid work I learned that there is an unexpectedly large number of stakeholders in the healthcare system. I also learned that a focus on public health can be a means of creating relationships between these stakeholders to improve the overall efficiency of healthcare. Working with oral health programs opened my eyes to a number of issues regarding oral health care. I began to see how simple communications between health professionals can result in more thorough diagnoses in patient care. I feel there are always opportunities for better collaboration between the professional and the many other stakeholders in health care. As a dental student in the Urban Service Track I hope to gain a broader understanding of the interplay between these stakeholders, and eventually become a force in fostering such collaborations in healthcare.