Patricia Hare

UConn School of Dental Medicine

I was born and raised in Northbrook, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. After high school, I attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota where I earned my B.A. in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry. I subsequently moved to Boston to work for two years as a research technician in the Benes Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center before arriving in Farmington to begin my dental education at UConn.

Through moving from suburban Illinois to rural Minnesota to urban New England, I have developed an interest in addressing the complex, unmet needs of vulnerable populations. Volunteering at events like Minnesota’s Mission of Mercy influenced my decision to pursue dentistry and serve patients directly in the clinic, but my time at community health organizations like the Healthfinders Collaborative taught me the importance of guiding patients to a more stable, permanent state of dental health. As an AHEC Scholar, I hope to learn how health care providers can provide sustainable, accessible care for Connecticut’s underserved populations. I especially enjoy working with children, the elderly, and Spanish-speaking patients, and hope to do so at outreach events in UConn’s surrounding communities. I hope that, in my future career as a dental research and educator, I can help improve community dental health and dental practices for the next generation.