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This gathering was held at Brad & Laura Cruse’s’s home on the Upper West Side. We were treated with Southern hospitality to an assortment of soups including: taco soup topped with Fritos, garlic baked potato soup, and cream of carrot.  Other items on the menu of significance were: Mexican cornbread and dump cake!  There was significant representation from both New York and New Jersey! A decision was made at this meeting to pursue more purposeful and more regular meetings. If you would like to be invited this or future Dental Fellowship gatherings, please contact the NYC Area Director.

Dr. Brad Cruse
Brad completed dental school in 2003 at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and a one year post-graduate hospital residency at the University Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. After residency, he worked part-time as a private practice associate and part-time as a clinical faculty member with the University of Louisville Ryan White HIV/AIDS dental program. In 2006, Brad and his family moved to New York City. Brad currently works as a staff general dentist in one the largest HIV/AIDS centers in New York City. He and his wife Laura live on the Upper West Side with two children, Hanna and Caroline.

Dr. Bridget Ko
Growing up with a father who served the underserved of the greater Boston area as a Pediatric dentist and Orthodontist, Bridget Ko has always had a desire to serve here in the States. After studying Biochemistry and Studio Art at Boston College, she went on to receive her D.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 2004. During dental school, she got a glimpse of the greater worldview of God’s ministry beyond America during a STM trip to Mexico. Since completing Orthodontics residency at NYU College of Dentistry in 2007, and practicing in NYC’s Chinatown, God has a placed a burden in her heart for this city and it’s people. She attends Vision Church, where she met her husband, Steve. This past summer in 2008 they went on a medical missions trip to the Ixcan region of Guatemala with their church and they are planning for Mwanza, Tanzania in June 2009. For them, it is the beginning of a journey encompassing medicine/dentistry, ministry, and international public health. more…

Approximately 60 students and 3 attendings from Columbia, Cornell, Mount Sinai, New York COM, New York Medical College (NYMC), New York University (NYU), Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ), Sophie Davis, SUNY-Downstate, and Touro COM, attended this gathering held in Riverbank State Park. We were blessed by a brisk but sunny October day. Worship was led by a couple students and then David Chen from RWJ helped break the ice by having everyone introduce themselves and then have us spray each other with silly string! After grace was said by Dr. Ako Tabetah, a picnic lunch was served. Group photos of those attending were taken and those present broke off to fellowship with each other. Dr. Ali Ko offered spiritual support to the students as well as opportunities to meet with Christian Attendings.

Hosted by Dr. Bridget Ko, this fellowship group met on Saturday, September 13th at 7 pm. Dental students, oral surgery residents, and dentists, an orthodontist, and an otolaryngologist came together to dine on a delectable meal prepared by Bridget. Thanks Bridget!!

It was a wonderful time of encouragement and prayer. By God’s grace, this second citywide gathering revealed (1) the need to have a group committed to creating a safe place to discuss the unique challenges of Christian dentists in their workplaces & homes (2) the desire to learn, discuss, and model what it means to integrate our faith with our profession - what it means to be a Christian dentist, (3) the desire to have prayer/accountability/community groups, and (4) the joy of and desire for domestic and overseas missions experiences.  Overarching the discussion and prayer was asking God to help us see patients the way that He sees them.

We were blessed to hear seasoned dentists share their experiences including -

- Dr. George Kuryllo how he tries to practice counter-culturally - spending much more time with patients to share Christ’s love & compassion at the expense of financial gain.

-Dr. Brad Cruse was able to help organize an event called City Uprising - which turned out to be one of the largest citywide HIV testing outreachs to date in NYC.

Upcoming gatherings

October will be @ NYU - to be announced - contact Christy - cc1952@nyu.edu

November 15, 2008 (Saturday 7:30 - 9:30pm @ W 101st & Broadway ) will be hosted by Dr. Cruse

If you’d like to be a part of this fellowship, please contact the Area Director.

NYU Dental School fellowship had their first meeting this Friday, September 12th at Room 614 @ 5:30pm.  Anna Lee from InterVarsity helped lead the meeting.

Christy Chu had this to say about the meeting:

The fellowship went well last night. I felt the Holy Spirit was with us and was moving and using the worship and Anna’s message on Hagar to move and change our hearts to become more aligned with His. The message was on how we are not slaves to our school, work, or environment, in other words our worth is not measured by what we produce and how people around us see us, but by our position in Christ. We are free in Him! But, even though our work is not what defines us or gives us value, God sees our work and responds.

For more information about NYU Dental Fellowship, please contact Christy Chu at cc1952@nyu.edu