Marta Pastor Carranza, Mercedes Archiles Tarrega and Sergio Garcia Bellosta, three top periodontal residents from the University of Barcelona’s school of dentistry, visited the USC School of Dentistry in October.  The student exchange was the latest in a three-year collaboration between the two universities—a partnership that culminated in a two-day symposium held on the Barcelona campus in late November.

The symposium was designed to give professors from both universities the opportunity to exchange ideas and consider future collaborations in research and student exchange.  Hessam Nowzari, director of USCSD’s Advanced Education in Periodontology program, and Jose Javier Echeverria, chairman of the Spanish university’s periodontics department, organized the event.  It was also an opportunity for the three Spanish visitors to present their research.

Plans are also in the works for three of USCSD’s periodontology residents, Justin Braga, Jackie Chi and Sharon Phamduong, to spend two weeks in Barcelona in 2007, Nowzari says.

“This exchange is good for us and good for our students.  There is so much we can learn from each other,” he says.