Page 23 - Dentistry Magazine 2022

Student life 23
Mercedes Porter and Tyler Peterson
“The best part of being married has been building our family and traveling together. I love that we can come home at the end of the day and discuss what happened that day in the office, and that we have a shared knowledge that allows us to help each other manage various situations and support one another.”
Mercedes Porter and Tyler Peterson, DDS ’10
Then: got to know each other on an ASDA trip to Arizona, got engaged during their 3rd year, married 3 weeks after graduation.
Now: Porter is a clinical assistant professor of restorative sciences and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. Peterson is an endodontist.
Pursuing research and clinical work with a dual degree
When it came time to decide on a post-graduate path, Parandis Kazemi didn’t want to have to choose between her two passions. The School of Dentistry allowed her to keep her options open, pursuing both research and practice, thanks to a dual degree program.
After Kazemi, MS/DDS ’25, graduated from the University of Toronto, she figured she would pursue dental studies. However, she also considered pursuing graduate school. When she found the University of Minnesota, she was thrilled to discover that she could do both through the DDS/MS dual-degree program.
Kazemi first pursued her master’s degree in oral biology, with a minor in bioinformatics and computational biology. She studies the downstream targets of the protein Kinase D, and its role in osteoclast function.
However, Kazemi also loves practice—which is why she’s so excited to be pursuing her DDS degree now. “As a dentist, one can greatly impact society at an individual level: helping people with an immediately-visible outcome.”
But perhaps what she loves most is what this program has uniquely provided for her: a chance to explore research and practice at the same time.
“Having expertise in both fields helps me ask the right questions and make more meaningful connections,” she reflected. “Research and practice constantly refine and redefine each other.”
Parandis Kazemi, MS/DDS ’25