Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 3

Education Dr. Tomkins began to consider a career in dentistry when she was a second-year zoology student at the University of Toronto (U of T). Her role model in dentistry was her great uncle Dr. Preston Andrew “Pat” Beattie, who had entered dental school after serving in World War I. “He graduated in the class of 1923, aka the Whizz Bang class, which was the largest class in U of T dentistry history with 314 men and six women,” says Dr. Tomkins. Practising in Scarborough, Ontario, Dr. Beattie had been Dr. Tomkins’ childhood dentist. “He was kind, gentle, well-loved and respected by all his patients and their families,” she says. Dr. Tomkins was a strong student and her parents, Laurie and Vera Tomkins, supported her ambitions to work in a profession that emphasized service. TheTomkins family had enduring ties to U of T. After active duty on a corvette out of Halifax and in the NorthAtlantic duringWorld War II, Laurie graduated with a degree in forestry from U of T in 1953 and became an Ontario land surveyor. For 25 years, Vera was a regular participant and eventually a volunteer executive member of the University of Toronto’s Later Life Learning Program at Innis College. For Dr. Tomkins, dental school at U of T was a formative experience. “It really engaged me from the very beginning,” she says. She enjoyed clinic and participated in athletics. “There were 20 women in my class of 120 students, so any of us with any athletic aptitude were asked to be on most of the sports teams.” In her second year of dental school, Dr. Tomkins was elected to be the representative for U of T on the Ontario Dental Association (ODA) Student Services Committee and the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) Council on Student Affairs. “In 1979, I went to my first meeting and met Linda Teteruck (current Chief Governance Officer at CDA) for the first time,” she says. At a 1979 meeting, Dr. Tomkins was elected student governor. In 1980, Dr. Tomkins served on the CDA board of governors, the first woman to join the governing body of CDA. Vimy Memorial 2016 Dr. Tomkins with her parents, when she graduated from dental school Dental school graduation from U of T in 1981