Our middle daughter Cathy, who graduated from the University of Alberta where she was class president and the gold medalist, worked as an associate at my general practice for the past three years. She recently started a residency at the University of Toronto in prosthodontics and I couldn’t be prouder! Our eldest daughter Ellie also works as a dental assistant at our group practice. We have 3 generations of women in dentistry and leadership in the Hernandez family and have 3 generation of dentists in our entire family. Today we are seeing more women practitioners being successful, not just as clinicians, but also in academia and in dental leadership roles. The secret ingredient is finding a balance in your professional life and your personal life, and being there to provide support, share knowledge, and lead by example to help more women professionals succeed. Stories of Leadership: Women in Dentistry Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a dentist. When I was young, my mother’s sister was a dentist in Romania. My family lived in Bucharest, and it got very hot in the summer so my parents would send me and my brother to stay with my aunt who lived in a rural area. I spent time in her dental office, and I saw how much she was respected. That is when I fell in love with dentistry. I wanted to be like her. My family moved to Canada when I was 16. We were still relatively new to Canada when I was accepted into the dental program at the University of Alberta (U of A). My family didn’t have much money and I did not want to take out student loans and start my life in debt. But I still knew that I wanted to be a dentist. When I attended a recruiting drive from the armed forces, I learned that the military would pay for schooling, then after graduation I would be required pay back the military’s investment in the form of four years of apprenticeship, if you will. Even though I didn’t think of myself as someone cut out to be in the military, I decided to join. When I started as a full-fledged dentist, I was 24, and I was relatively young looking. It happened that my dental assistant at the time was male. Some patients would assume that he was the dentist, and I was the assistant. It was an innocent mistake. In general, I didn’t feel I was treated differently because of my gender. After completing my obligatory military service, I was in private practice for a couple of years, but I realized it wasn’t my cup of tea. I love dentistry, but I didn’t enjoy its business aspects. So, I sold my practice and went back to serve in the military. At the same time, I decided I wanted to specialize. I was selected for oral and maxillofacial Dr. Elena Hernandez-Kucey with her four children. Dr. Antonella Trache 30 | 2024 | Issue 3
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