November 19, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Three University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) faculty have been granted professor emeritus positions at the School of Dentistry (SOD). They are Firoz G. Rahemtulla, Ph.D., Percival L. Sadowsky, D.M.D. and Wilson Wright Jr., D.M.D. The appointments were approved by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.

Rahemtulla has been the director of the SOD's postgraduate program and the summer research program. He is a past chairman of the Department of Oral Biology and senior scientist in several UAB centers of excellence. Rahemtulla earned his doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Umea in Sweden and completed his postdoctoral training at the UAB SOD in 1983, the same year he joined the faculty.

Sadowsky has served as chairman of the SOD's Department of Orthodontics and director of the advanced education in orthodontics program. He was academic leader in pre-doctoral education and graduate thesis supervision, and served on the dental staff at Children's Rehabilitation Services in Birmingham. Sadowsky earned multiple dental degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and from UAB. He worked in general dental practice in South Africa and England before joining the UAB faculty in 1976. Sadowsky has been named chairman and professor emeritus.

Wright has been a longtime director of the SOD's student dental health program, director of the dental assisting program and the lead instructor for the oral diagnosis urgent care clinics. He is a past interim chairman of the Department of Diagnostic Sciences and past president of the Alabama Dental Society. Wright earned his dental degree from UAB in 1974, the same year he joined the faculty.