Class members hold leadership roles at the state, national, and institutional levels.
A Class of Leaders: How Friendship and a Tufts Education Shaped the Class of 1994
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine has graduated thousands of dentists in its 158 years, many of whom have gone on to lead in clinical practice, research, and education. Even in that company, the Class of 1994 stands out for the sheer number of members who hold leadership roles at the state, national, and institutional levels.
Members of D94 trace that pattern back to their earliest days on campus. Many first-year students lived together in Posner Hall, the graduate school dormitory, and gathered on Fridays for informal social sessions they called “dental rounds.” The academic demands were intense, and the proximity forged strong relationships quickly.
“If you were going to be an island and on your own, you weren’t going to survive dental school,” Gigi Garcia-Rogers, D94, said. Steven Spitz, D94, credits that first-year living arrangement with giving the class a unique closeness. Some D94 members cut their teeth as leaders by serving as class officers. Janis Moriarty, D94, who was class secretary for four years, recalls that Maurice Convey, D94, who went on to become president of the Maine Dental Association, was class president.
"We graduated, we went our separate ways, and then we started meeting again at the national level. It was great to see familiar faces and reconnect."
Separate Paths, Shared Purpose
After graduation, the class dispersed into residencies and practices across the country. Richard (Rich) Rosato, D94, completed an oral surgery residency in Chicago. Garcia-Rogers trained in pediatric dentistry at the University of Michigan. Spitz pursued prosthodontics at Harvard University. Moriarty began practicing in the Boston area after completing a GPR in the Berkshires. Keri Logan, D94, went on to become director of Dental GPR at St. Charles Hospital and Rehabilitation Center.
Over the years, the D94 classmates began to encounter each other again in leadership roles within organized dentistry. “We graduated, we went our separate ways, and then we started meeting again at the national level,” Moriarty said. “It was great to see familiar faces and reconnect.”
The pattern is visible across the class. Among many examples: Rich Rosato is current president of the American Dental Association (ADA). His spouse, Laurie Rosato, D94, was recently sworn in as president of the New Hampshire Dental Society by her husband, Rich, in his capacity as ADA president. Spitz is current president of the Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS), and Moriarty, a past MDS president, is a Tufts University trustee and sits on the dental school’s Board of Advisors, where she serves alongside classmate Debbie Lee, D94. Garcia-Rogers is the newly installed president of the Tufts University Dental Alumni Association (TUDAA). Cherie Bishop, D94, was general chair of the Yankee Dental Congress in 2021 and 2024, and will serve again in 2027.
Connections among D94 members have remained active. Moriarty, Spitz, Rich Rosato, and others have worked together on policy issues in dentistry, advocating for patients and bringing oral health perspectives to policy discussions at the state and national level. Spitz, who talks regularly with dental students, wants younger members of the profession to see the value in this broader work: “When you get involved, your world becomes much more open. Every person you meet is another opportunity.”
"People like us exist in every class. Somehow we just bonded."
Paying It Forward
Both Rich Rosato and Garcia-Rogers are children of immigrants, a background they share with many dental school classmates and alumni. Rosato, the son of an Italian immigrant, was the first in his family to go to college. “There was an expectation at Tufts that you took a certain pride in being part of your community and helping to lead,” he said. “Don’t just sit back, but be a part of creating your own future.”
Garcia-Rogers, a first-generation Filipino American, remembers attending a dental alumni event as a fourth-year student. Alumni she had never met introduced themselves and offered to help when she returned to Massachusetts. She took them up on it, and those early connections shaped her career. Today she mentors younger dentists through the MDS and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
The members of D94 know they share a rare connection. Dean Nadeem Karimbux even has a friendly nickname for them: “the D94 mob.” Yet they’re aware that the qualities behind their bond show up across the school: strong training, a culture of service, and a willingness to show up. “People like us exist in every class,” Garcia-Rogers said. “Somehow we just bonded.” What they know for certain is this: 30 years later, any one of them can still pick up the phone and call a classmate and a friend.
