"There are too many populations that have never been touched by the profession of dentistry. Everywhere you go, there’s a need for dentists and oral health education."
DDS Class of 2010
Name: Timothy Cross
Graduating Class: 2010
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Reason for Choosing Pacific: The humanistic educational philosophy
Career Plans: Practicing dentistry in a clinic on a Native American reservation in Arizona
"It seems like a previous life," says Timothy Cross of his pre-dental school career. Indeed, he didn't set out to become a dentist. Attracted to flying planes in high school, he earned his pilot's license before graduation and went on to Ohio State to major in aviation. There, he competed on their intercollegiate flying team for four years, and ended up coaching with them for the next five years while working as a professional pilot for two different airlines.
At the same time, Cross was also doing volunteer work for Truck of Love, a non-profit organization for which he had first started volunteering during high school. With Truck of Love, he would go down to a Native American reservation in Arizona and help run a summer camp. It was there he noticed that something just wasn't right. "It started when we were doing a healthy eating class… there were 15-, 16-year-old kids saying they couldn't bite into an apple; it hurt their teeth. That planted a seed. When I came back, I asked my dentist about it."
A year later, Cross was laid off from his job for the second time (the first time happened after 9/11). "I realized that if I was going to make a move [to change careers], now was the time, when I was young and could still go back to school." The discussion with his dentist — about the connection between oral health and overall health — had stuck in his mind. Two years of classes later, he was applying to dental schools — and he chose Pacific: "the perfect reason to finally come back to California!"
Now in his second year of dental school, Cross finds that his pilot's training helps him in ways he didn't necessarily anticipate. "I think that having done something else professionally [helps me see that] there's a big picture to everything and there's lots of different ways to get there." However, he has also learned that "it's not the most important thing to be #1. When I was going through flight training, it was!"
And he can't say enough good things about his classmates. "Our class has so many different talented people. We're pretty diverse in terms of our talents and where we come from, and it really shows. Some people are really go-getters, some people are not, but everyone helps each other out."
After graduation, Cross plans to return to the reservation where he volunteered previously and work in their new health clinic. "I'll be essentially within the community I've been with for the last 12 years." Ultimately, "My dream job is to be a flying dentist."
Summing up his thoughts about the Dugoni School, Cross says that the school talks about "humanism" in its marketing materials, "but the thing that's been so surprising to me is how real it is. They do it. It's tough. Everything sounds great on paper… but to be able to actually implement it into a culture is pretty amazing -- and they've done that really well here."
