Nicole Louie, DDS '29, Elected ADEA District 2 Commissioner

Nicole Louie, DDS '29, will spend the coming year connecting dental students across District 2, supporting local ADEA chapters, and advocating for issues ranging from mentorship to sustainability after being elected District 2 Commissioner for the American Dental Education Association's (ADEA) Council of Students, Residents, and Fellows (COSRF). 

The COSRF Executive Board is composed of District Commissioners and Liaisons who provide regional leadership and direct support to ADEA chapters. District Commissioners oversee chapter activity within their respective districts and serve as the primary point of contact for chapter leaders. District 2 comprises six dental schools in New York and New Jersey, including Columbia, New York University, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Touro, and the University at Buffalo. Louie said she was eager to take on the position because it offered an opportunity to become more involved with the organization and engage with students beyond the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CDM). 

Louie, who recently completed her first year at CDM, has already established a strong record of leadership and service. During her undergraduate years at the University of California, Berkeley, she served as president of her sorority and as an outreach coordinator for the Berkeley Free Clinic, helping connect unhoused and refugee communities with free dental care. At CDM, she has served on the Give Kids a Smile Committee and as the D1 representative for the Sustainability Club. In her second year, she will take on several new leadership roles, including secretary of the Sustainability Club, clinical operations representative for class council, and patient data manager for CDM's free clinic.

Louie said her own experience applying to dental school shaped many of her goals as commissioner. She hopes to help students better navigate the admissions process and provide them with opportunities to connect with peers and mentors.

“The dental school application was very tough to navigate,” she said. “There are a lot of unspoken rules, and many of the things that I learned were from my peers who went through the application.”

She also hopes to strengthen connections among ADEA chapters throughout District 2. One of her priorities is to organize more in-person programming, including networking events, seminars, and potentially a retreat or dinner for student leaders. She believes these opportunities could help foster collaboration among chapters that often operate independently.

“I'm really looking forward to meeting all the other chapter presidents and leaders and hopefully bringing them together so the different chapters can collaborate,” she said.

Another focus for Louie is sustainability in dentistry. Drawing on her involvement with CDM's Sustainability Club and her experiences working in dental offices, she hopes to introduce programming that encourages students to think about environmentally conscious practices in clinical care.

“Dentistry requires a lot of waste,” she said. “I'm hoping to help introduce education on how to be more sustainable and hopefully do that on a broader level.”

She said she would like to collaborate with student leaders from other schools to develop seminars and share ideas for incorporating sustainability into dental education.

“It's the first step toward creating a bigger ADEA community,” she said. “I want students to feel like they have a voice and that they're connected to one another.”