L-R: School of Dentistry Dean John D.B. Featherstone, Sneha Oberoi, Karin Vargervik, Ophir Klein
Healer and researcher are roles Karin Vargervik, DDS, has filled for years at UCSF. Now, she is taking on a new role: benefactor.
For several years, Dr. Vargervik, a professor emerita in the School of Dentistry, has made significant gifts to the UCSF Foundation. Funds (including donations from alumni and faculty) currently totaling more than $346,000 are seeding an endowment in the Division of Craniofacial Anomalies. The Karin Vargervik Endowment for Craniofacial Orthodontics will assist education and patient care activities in the division.
Close to 50 guests celebrated the establishment of the endowment at a May 5 reception at the Parnassus campus.
“Creating a fund that may help the craniofacial orthodontist to provide the necessary treatments has been a long-standing dream that I am now trying to make into a reality,” said Dr. Vargervik. “In addition to helping the individual patient, the endowment — which eventually may be a professorship in this new craniofacial orthodontic specialty — will also bring recognition to this specialty and will enhance its academic standing in the program and school as well as increase referrals to the program.” As the fund grows, it may also support education, such as a fellowship and clinical research.
Dr. Vargervik first came to UCSF on a research project in 1969, planning to stay just one year. That stay ultimately turned into a career spanning 45 years in clinical care, teaching and research, including directing the Center for Craniofacial Anomalies.
“As a craniofacial team leader and craniofacial orthodontist, I am very familiar with the needs of the children and their families and know the many obstacles they may meet in order to receive optimal care for their conditions,” said Dr. Vargervik. As treatment often extends over many years, from infancy to adulthood, financial support over the long haul is a concern.
“This requires funding for all aspects of care such as nursing and feeding instructions, surgical procedures, social services, speech therapy, dental care and orthodontic treatment,” she explained. Orthodontic treatment often is particularly poorly funded; prosthetic treatment may even be denied. The endowment is one effort to help meet that profound need.