![]() In many ways, Shaffer says, being a Dental Officer in the Navy isn’t much different from any other dental career. I had great experiences in dental school, and that carried over into the Navy as well.” I was the only female in the oral surgery department in my first command, but the Navy expects all people to be treated with dignity and respect. “I had the same experience when I went into the Navy. “All the instructors were immensely fair and treated us all with respect,” Shaffer says. While that ratio is closer to 50-50 these days, it was not unusual for the late 1980s, but Shaffer says she never felt like the female students were treated differently. ![]() Upon her arrival, Shaffer discovered that her class of approximately 50 students had barely a half-dozen women. (The work in Mobile) gave me the depth and breadth of what dentists actually do, and I thought it was something I would enjoy. “But as a patient, you have limited experience about what it’s really like. Because if you don’t particularly like going to the dentist, there’s a pretty good chance you’re not going to go into dentistry. “A lot of us who go into dentistry has had good experiences. “I had a great dentist growing up as a child,” Shaffer says. During her time in Mobile, she began working for a local dentist and discovered that she enjoyed the profession. “If I hadn’t gone up to eat lunch in the lounge that day,” Shaffer says, “I’m not sure where I’d be right now.”Ī native of Bloomington, Ill., Shaffer received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Alabama in 1987. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, Va., just outside Washington D.C. She has traveled the world throughout the past three decades and currently serves at the U.S. Navy since graduating from the School of Dentistry in 1991. Shaffer became a Navy Ensign while at UAB and has been an active-duty member of the U.S. “That sounded like a good option for me because if nothing else, it would give me a great place to start,” Shaffer says. She struck up a conversation and learned about the possibility of a dental career in the Navy. Gayle ShafferShaffer was still uncertain about her career plans when she happened to see two Naval officers having lunch in the School of Dentistry lounge. Instead, it turned into a chance meeting that propelled second-year UAB School of Dentistry student Gayle Shaffer down the path toward becoming Rear Admiral Gayle Shaffer, Deputy Surgeon General in the United States Navy.ĭr. ![]() It was supposed to be just a quick bite of lunch.
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