Two School of Dentistry alums co-win 2025 Texas Dentist of the Year

UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry alumni Victor Rodriguez, DDS ’95, and Partha Mukherji, DDS, General Practice Residency ’02, have been named the co-recipients of the 2025 Texas Dentist of the Year™, the highest honor a Texas dentist can receive.

The Texas Academy of General Dentistry named the pair co-recipients during the Texas Academy Awards dinner Sept. 12 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel in Downtown Austin. It marked just the third time since the award’s inception in 1976 — and the first since 1996 — that two dentists shared the honor. They are the 64th and 65th recipients in the award’s history.

Rodriguez, nominated by the Greater Houston Dental Society, is a native Houstonian. He has practiced family and cosmetic dentistry in the Clear Lake area since 2004 and has mentored dental students as an adjunct assistant professor at the School of Dentistry since 2014.

After earning a biology degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991, Rodriguez completed his Doctor of Dental Surgery at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry in 1995. He later received a Master of Education from the University of Houston.

He is active in the American Dental Association, the Hispanic Dental Association, the Texas Dental Association, and the Greater Houston Dental Society. He is a past president of both the GHDS (2016-17) and the HDA (2010) and has served on the boards of the TDA, the HDA Foundation, and the Houston Health Foundation. Away from dentistry, he enjoys reading, traveling, snorkeling, and cheering on the Texas Longhorns.

Mukherji, nominated by the Fort Worth Academy of General Dentistry, grew up in Bay City, Texas. He earned a biology degree from Texas A&M University in 1997, received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Texas A&M College of Dentistry (formerly Baylor College of Dentistry) in 2001, and completed his General Practice Residency at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry in 2002. After years of practice in the Fort Worth area, Mukherji joined his alma mater, Texas A&M College of Dentistry, as a full-time clinical assistant professor in April 2025.

He is active in organized dentistry, serving as the AGD Region 18 regional director, the International College of Dentists District 15 deputy regent, and the ADA’s Council of Annual Meeting and Continuing Education Programs vice chair. He holds fellowships in the AGD, ICD, the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, the American College of Dentists, and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.

He integrates health and wellness into his professional philosophy as a NASM-certified personal trainer and wellness coach. His sister, Gargi Mukherji, DDS, General Practice Residency ’01, serves on the faculty at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry.

Other alumni nominees included Krystelle Anaya, DDS ’12, nominated by the El Paso Academy of General Dentistry, and Jeffrey Geno, DDS ’82, nominated by the Houston Academy of General Dentistry. In addition, Gilberto Garcia, Jr., DDS ’19, nominated by the Ninth District Dental Society, and Blake Hutzler, DDS ’22, nominated by the Dallas Academy of General Dentistry, were finalists for the 2025 Texas New Dentist of the Year. Nominees are selected by TDA district societies and AGD components across the state and may be from any specialty.

UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry alumni have earned the Texas Dentist of the Year™ distinction in recent years, including Richard C. Black, DDS ’76, MS ’78, in 2021, and John A. Valenza, DDS ’81, dean and distinguished teaching professor, in 2019.