Seven School of Dentistry alumni nominated for 2026 Texas Academy Awards

By Kyle Rogers June 12, 2026

A black-covered table holds several awards against a stone wall, with rectangular wooden Texas-themed plaques on the left and a large gold trophy with a winged figure on a wooden base on the right.

The Texas Academy of General Dentistry will present the Texas Dentist of the Year and Texas New Dentist of the Year awards during its annual awards dinner Friday, Sept. 18, at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

Seven UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry alumni are among the nominees for the Texas Academy of General Dentistry’s 2026 Texas Academy Awards, with six nominated for Texas Dentist of the Year and one nominated for Texas New Dentist of the Year.

The TAGD will present the awards during the Texas Academy Awards on Friday, Sept. 18, at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

Each year, the academy selects one dentist to receive the Texas Dentist of the Year award, the highest honor a Texas dentist can receive. Nominees are chosen from local dental societies and components of the Texas Dental Association and TAGD across the state.

School of Dentistry alumni nominated for the 2026 Texas Dentist of the Year award include:

Joseph Castellano, DDS ’90 (Rio Grande Valley Academy of General Dentistry)
Carlos Cruz, DDS, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency ’95 (Rio Grande Valley District Dental Society)
Jeffrey Geno, DDS ’82 (At-large nominee)
Alejandro “Alex” Gonzalez, DDS ’83 (El Paso Academy of General Dentistry)
M. Leif Stromberg, DDS ’69 (Dallas Academy of General Dentistry)
Karen Walters, Hygiene ’73, DDS ’78 (Houston Academy of General Dentistry)

The Texas New Dentist of the Year Award, established in 2009, recognizes emerging leaders in dentistry. Nominees are selected from local dental societies and TAGD components throughout Texas.

School of Dentistry alumnus Blake Hutzler, DDS ’22, was nominated for the 2026 Texas New Dentist of the Year award by the Dallas Academy of General Dentistry.

Dental school alumni have enjoyed recent success in both award categories.

In 2025, Victor Rodriguez, DDS ’95, and Partha Mukherji, DDS, General Practice Residency ’02, were named co-recipients of Texas Dentist of the Year, marking the first time since 1996 that the honor was shared. Other recent School of Dentistry recipients include Richard C. Black, DDS ’76, MS ’78, in 2021 and John A. Valenza, DDS ’81, in 2019.

For Texas New Dentist of the Year, Tanya Sue Maestas, DDS ’18, earned the honor in 2023. Previous School of Dentistry recipients include Lindsey Wendt, DDS ’15, in 2022, Katie Sowa Stuchlik, DDS ’15, in 2020, and Summer C. Ketron, DDS ’11, in 2018.