Six School of Dentistry alumni nominated for TAGD’s 2025 Texas Academy Awards

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. 12, at the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center.

Six UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry alumni are among the nominees for the Texas Academy of General Dentistry’s 2025 Texas Academy Awards, with four nominated for each the Texas Dentist of the Year™ and two for Texas New Dentist of the Year.

The award winners will be announced during the Texas Academy Awards dinner on Friday, Sept. 12, at the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center in Georgetown, Texas.

Nominees for each award are selected throughout the state by local dental societies and components of the Texas Dental Association and TAGD. Each component or society may nominate only one candidate per award. Previous winners are not eligible.

Since 1976, TAGD has recognized the Texas Dentist of the Year™ — the highest honor a Texas dentist can receive. Nominees may be from any specialty and do not have to be Academy of General Dentistry members.

School of Dentistry nominees for the 2025 Texas Dentist of the Year™ include:

Krystelle Anaya, DDS ’12 (El Paso Academy of General Dentistry)
Jeffrey Geno, DDS ’82 (Houston Academy of General Dentistry)
Partha Mukherji, DDS, General Practice Residency ’02 (Fort Worth Academy of General Dentistry)
Victor Rodriguez, DDS ’95 (Greater Houston Dental Society)

The Texas New Dentist of the Year Award, established in 2009, honors emerging leaders in dentistry. Nominees must be general dentists who graduated within the last seven years and have been AGD members for the last two years.

Alumni nominated for the 2025 Texas New Dentist of the Year include:

Gilberto Garcia, Jr., DDS ’19 (Ninth District Dental Society)
Blake Hutzler, DDS ’22 (Dallas Academy of General Dentistry)

School of Dentistry alumni have received both awards in recent years.

Tanya Sue Maestas, DDS ’18, was the 2023 Texas New Dentist of the Year, joining Summer C. Ketron, DDS ’11; Katie Sowa Stuchlik, DDS ’15; and Lindsey Wendt, DDS ’15, who received the award in 2018, 2020, and 2022, respectively.

For Texas Dentist of the Year™, Richard C. Black, DDS ’76, MS ’78, earned the distinction in 2021, and John A. Valenza, DDS ’81, dean and distinguished teaching professor, received the honor in 2019.