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Visiting student finds university ’congenial’
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by Mary Helen Yarborough
Public Relations
While the education level is fairly comparable between MUSC and Austral
University, one young man studying here from Chile has found the
College of Dental Medicine experience to be congenial and engaging.
 Cristabol Salinas, left, with Dr. Carlos Salinas.
Cristabol Salinas, 22, has spent six weeks studying alongside
third-and-fourth year dental and medical students. The native of
Valdivia, a city in southern Chile, found the faculty at MUSC to be
particularly warm and helpful and the advances in dental medicine here
exciting.
“I spent time in the craniofacial clinic and the pediatric OR, and I
watched Dr. [Richard] Kline perform oral surgery in which he repaired a
cleft lip. It was fantastic to see,” Salinas said.
Salinas was struck by the kindness and patience of the faculty.
“Everyone, the teachers, the students, are very nice. They included me
in the discussions and provided me with the handouts,” he said. “This
experience has contributed much to my professional and personal growth.”
The son of a veterinarian, Salinas said he will describe to his
professors and fellow classmates in Chile “how nice, calm, meticulous
and parental the teachers are here.
“They make you very comfortable and that really makes me want to
learn,” he said. “The education here is very practical so that
everybody is given the same opportunity to learn.”
As a fourth-year student in Chile, Salinas said he is at the same level
as a third-year student here. “The education is about the same, so I
wasn’t that much behind,” he said. “I am told that I was well-prepared,
... (but) the knowledge is so advanced here.”
Salinas, who happens to be the nephew of Carlos Salinas, DMD, director
of craniofacial genetics, said he was inspired by the procedures and
the expertise of the surgeons, and support from his fellow students,
namely fourth-year College of Medicine student, Jeffrey Taylor with
whom he plans to stay in touch.
Above all, Salinas was inspired to return to MUSC.
“That will be my first goal to get my residency here at MUSC. I want to
do my periodontal residency here,” Salinas said. “I have seen the
coolest stuff.”
Friday, March 20, 2009
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