A family experience…the passion and determination of a Saline, Michigan orthodontist who works part time in the School’s orthodontics clinic…and memories of being fitted for braces more than thirty years ago in the orthodontics clinic were major reasons a Saline family has gifted $500,000 to create a new fellowship.

When established, the fellowship will be the first of its kind in the country.

A gift from the Michael and Suzanne Coghlan Family Foundation will establish a new craniofacial anomalies program within the School of Dentistry’s graduate orthodontics program.

The $500,000 will be matched with $250,000 from U-M President Mary Sue Coleman’s Donor Challenge program which leverages gifts of up to $1 million with a contribution of 50 cents for every dollar gifted.  Pledges must be made before December 31, 2008.

 “We want our gift for this new fellowship to help patients who come to the University of Michigan dental school to receive the best possible care for craniofacial anomalies,” said Michael Coghlan seen in the photo above with his wife, Suzi, Dr. Katherine Kelly (left) and Dr. Sunil Kapila (right).  “We also want to inspire more graduate students in orthodontics to pursue this specialty knowing that money will be there to help pay for the final year of their education.”

Creating Similar Programs Elsewhere
Coghlan said his family hopes other schools will follow U-M’s lead. 

 “The fact that this program is not in the mainstream of dentistry was another big reason for our decision,” he said.  “When other universities see what Michigan is doing, we hope their dental schools will be inspired to create similar programs to train specialists so that, after graduation, they can go into communities and work with these patients.”

Coghlan, who retired six years ago at age 37, was one of the founding partners in a financial derivatives trading company headquartered in Chicago’s financial district.  The 200 member firm was bought out by Goldman Sachs.

Instead of moving to the New York City area, the Coghlans returned to the Ann Arbor area to raise their three children, where they were introduced to Dr. Katherine Kelly.

At Kelly’s office, they were impressed by her passion for helping patients with craniofacial anomalies.  They also discovered she was a clinical instructor at the School of Dentistry who specializes in helping these patients, typically between the ages of 7 and 17.

 “Dr. Kelly’s passion and drive moved my wife and I to see what, collectively, all of us might be able to do to help our daughter and other children,” Coghlan said.

Addressing Multiple Challenges
Kelly, an adjunct assistant clinical professor who teaches in the orthodontics clinic twice a week, said craniofacial anomalies are not solely limited to children with cleft lip and palate.  “There are so many other children who have craniofacial anomalies that are the result of syndromes, facial traumas, childhood leukemia, or other cancers,” she said.

Approximately 3,000 children in Michigan have been diagnosed with craniofacial anomalies, Kelly said.  About 100 come to the School of Dentistry for care.  Some have to travel three or four hours with a parent or relative to receive that care.

 “But Michigan has only three hundred orthodontists and many of them are retiring, so it’s becoming increasingly difficult for these patients to get the orthodontic care they need,” she said.  “The typical craniofacial patient, born with a cleft lip and palate, will need orthodontic care for about ten years, from the time they’re about seven until they’re seventeen.  No parent should have to drive for three or four hours for so many years in order for their child to receive care.”

The Coghlan gift is designed to address those multiple and interrelated issues.

By providing financial support for a craniofacial anomalies fellowship at the U-M School of Dentistry, orthodontic residents will receive the specialized knowledge and training they need to go into communities and provide long-term orthodontics treatment to those patients, or serve in hospital- or university-based craniofacial anomalies programs.

Both Kelly and Coghlan lauded the efforts of Dean Peter Polverini and Dr. Sunil Kapila, chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry.

 “There is no program, yet, that has been accredited by the ADA’s Commission on Dental Accreditation,” Kelly said.  “But both Dean Polverini and Dr. Kapila have been pushing hard to establish a craniofacial anomalies training program within orthodontics that will offer advanced education in this field beyond what is currently offered to students.”

“An Exceptional Cause”
Coghlan said, “Dr. Kapila put us at ease with his commitment to establishing this new program and working with Dr. Kelly and the dean.  That was very important to both my wife and me.  Craniofacial anomalies are not highly visible maladies and do not receive a lot of attention from the media, so it’s not easy to raise money to help kids with this condition.”

 “We are extremely fortunate,” Kapila said.  “I am very grateful to Michael and Suzi Coghlan for their generosity, and to Dr. Kelly for identifying an exceptional cause to support.  I believe our School has an obligation to help patients with craniofacial anomalies in Michigan and elsewhere.”

Kapila said the Coghlan’s interest in helping children with craniofacial anomalies and Kelly’s efforts “dovetailed nicely with our desire to create a knowledgeable workforce to treat this underserved population of patients who often require complex treatments.”

Kapila added that by helping educate highly specialized orthodontists “this endowment and fellowship will have a long lasting effect on both the access to and the quality of care that patients receive.”   

The Coghlan Craniofacial Fellowship Endowment will lead to a master’s degree in orthodontics and craniofacial anomalies.

This fall, candidates will be interviewed and, around the end of the year, the name of first Coghlan Fellow will be announced.