Dr. Setareh Lavasani is an American Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology specialist. She is a full time Associate Professor and the Director of Oral Radiology and Advanced Imaging at Western University of Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine in Pomona, California, USA.
Dr. Lavasani graduated from Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) in the United Arab Emirates in 2005 with a Doctorate degree in Dental Surgery (DDS). Upon graduation, she moved to the United States and in 2007 she joined the preceptorship program in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (OMFR) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). At the end of her preceptorship program, she was accepted to the OMFR specialty residency program. She started the OMFR residency in July 2008. In December of 2013 she received her Certificate of Specialty Training in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology. In 2014, she received her master’s degree in biomedical sciences from UTHSCSA. In the same year, she started her academic career as a faculty member at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California with the rank of Assistant professor. In January of 2015, after finishing all the required didactic and clinical trainings and successfully completing both parts of the certifying exam of the American board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, she received the prestigious “Diplomate” status from the American Board of OMFR, which is the highest professional honor of competence in the Oral Radiology specialty.
As the solo Oral Radiologist in college of Dental Medicine (CDM) at Western University of Health Sciences she is responsible for oral radiology didactic content creation, presentation and assessments of the Radiology curriculum and oversees Oral Radiology preclinical and clinical education, planning, coverage, and management. Dr. Lavasani is the chief Oral Radiologist at Western University Patient Care Center’s 3D CBCT and Advanced imaging interpretation center and maintains a CBCT referral practice at College of Dental Medicine with onsite and offsite clinical consultation services. She is an active member and contributes extensively to different WesternU committees (Radiation safety committee, PCC Radiation safety officer) and CDM standing committees (Outcome assessment committee, curriculum design and integration committee) and Ad hoc committees (Clinical Privileging committee). She is a member of board of directors at the Global Dental Implant Academy (GDIA).
Dr. Lavasani is the awardee of the 2019 WesternU college of dental medicine’s “Distinguished Faculty Member Award” that recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates extraordinary commitment to vision and mission of the college and university. She is also one of the 2019 honorees of the exclusive group of America’s top 40 specialist below 40 years old; ”40 under 40” published by Incisal Edge magazine in Manhattan, NY. She has also been recognized as the faculty of the month by ASDA at WesternU for her teaching style and her role in encouraging students to think analytically. She is also a member of the international elite invitation only group of “Leading Ladies in Dentistry” (LLD) who are highly skilled professionals who demonstrate excellent in advancing the art and science of Dentistry and are considered role models for the younger generation of women dentists and international speakers.
She has presented lectures and hands on courses on an extensive variety of oral radiology topics in more than 65 national and international scientific meetings and is a frequent presenter at the California Dental Association (CDA Anaheim and San Francisco, 2016-22), American Dental Association (ADA SmileCon 2021), UCLA School of Dentistry AEGD residency program. She has been an invited speaker for continuing education courses at UCSF school of Dentistry (UCSF Alumni weekend, 2019), UOP school of Dentistry (TMJ multidisciplinary mini residency program 2018), Loma Linda (Guardians of the oral cavity, 2018), UCLA (Applications and interpretation of CBCTs for dental implants 2017-18), and Chicago Loyola University GPR program. Internationally, she has lectured in different continents including U.A.E (AEEDC, Dubai), Lebanon (Lebanese University international dental convention, Beirut), and Egypt (AEEDC, Cairo). She has also been an invited speaker at Harvard and UPenn Endodontic residency programs and the American Association of Endodontics (AAE).
Dr. Lavasani is the co-author of multiple journal research articles and textbook chapters including the first interactive digital Oral Radiology textbook; “Fundamentals of Oral Radiology” which is available on iBooks and a book chapter on Principles of Radiographic Interpretation in the book titled “Oral Surgery for Dental Students” (Book author Dr. Jeffery Elo).
She is an associate editor for the Journal of The Lebanese Dental Association (JLDA) and a distinguished reviewer for the OOOO (Quad O) journal. She is also a dental textbook reviewer for Theime publishers in New York. Dr. Lavasani has been nominated to contribute to a 2022 issue of the California Dental Association Journal (CDAJ)s the Guest Editor on an issue dedicated to Applications and interpretation of CBCT in clinical Dentistry.
Outside of CDM, she has an active role in multiple standing committees at the American academy of oral and maxillofacial radiology (Organizing committee AAOMR, Co-Chair of Sponsorship and Commercial Exhibition committee, Pre doctoral committee, research and technology committee, Private practice committee, social committee), American Dental Educator’s Association (ADEA) and Tri-county (East Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino) Dental Society which she is the member of the leadership team in the role of member of board of directors for the year 2021-2022. Dr. Lavasani is also a voting Delegate at the California Dental Association House of Delegates 2021-2022.
She has been a session chairperson and a member of the judging panel for scientific poster presentations at multiple national and international scientific meetings including her role as multiple session’s chair at the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology annual session (2018) and AEEDC Dental Conference in Dubai (2018), which is one of the largest dental conventions in the world and, the Global Dental Implant Academy (GDIA) annual meeting (2017) in Southern California.
She is a proud supporter of St. Jude Children’s cancer research hospital and has presented charity Continuing education (CE) courses organized by American Academy of General Dentistry in honor of St. Jude where proceeds were donated to the cause. Dr. Lavasani is an avid animal lover and in her free time enjoys outdoor activities with friends and family and her dog Simba.
