Two Saturdays a month, The Malta Medical and Dental Clinic that operates out of St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Detroit provides a full range of free dental services to underserved and underprivileged populations in Detroit. This service began, expanded and continues to be overseen by Bilal Ibrahim who saw a need and worked to address it.
Dental Outreach and Community Service, or D.O.C.S., began in the winter of 2017, after a year of raising funds to set up the clinic, organize a student board and put all the pieces in place to offer this service. The response, not to mention the need, was overwhelming and after just a few months, Ibrahim expanded D.O.C.S. to allow first- and second-year dental students to work in the clinic. Soon after, pre-dental students were included to introduce them to the field in a low-pressure environment. D.O.C.S. now includes more than 200 paid dental students and more than 10 faculty volunteers and has become one of the largest and most active organizations at Detroit Mercy Dental. Ibrahim has raised more than $15,000 to cover the expenses of the clinic and to ensure it continues after he graduates. Most importantly, the dental needs of more than 100 patients have been addressed, free of charge.
He is also very dedicated to his studies. In addition to tutoring other students, he received the highest score in the history of Detroit Mercy Dental on the Comprehensive Basic Science Examination, which he took as part of his application for an internship with the oral surgery program at Ohio State University.
For these reasons and many others, Detroit Mercy is proud to present the School of Dentistry 2020 Vivere ex Missione Award to him.