NYU Dentistry Alumni Support Veterans Program with $1 Million Gift

11/11/24

NYU College of Dentistry has received a $1 million gift from alumni Noel Liu, DDS (’07) and Nazish Jafri, DDS (’11) to support the Veterans Oral Care Access Resource (VOCARE), which provides comprehensive dental care to veterans across New York City.

VOCARE is part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ VETSmile, a pilot program designed to improve dental care access for veterans who are not eligible for dental care through the VA by partnering with community providers like NYU Dentistry. Since the creation of VOCARE in 2021, NYU Dentistry has provided dental care to over 3,300 veterans, completing nearly 60,000 procedures at no out-of-pocket cost to the veterans.

“We are so proud of the work we’ve done over the past three years to improve access to dental care for our nation’s heroes, and are grateful to Dr. Liu and Dr. Jafri for their enthusiasm and support for VOCARE," said Michael O’Connor, executive vice dean of NYU Dentistry. Gabriela Gonzalez, Director of the Center for Oral Health Policy & Management and Director of the VOCARE program, added, “This generous gift will sustain this initiative and enable many more veterans to benefit from much-needed dental care that was previously out of reach.”

The funding for VOCARE is part of Drs. Liu and Jafri’s multimillion dollar gift announced earlier this year to improve access to dental education and care. In addition to supporting veterans, their gift provides funds for the Liu Advanced Clinical Fellowship in Implant Dentistry, including scholarships for dentists enrolling in the fellowship.

Dr. Liu and Dr. Jafri are the co-founders and owners of Secure Dental, a dental service organization with more than 10 dental practices in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, with plans to expand to Tennessee. The husband-and-wife team is committed to expanding access to dental care for veterans at their own practices, providing free dental implants to veterans this Veterans Day.