On Friday, May 13, 2017, Abdulrahman Saleh crossed the stage at the UMKC School of Dentistry’s graduation ceremony and became the first Doctor of Dental Surgery student from the second generation of participants in the UMKC-Kuwait Dental Student Program. The original program began in 1989 as an agreement between the curators of the University of Missouri, the State of Kuwait and its Ministry of Higher Education. The original Kuwait program graduated 48 dentists between 1995 and 2008. All but two of those graduates have gone on to specialties, and 14 have taught at the Kuwait University Faculty of Dentistry.

The agreement was revised in 2009 into a three-phase program: Phase 1: English as a Second Language courses; Phase 2: UMKC Undergraduate Degree; and Phase 3: UMKC School of Dentistry (SOD) Doctor of Dental Surgery. The program admits up to five students per year, and the State of Kuwait provides full financial support for the students. Twenty-four students are actively participating in the three phases of the UMKC Kuwait Dental Student Program. Presently, one student is enrolled in each of the DDS Classes of 2018 and 2019. Four students entered dental school in Fall 2016 and will graduate with the DDS Class of 2020.

UMKC is beginning to build a dental legacy with the state of Kuwait: currently three students in the undergraduate program have fathers or other family members who are graduates of the original Kuwait Dental Student Program.

As part of that legacy, Dr. Abdulrahman Saleh plans to return to Kuwait and spend two years working in a public health clinic as part of fulfilling his scholarship agreement. In the future, he also plans to specialize while also providing volunteer dental services through international mission programs.