KHSB 41 sat down with Micheal Opara, DDS Class of 2025 to discuss access to dental education and resources as a current dental student and GEHA scholarship recipient.

Micheal Opara is born and raised in Kansas City. He’s had success in his academia, volunteering and fellowships.

“I’m still under 21 and I have two degrees — it’s pretty exciting,” Opara said. “This entire week I’ve been saying I’ll be a doctor in four years.”

Through GEHA’s pipeline program, he landed a GEHA scholarship to become a dentist through UMKC.

He recently graduated from UMKC with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology.

“I was lucky enough to have health and medical insurance, but I grew up with a lot of friends in my environment and school who didn’t have that privilege,” he said.

In high school, he was already learning the industry.

“I had a friend come up to me after school and he had pain in one of his back molars, so I took the video on my phone and was able to see two cavities on his back teeth and I still have the video now,” he said.

Now he’ll soon be able to help others.

“Having a dentist understand you and understand your background to where you are comfortable there is very important,” he said. “I want to have a focus with lower income and communities necessarily didn’t have the access.”

Read the full story from KHSB 41 and watch the interview here.

Story by: Megan Abundis, KHSB 41