Creating Happier Smiles
A Californian native raised in Kenya and Uganda, Dr. Ruhee Jaffer has an immense passion for delivering the highest quality patient-centered care. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with her Doctorate in Dental Surgery from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. Prior to that she completed some research training at the National Institute of Health, and earned an Entrepreneurship Certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She completed her Bachelors of Science degrees in Dental Hygiene and Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry. Over the years she has served as an advocate for the California Dental Association and has received more than 20 distinctions and awards for leadership, clinical skills and academia. She was inducted as a member of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society. This year alone she has been given the Robert E Cruise Memorial Award, the California Dental Association Outstanding Student Award, the Donald Curnette Memorial Scholarship, the Albert & Grace Colby Scholarship, Century Club Endowed Scholarship Recipient, and the University of Southern California Dental Journalistic Award.
Ruhee has a special interest in community engagement, policy, advocacy and public health. She founded the “Meno Project” to mobilize resources and clinicians to provide oral healthcare to underserved children in South Asia and East Africa. The “Meno” Project [Meno means “tooth” in Swahili] was specifically created to give oral healthcare access to orphanages in rural areas. Meno has served more than 1300 children with hopes to have a larger impact in the years to come.She regularly volunteers her time at skid row with the Union Rescue Mission, John Wesley Community Health Center, and the University of Southern California Mobile Clinic to deliver care to low-income marginalized populations.
She currently resides between Los Angeles and Washington DC, is an avid foodie, loves core-power yoga, creative coffee shops and traveling.