Thursday Talks: Pam Alberto '80

Our spotlight for this week is Clinical Associate Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Pamela Alberto ’80. She’s a trailblazer in her field, where only 19 percent of surgeons today are women. When she graduated in 1980, she became the second woman oral and maxillofacial surgeon in New Jersey.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do here at RSDM.

I’m an oral maxillofacial surgeon. I had my training here at Rutgers, what was known as UMDNJ at that time. Currently, I’m the clinical associate professor at the Department of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery. I’m here part-time right now. Previously, I was the director of the Oral Surgery Undergraduate Program for 20 years. I’m also in private practice. I own multiple practices. I still try to practice the full scope of oral maxillofacial surgery via school and private practice.

For how long have you been here, and why did you decide to come to RSDM?

I went to the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, and I graduated in the early 80s. In those days, there was only one woman in oral surgery in the entire United States and just a few residents. Getting a position in the oral maxillofacial surgery residency program was almost impossible for women. I wanted to stay in the northeast, and I was lucky enough that the chairman of the department here at Rutgers was a very progressive man who didn't look at your gender but looked at who you were. He gave me a position at New Jersey Dental School at the time. Rutgers gave me my start.

What do you like the most about RSDM?

What I like the most is being with the students and the residents. I like being with the students and teaching them. That is why I am still here at RSDM! Schools are just buildings, but it is the people that make the difference, and that’s the most important thing.

What do you enjoy doing outside the school?

I have a lot of hobbies! I’m a great skier. I started skiing as a very young girl because I grew up in the Boston area. I also skate; I played for two years on the University of Pennsylvania Women's Ice Hockey team. I like to work with wood, and I’m a trap and skeet shooter. Also, I’m a scuba diver, and I like to take pictures underwater. I have a lot of things that keep me busy! And I take care of my daughter’s 17-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, named Cookie because he looks like a little chocolate chip cookie!