When she’s not in the dental clinic or class, you might find Grace Huang, MMSc24, on a stage belting out a Whitney Houston classic or performing an operatic aria. The orthodontic advanced graduate student with a passion for singing graduates this May. She hopes to apply the skills she’s acquired from both her dental specialty training and her musical background to teach future students and provide personalized care to patients.
“Success in any field, be it the arts, education, or patient care, requires effective connection and engagement with the audience,” said Huang. “Having performed a diverse range of musical styles, I've learned to be adaptable in various settings. The way I approach an orthodontic consultation with a dermatologist is very different from the way I explain the same principles to an 8-year-old,” she added. “The same thing is true with teaching — students are going to be coming from different backgrounds and may learn the materials in different ways.”
From a young age, Huang saw music as a gateway to learning. She immigrated to the United States from China with her parents when she was six years old, settling in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.
“Music has always been such a big part of my life. I used it as a tool to practice English when I first moved to America,” she said.
In China, her father was a practicing dentist, and her mother was an acupuncturist and massage therapist. However, after moving to the U.S., they had to restart their careers and pursue new training. The family lived just a few blocks away from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, which stood as a beacon of opportunity.
“It was a huge sacrifice for my parents to take the chance and move to the United States to try to provide me with a better future,” said Huang. “They both had to start over by working two jobs each. Since they were working 16–17 hours a day, I had to learn how to be self-motivated and responsible from a young age.”
Her dad attended classes while working full-time and studying around the clock to pass his board exams to become a licensed dentist while her mom trained to become an orthodontic assistant.
“My mom becoming an orthodontic assistant allowed me to get orthodontic treatment that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford back then. Every night, she would share her dream of me becoming an orthodontist one day, which gave me something to aspire to,” she said.
From Opera to Oral Health
Huang earned her bachelor’s degree and Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania before attending HSDM to pursue orthodontics. During her third-year, Huang was recognized for her research earning first place in the 2020 American Association for Dental Research (AADR) Hatton Competition. During her time at Penn, she also discovered her voice and natural talent for singing and served as president of SoundBites, the school’s premier a cappella group.
“In college, my friends encouraged me to start singing, and I decided to take voice lessons,” said Huang. “During my first lesson, my teacher noticed that I had the highest operatic soprano range.”
She dedicated her spare time to practicing and joining opera groups. Now, Huang can often be found performing on different stages throughout Boston. She recently completed a solo concert in the Longwood Towers Music Series accompanied by HSDM second-year dental student Christina Xu on piano.
In between performances, Huang is busy teaching predoctoral students, treating patients in the clinic, and completing her master’s thesis. Continuing a lifelong love of teaching that began with tutoring classmates in third grade, Huang has lectured and written exam questions for predoctoral orthodontic classes throughout her residency. After graduation, she will pursue a part-time faculty position while also practicing orthodontics. She hopes to educate future generations of dentists and encourage them to pursue their dreams as she did.
As Huang finishes the final few months of her program, she has earned recognition for her clinical acumen. She was recently selected as the 2024 Eugene L. Gottlieb Journal of Clinical Orthodontics (JCO) Student of the Year Award, out of 19 residents from dental schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“This honor reflects not just my personal journey but also the collective support and inspiration from my family, mentors, and colleagues. Orthodontics has the profound ability to not only perfect smiles but also transform lives by affecting how people feel about themselves and interact with the world.”
Huang was presented with the JCO award during the American Association of Orthodontists annual session. While at the annual session, she represented HSDM in the William R. Proffit Resident Scholar Award Competition, presenting her master’s thesis, Individualizing Aligner Change Schedule: A Single-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial. Her research earned a clinical research award during HSDM’s Student Research Day.
“Attending HSDM has been a deeply fulfilling experience, allowing me to realize not only my family’s American dream but also my own professional ambitions. Here, I’ve been able to lay the foundation to become the best dentist and clinician I can be.”
