Dean Nader A. Nadershahi | An Admired Leader

Nadershahi likes to quote an African saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Profoundly reflective, Nadershahi knows his values and has developed a strong vision. He reads widely. He listens carefully. He asks a lot of questions. He appreciates the perspective of history, both his own and the school’s. During the past 30 years, he has absorbed the dental school’s systems, its administrative tics, its program quirks and its traditions. He has imagined a bright, tight future, a future of innovation and creativity, of enhanced technologies and refined efficiencies, of strengthened scientific agility and soaring clinical excellence and of seamless commitment to humanism—the institutional culture built on kindness, mutual respect, dignity and collegiality. 

Nadershahi has developed plans for how to make that future happen. But he doesn’t make decisions in a vacuum. Refusing the luxury of isolation, he networks across his various constituencies, soliciting input, weighing counsel and gathering stakeholder opinions. He’s aware of the agreement required to reach critical mass for change. Just as he envisions dentistry and medicine as siblings needing integration for everyone’s good, he understands that the Dugoni School is a family—counting more than 500 students and residents, more than 500 employees, a patient base north of 20,000 and 8,600 alumni—whose branches must be unified and reunified according to shifting circumstances. His is a faith that, to be fruitful, must be shared—and embraced. “He comes around and talks to people,” observes Nick Salameh, Class of 2025, Associated Student Body President. 

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Nadershahi has approached his responsibilities with the conviction of a minister and the open-mindedness of a therapist. He speaks precisely, and softly, in velvety tones, cadenced and calming as a meditation coach, and smooth as chocolate. His demeanor is warm, his smile radiant. He carries himself with the quiet assurance of an attentive listener. 

Loyal, committed and principled, Nadershahi is evenhanded in his judgment. He has reconciled the contrasting demands of his position with aplomb—vision with inclusivity, decisiveness with collaboration, confidence with conciliation.

“I appreciate how ridiculously difficult his job is,” Salameh says. “He has to represent so many people. But he stays composed under pressure, which shows that he loves what he does and the people he works with.”

I was surprised at how important it became for my life to be part of students’ journeys, and growth and lives.

“Nader recognizes, respects and values others,” says Dr. Cindy Lyon ’86, former associate dean for oral health education. “He knows how to create a shared vision and lead change but, more importantly, he appreciates and brings out the best in others, challenging us to be creative and innovative without losing sight of what defines us.” 

The dean has a knack for cultivating long-term relationships. “Having known him since he was a first-year student, I’ve counted it a joy to observe him moving up through administrative positions and additional degree programs,” Alumni Association Director Joanne Fox says. “I have always appreciated that Nader acknowledged Art Dugoni’s mentorship and guidance while creating innovations and moving the school forward during his own tenure as dean.”

Peter DuBois, JD, executive director of the California Dental Association, met Nadershahi more than 20 years ago, when former Dean Arthur A. Dugoni ’48 asked DuBois to meet with the dental school’s leadership development program participants. “We had a very engaged discussion,” DuBois remembers, “and many years later we are still having great discussions and working together to accomplish all that we can. These days, we serve together on the CDA Board of Directors and in the Santa Fe Group (founded by Dean Dugoni and four other colleagues 25 years ago).”

Nadershahi’s proclivities and strategies have emphatically paid off—in the design and rollout of an integrated Helix Curriculum and competencies; in the comprehensive fundraising campaign that netted more than $69 million (more than any other dental school); and more than doubling school endowments, which now represent a market value above $102 million. Nadershahi’s team has expanded the dental school’s revenue budget from $73 million to almost $100 million, while boosting technology, creating unique fellowships and internships, preserving low tuition increases and maintaining a positive net reserve. Not coincidentally, the school’s debt of $45 million—to support its move to the Fifth Street campus—will be retired this year. 

The dental school, in fact, is humming. Nadershahi directed the creation of designated reserves to cover his original goal of going from zero to more than 50% of operating budget to offset future emergencies. He helped nurture the most diverse and inclusive leadership team in the school’s 129-year history, drawing from a complete range of race, gender, identity and experience. The school sees as many as 100,000 patient visits per year, enjoying a cumulative 94% satisfaction rating. 

To improve productivity, Nadershahi, a tech savvy leader, helped evolve a culture of data-informed decision-making. He established an outcomes team to track data in every area of the operation. He conceived, orchestrated and polished management systems, some of which he channeled through a series of centers of excellence, including the Pacific Center for Equity in Oral Health Care, the Center for Success and the Center for Innovation and Translation. The results are consistent. The school has sponsored and hosted national meetings on complex and special care. Research has risen, and the school’s annual number of publications have more than doubled during his tenure.

Nadershahi has also served as a vice provost of the university, which means his responsibilities include oversight of other operations on Pacific’s San Francisco campus, including the doctor of audiology, MS in data science and MA in music therapy programs. He also helped guide the accreditation process for Pacific’s Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree. External institutions have noticed Nadershahi’s accomplishments. Last year the American College of Dentists recognized him with its highest honor, the William John Gies Award, named for a seminal early 20th- century educator. The American Dental Education Association also presented him its own William J. Gies Award for Vision and Leadership, making Nadershahi the only person to have collected both Gies Awards in the same year.

Those who work with him are not surprised. “Dean Nadershahi is an extraordinary leader,” DuBois says. “The quality of his contributions to dental education and the profession is exceeded only by his grace and humanity.”

You will never have to question if he cares about us—not just as students, but as real humans.

“Throughout his 10 years as dean, Nader has not just maintained, but increased the reputation of the school as one of the finest in the country as evidenced by application numbers, praise by deans and faculty members from other institutions, event attendance and philanthropic growth,” Fox says.

“Nader is strong, courageous, authentic and humble,” Lyon says. “His steady decision-making and thoughtful moral compass have been invaluable to the school. As the adage goes, he does the right thing, even when it’s hard, even when no one is looking, even at personal risk.”

For Dean Nadershahi, the professional is, on a very real level, personal. Nadershahi honors the influential people in his career: his wife Dr. Nilou Nadershahi ’91 and his brother Dr. Navid Nadershahi Knight ’89, both dentists; his mother, an English teacher who impressed on him a love of learning; Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni; and Dr. Ron Borer, the beloved former associate dean of clinical services who recruited Nadershahi—who had never considered education his calling—from private practice to full-time teaching. “It’s always like that,” Nadershahi says. “Someone taps you on the shoulder and changes your life.” 

He feels genuinely blessed by his unexpected turn as an educator. “I was surprised at how important it became for my life to be part of students’ journeys, and growth and lives,” he says, “and to indirectly touch the lives of all those patients. I didn’t expect my passion to grow so much.”

The administration senses his solicitude. “Nader has taken such incredible care of our Dugoni School family in all of his roles here,” Lyon says. “We’re never far from his heart and mind. The depth of his commitment is hard to express fully.”

Even the students feel it. “You will never have to question if he cares about us—not just as students, but as real humans,” Salameh says.

Nadershahi points to the sudden challenges of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as proof of what the school is made of. “We had already established clear values and priorities, and we had a team willing to step up and implement systems to keep the family safe while maintaining the same high quality of education and patient care. We didn’t furlough anyone, so we didn’t have to rehire later.” As a result, the Dugoni School was one of the first schools to get back up and running. “We made it through the pandemic,” Nadershahi says, “stronger, more smoothly and more safely than any other dental school.” 

Nadershahi departs as dean in summer 2025. “I’m so lucky to be in both health care and education,” he says. As his deanship winds down, he contemplates his journey: “I’m incredibly proud of our school family and our culture, especially how we’ve been able to elevate humanism as a defining characteristic,” he says. “I’m proud we’re on the leading edge of technology. I’m proud of our curriculum, our teaching and our scholarship. I’m proud that we have empowered research, getting the right people into the building to create an atmosphere of support and to attract grants. I’m proud of our strongest-ever leadership team. I’m proud of our fundraising and the generosity of our donors. I’m proud of our financial stability, as strong now as it ever has been. I am proud that we attract some of the best and brightest students and residents.” 

This is about all of us, We are all part of the fabric that defines the Dugoni School.

Such success, as everyone knows, hinges on practice. Lyon notes, “Nader’s e-signature includes a quote [often attributed to Aristotle] that I think aptly animates and grounds his commitment to leadership, vision and his sincere desire for the Dugoni School: ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.’”

Nadershahi often thinks about what’s over the horizon for the school he loves. “I want us to be the premier oral healthcare organization in the world,” he says, both for a sense of stewardship satisfaction and for the good of those who will come later. “We must be good ancestors for our future students, dentists and dental hygienists.”

“This is about all of us,” he says. “We are all part of the fabric that defines the Dugoni School.”

Dr. Eric K. Curtis ’85, of Safford, Arizona, is a contributor to Contact Point and is the author of A Century of Smiles, a historical book covering the dental school’s first 100 years.