Meet The Authors

My allure with aesthetics began during my time at the International American High School in Frankfurt, Germany, where I was chosen for an artist track designed to prepare students for careers in the arts. While my inherent creative instincts were nurtured there, my interest in the human condition steered me towards a career in medicine.

As my education continued, my studies continued in both the medical science and aesthetics, a fusion rooted in my early passion for both science and creativity. It started at Concordia University, where I completed a dual degree in Biology and Art, forming a base for my diverse pursuits. Balancing science, arts, and humanities, I decided, with guidance from friends, family, and mentors, to be a practitioner by day and an artist by night.

I chose dentistry as a field of medical practice where I could utilize my hand-eye skills and work with patients. I graduated from Marquette Dental School in Wisconsin and began a direction of specialized training in Periodontal Residency and Implant Surgery at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. There, I continued into the biology of oral facial tissues and continued with further training in Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgery. My academic path in aesthetics deepened at SUNY University in Buffalo, New York, where I worked as an Assistant Professor, focusing on Orthofacial aesthetics. This period was pivotal, yet I felt something was missing in my work. Discussions with my mentor, the late Brian Preston DDS, PhD, led me to realize that what I sought lay beyond the traditional clinical setting.

This realization propelled me into the world of art and design, culminating in a Master of Fine Arts at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. While this provided significant insights into the production of arts through various media, I sensed there were still critical areas in aesthetics that needed exploration.

The next significant phase was earning my Ph.D. in Comparative Studies from Florida Atlantic University. This journey was a comprehensive exploration of aesthetics, encompassing aesthetic philosophy, cultural, arts, and media. This led me to collaborate with Prof. Gerald C. Cupchik from the University of Toronto, whose expertise in aesthetics and emotions was instrumental in my dissertation. Professor Cupchik, with his extensive background in social psychology, health psychology, and experimental aesthetics, introduced critical concepts like the 'just noticeable difference' (JND) and the 'critical incident technique' (CIT). These ideas were crucial in shaping my understanding of how smaller changes in aesthetics could lead to significant personal transformations, thereby enhancing the practitioner-patient relationship and preserving the integrity of clinical practices.

C.V.