Oral surgeon and missionary volunteer set to retire from dental school
Dr. William Marshall has been the Director of the West Virginia University School of Dentistry General Practice Residency program for 18 years. His history with WVU began when he completed an undergraduate degree in pharmacy in 1974. The Moundsville, WV native traded the mountain state for the peach state when he graduated from Mercer University in Georgia with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1978. Upon his return to West Virginia, Dr. Marshall completed his DDS at WVU in 1984 and a general practice residency in 1985, a program he later chaired for nearly two decades. In 1991, Dr. Marshall became a tenured professor with the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry.
Q: What led you to study dentistry?
Dr. Marshall: Dentistry is one of the few professions where you have the ability to work for yourself and directly help others.
Q: Why did you want to do that at WVU?
Dr. Marshall: I had been living and practicing Pharmacy in the Atlanta area for 5 or 6 years and did not care for the big city life once I started a family. I yearned for the smaller community environment of Morgantown as a great place to grow and raise a family closer to home.
Q: What are some things you have found to be most rewarding over your career?
Dr. Marshall: The opportunity to work and be recognized as a team player in providing medically necessary dental care to individuals in need and the gratitude expressed by the families of those you've served.
Q: What are your greatest accomplishments or what are you proud of?
Dr. Marshall: Keeping the General Practice Residency viable and accredited over the years.
Being recognized by peers for providing medically necessary dental care to special needs patients.
Helping colleagues to introduce dental missionary work to students at the School of Dentistry by participating in travel to Guatemala to serve the indigent population of the country. I had some great experiences with some super students and colleagues in doing so. It was probably the height of my career to be able to set up and staff an oral surgery mash unit at such a remote site with primitive conditions and for me to receive such gratitude and appreciation from those we served.
Q: Did you ever receive a piece of advice that helped you to be successful and reach your goals.
Dr. Marshall: A couple of essential characteristics needed for me to be successful were:
Perseverance – especially if things or situations don't come easy
Flexibility – “The sign of intelligence is the ability to adjust.” Change is inevitable!
“When a door closes, a window opens.” – There is time to make a change.
Q: Do you have words of advice or encouragement you’d like to share with students, faculty, residents or staff?
Dr. Marshall: Students – Learn to be organized, have a plan and have an alternative as things sometimes don’t go as expected.
Faculty: Learn to do things for the “good or best interest” of the school and not necessarily for your or the department's best interest.
Residents: Stay focused, develop perseverance, exhibit professionalism and practice with the best interest in the school.
Staff: If you find yourself unable to perform as a team player in your position, find a position which you can that is right for you.
Q: Has there been a surprising event or transformation over the course of your career you never would have expected?
Dr. Marshall: Over the course of 37 years, there have been far too many to elaborate!
Q: What do you wish for the School of Dentistry going forward?
Dr. Marshall: The School of Dentistry is remodeled and all or most of the departments are brought back to the school at Health Sciences Center.
The School of Dentistry becomes more focused to the needs of the school with less departmental emphasis.
The School of Dentistry is able to retain enough senior faculty with sufficient wisdom and experience to make the proper transition.
Q: What does being a Mountaineer mean to you?
Dr. Marshall: “To lead or go first” in a humble, grateful and compassionate manner for those around you.
Q: What is you first order of business for retirement?
Dr. Marshall: To sort through my worldly possessions and put them in appropriate order for the next period of life.
Identify my “ikigi” (Japanese term) for the intersection of what I love, what I’m good at and who I can help without regards to payment.