Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Fall 2021 - 22

People in Orthodontics
Faculty Files
Dr. Xingzhong (John) Zhang
Dr. Xingzhong (John) Zhang
Mesa, AZ
PCSO Bulletin Section Editor
Dr. Zhang was born and raised in a small town in
the southeast part of China. Before he graduated
from high school, he did not know much about
dentistry, but a parent of one of his classmates
told him that dentistry would have a " great
future " in China. Therefore, he took that person's
advice and applied to Beijing Medical University
(BMU), one of the top medical universities in China.
(Note: BMU was the former Peking University
[PKU] School of Medicine and was separated from
PKU in the 1950s and later rejoined PKU in 2000.)
Dr. Zhang earned excellent scores on the national
entrance examination, much higher than those
required by the BMU School of Stomatology, and
became one of three students from his province
who were accepted into the dental program,
which had a total of 46 dental students. After
graduation, he again challenged himself to
apply for the most competitive, and desirable,
program in his dental school: the Orthodontic
Graduate Program. In 1991, he became one of two
graduate students accepted into this program.
Dr. Zhang feels indebted to the many professors
who taught him orthodontics, especially his two
primary mentors, Drs. Min-Kui Fu and Jiuxiang
Lin. These professors not only substantially
influenced his professional endeavors, but have
also maintained a lasting friendship with him
for the past 30 years. To better understand their
influence, a little background is necessary.
Dr. Fu first completed his orthodontic graduate
training in 1963 in the same department at
BMU and then in 1982 at Northwestern UniverDr.
Zhang is currently a full-time faculty member
of the Postgraduate Orthodontic Program (POP)
at A.T. Still University's Arizona School of Dentistry
& Oral Health (ASDOH) in Mesa, Arizona.
He also serves as the associate administrative
director of ASDOH-POP, assisting Dr. Jae Park, the
program director and chair, and actively participates
in teaching orthodontics to postgraduate
and undergraduate students. He has held this
position for almost three years and loves working
with Dr. Park and other colleagues at ASDOH.
sity under Dr. Harold T. Perry. He was the BMU
orthodontic department chair from 1987 to 1997
and was the founder and first editor-in-chief
of the Chinese Journal of Orthodontics. Because
of Dr. Fu's efforts, the orthodontic department
was able to invite many top orthodontists and
educators from around the world, such as Drs.
Robert Moyers, Tom Graber, Donald Enlow, Ronald
Roth, Robert Williams, Robert Ricketts, Bjorn
Zacharrison, Rick Alexander, Robert Vanarsdall,
Arthur Phelps, and Mark Hans-just to name a
few. All these orthodontists and educators shared
advancements in orthodontics and orthodontic
education, and broadened Dr. Zhang's view of
orthodontics (Figure 1).
Dr. Lin was the other mentor who significantly
influenced Dr. Zhang. Dr. Lin was an expert in the
Begg technique and the Tip-Edge appliance and
had exceptional expertise in treating severe Class
III malocclusions. As a result, Dr. Zhang learned
a great deal from Dr. Lin about these appliances
and treatment philosophies and later pursued his
growing interest in treating complicated Class III
cases. Dr. Lin was also the vice president of PKU
and president of the Chinese Orthodontic Society,
and is currently editor-in-chief of the Chinese
Journal of Orthodontics. Guided by Dr. Lin, Dr.
Zhang joined the first mixed longitudinal craniofacial
growth study in China soon after he started
his graduate studies in the early 1990s, and he
was involved in collecting that study's longitudinal
data for the next seven years. Dr. Zhang is
incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity
to learn from and work with these two dedicated
mentors who possess great leadership skills.
After completing his four-year postdoctoral
orthodontic training, Dr. Zhang was awarded an
orthodontic certificate and a doctoral degree in
orthodontics. Shortly after graduation, he was
offered an assistant professor position in the
same department at BMU. In 1997, Dr. Zhang
participated in his first three-month study abroad
program, which was sponsored by the Japanese
Dental Association and took place at the Tokyo
22
PCSO Bulletin
Fall 2021
Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Fall 2021

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