Sahil Maher ’26, a pre-dental biology major who’s part of the seven-year partnership program between Muhlenberg and the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, was recently accepted and commissioned in the United States Air Force as a second lieutenant.
“I’ve always had a passion for service and for government as well,” says Lt. Maher, who will start at Penn Dental in the fall. “When I found out about the Air Force Dental Corps, I thought it was the best way to combine my skills in dentistry and my passion for government.”
The U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force offer a Health Professions Scholarship Program, which covers tuition and other costs for students attending dental school, medical school, and other health specialties in exchange for service after graduation. After he concludes his time at Penn Dental, Lt. Maher will be promoted to the rank of captain and stationed on an Air Force base for at least four years.
I think the professors [here] and the close contact I was able to have with them, being able to understand the material and apply it in my field, is really what got me more motivated to learn the science behind dentistry.
Lt. Maher learned about the program through Director of Health Professions Advising Cailin Cordon-Waldman. In the northeast, only three students (including Lt. Maher) were accepted to the Air Force program out of a few hundred applicants.
He feels well prepared to begin his time at Penn Dental after spending the past three years at Muhlenberg: “I think the professors [here] and the close contact I was able to have with them, being able to understand the material and apply it in my field, is really what got me more motivated to learn the science behind dentistry,” he says.
