What are the chances of this happening…
By: Harriet K. McGraw, DDS, AO board director and Academy News Guest Contributor
Following her nomination as an AO Board member at-large, I e-mailed Despoina Bompolaki, DDS, MS, FACP to extend my congratulations. I also took the opportunity to ask if her family heritage was from the island of Crete, since her last name, ending in -aki, is common to the island. I shared my maiden name, Papasifakis.
Upon greeting Despoina in person at the AO Annual Meeting in Seattle, I was quite surprised when she told me we had met before. It was at my first cousin’s wedding in the village of Palaia Roumata in Crete, in 2001! My sister and I had accompanied our parents to the wedding and Despoina remembered us, recalling that we were the first women dentists she had met. I was very touched when she told me we had been the inspiration for her becoming a dentist.
Despoina was at the wedding with her parents and sister, her father having grown up in the village. I had met her father when visiting many years ago. This is where it gets interesting. Not only are our ancestral homes in the same small village but we are related! My grandfather and Despoina’s great grandmother were first cousins.
AO bylaws prohibit members of the same family from serving on the board at the same time. Using that standard, Despoina and I are allowed to be on the board together. We’re happy that Cretan standards weren’t consulted, since we’d be considered close relatives. We’re delighted to be fellow board members!
