VCU School of Dentistry alum named Unsung Virginian

By Loreal Bond
University News Services

Virginia Commonwealth University graduate James Priest, D.D.S., is the recipient of the 38th annual Unsung Virginian Award from the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives.

At the award presentation, the cooperative’s board chairman, Robert W. Connor, recognized Priest for his dedication to improving the lives and meeting the human and spiritual needs of those in South Central Virginia and throughout the Commonwealth.
Connor also praised Priest’s generosity in providing free dental care to those living in disadvantaged areas of Appalachia.

At 48, Priest was diagnosed with Gullian-Barre Syndrome, a disease of the central nervous system that left him completely paralyzed except in his left eye. After three years of battling the disease, he returned to his practice.

Priest received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia Tech and his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Priest visits Richmond once a month as an associate clinical professor in the VCU School of Dentistry’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

The Unsung Virginian Award was established in 1968 and is presented annually by the cooperative. Nominations are solicited by 13 members of the electric cooperatives that serve the Commonwealth. Priest was nominated by the Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative.

The cooperative, founded in 1944, provides training, communications, legislation and other services to the 16 member electric cooperatives serving the mid-Atlantic region.