Uic School Of Dental, Dr. Gloria A. Alessio, Broke Dental Barriers, 73
Q: Dr. Gloria
A: Alessio, 73, who helped break gender barriers in the
early 1950s when she graduated from dental school and opened a
practice that flourished for nearly 50 years, died of cancer Tuesday,
April 16, 2002, in her Chicago, Illinois, home.
Explaining her career choice in the male-dominated dental field, Dr.
Alessio said in a 1995 interview that her parents had encouraged her
to "have more options in life than just becoming a housewife." In 1952
she was one of two women in a class of more than 100 men to graduate
from the University of Illinois at Chicago's dental school.
A:That summer she opened her Berwyn practice, which grew over the years
to include more than 800 patients.
Dr. Alessio later became a compassionate mentor to young female dental
graduates from local universities.
"She had a determined way about her and certainly understood the
challenges of balancing a practice and parenthood," said Mark
Valentino, assistant dean for alumni affairs in the UIC College of
Dentistry.
While attending a Chicago Dental Society meeting, she met Dr. Anthony
W. Gargiulo, whom she married in 1961. The couple raised six children.
"It was kids, husband, home and dentistry, in that order," Dr. Alessio
said in the 1995 interview. "Practicing dentistry was a luxury I did
for myself. I needed to help people, to put them