New Jersey-trained dentist rose from immigrant roots to become Navy admiral

Donald Yuen Sze arrived in the United States as the son of Chinese immigrants, became a dentist in Newark and an oral surgeon in Jersey City, and ultimately reached a rank few Americans — and even fewer dentists — ever attain.

Sze retired from the U.S. Navy Reserve as a rear admiral after more than 25 years of military service, completing a career that took the New Jersey-trained oral surgeon from treating patients to helping oversee expeditionary medicine for the Navy and Marine Corps.

The journey nearly left Sze himself incredulous.

As he was preparing for military retirement several years ago, his telephone began filling with calls and messages. When he finally returned one, he was told he had been selected for promotion to admiral.

“Half of me wanted to believe that,” Sze recalled, “and the other half of me was thinking it was a scam, waiting for the other shoe to drop and get asked for my credit card info.”

There was no scam.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Sze’s promotion to rear admiral, lower half, in July 2020. He became the fifth Chinese American to reach flag officer rank in the Navy and the first Chinese American dental officer to reach the rank of O-7.

The achievement capped a remarkable American story with important chapters written in New Jersey.

An immigrant family’s journey

Born in China, Sze came to the United States after his father immigrated with just $100 and worked for two years to earn enough money to bring the rest of his family to America.

The family settled in Santa Monica, California, where they opened a restaurant. Sze worked there after school.

He eventually enrolled at the University of Southern California but spent his first two years without declaring a major.

His future began taking shape after a conversation with another student who would later become his wife. When she asked what he wanted to become, Sze said a doctor, thinking about an uncle who was a dentist.

“That’s the only thing I knew,” Sze recalled. “I was an accidental dentist.”

Once he made the decision, however, he pursued it with distinction.

Sze graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in 1982 and headed across the country to New Jersey.

He enrolled at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, the predecessor of what is now Rutgers School of Dental Medicine.

Sze distinguished himself academically and in campus leadership. He served as vice president of his class throughout dental school, held leadership positions in student government and was vice president of the Alpha Omega dental fraternity chapter.

In 1986, he was elected to the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society and earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree, finishing third in his class.

“I peaked in dental school,” Sze joked years later.

New Jersey would also provide the next stage of his medical training.

Sze completed his oral and maxillofacial surgery certification through Seton Hall University at Jersey City Medical Center and was named valedictorian of his house staff graduating class.

He subsequently became an attending oral surgeon at Jersey City Medical Center and joined the private practice of his program director.

Sze eventually returned to California, completing a surgical implant fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, and establishing a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

But another career was about to begin.

From oral surgeon to Navy officer

Sze received his Navy commission in 1999 through Naval Aviation Schools Command in Pensacola, Florida.

He advanced rapidly, reaching the rank of commander within three years.

“I said, wow, this is great,” Sze recalled. “I’m the same as 007.”

What followed was a succession of increasingly demanding medical and military leadership assignments.

Sze served in positions at Naval Dental Center Southwest, Camp Pendleton and Naval Medical Center San Diego and held leadership roles in Navy Reserve expeditionary medical units.

He was mobilized in 2003 in support of operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. At Naval Medical Center San Diego, he served as an attending surgeon in the oral and maxillofacial surgery residency program before becoming department head of the Branch Dental Clinic at San Onofre, Camp Pendleton.

His second mobilization came in 2014 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sze served at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the major military medical facility that treated American service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was deputy director for Navy personnel and commanding officer of Navy Expeditionary Medical Unit 15.

The work placed a dentist trained in Newark and Jersey City in command positions far removed from the traditional image of a dental practice.

Sze went on to become reserve fleet surgeon for the U.S. Third Fleet, making him a senior adviser on medical matters affecting one of the Navy’s principal operational fleets.

“I was the subject matter expert for all things medical that had to deal with the Third Fleet,” he said.

His career included command tours at Naval Dental Center Camp Pendleton; 4th Dental Company, 4th Dental Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group; Operational Health Support Unit San Diego; and Navy Expeditionary Medical Unit 15 in Germany.

He also served as chief of staff for Navy Reserve Expeditionary Medicine and in leadership positions responsible for expeditionary medical facilities capable of establishing and operating military hospitals around the world.

Then came the unexpected call telling him he had been selected for admiral.

Making Navy history

Following his promotion, Sze’s responsibilities extended well beyond dentistry.

His flag assignments included deputy commander of Naval Medical Forces Support Command and deputy medical officer of the Marine Corps. He later served as commander of Expeditionary Medicine for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and chief of the Navy Reserve Dental Corps.

In those positions, Sze helped oversee policies, readiness and training affecting Navy medicine and the medical support provided to sailors and Marines.

His decorations include two Legions of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

He also received the 2005 Rear Adm. Vaughn Memorial Award as the Navy Reserve’s Outstanding Dental Officer of the Year.

On July 18, 2024, Rear Adm. Pamela Miller, deputy chief of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for Reserve Policy and Integration, recognized Sze for more than 25 years of service during his retirement ceremony at Defense Health Headquarters.

The ceremony marked the end of a military career that began when Sze was already an accomplished oral surgeon and eventually placed him among the highest-ranking officers in the U.S. Navy.

It also completed an unlikely journey spanning two continents and both American coasts — from a Chinese immigrant family working in a California restaurant, to dental school in Newark, surgical training in Jersey City, military hospitals treating troops wounded overseas and, finally, the stars of a Navy admiral.

For Sze, the lesson of that journey is less about rank than refusing to decide in advance what is beyond one’s reach.

“You will surprise yourself time over and over again,” Sze said.

“Don’t let the name dental school or medical school scare you, just like don’t let the military scare you,” he added. “Never be afraid of the unknown and already condemn yourself that you’re not capable of doing.”