Kenneth Liu, DMD, MS, did not have to look beyond his childhood home to see a potential career path. After all, Liu’s father was Perng-Ru Liu, DMD, DDS, MS, who spent 32 years as a faculty member in prosthodontics with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry.
It is a profession that Kenneth Liu’s older brother, Stephen Liu, DMD, MS, also embraced. But while Liu himself was interested in some sort of medical career, he wasn’t certain that dentistry was for him.
“Growing up, I always saw the passion my dad had for dentistry, and that passed on to my brother,” Liu says. “But I kind of wanted to do my own thing. I was hesitant to commit to dentistry for a while.”
In fact, Liu was so determined to find his own path that he left Birmingham for undergrad and enrolled at Duke University, where he received a degree in biology in 2014. Liu says his hesitancy towards dentistry was no problem for his father.
“He encouraged us to chase after whatever we were interested in. He never pushed me into dentistry,” Liu says. “My parents always said that you have to love what you do. And in order to find out what you love, you have to explore your own interests.”
That is exactly what Liu did by shadowing several different medical professions during his time at Duke. Still, nothing quite clicked for him. So on summer break back to Birmingham after Liu’s junior year at Duke, the elder Liu arranged for his son to shadow local periodontist Matthew Litz, DDS. That is when, at long last, Liu’s career direction came into focus.
“I really enjoyed it and quickly decided I wanted to be a periodontist,” Liu says. “I had always seen the work my dad was doing, so I was familiar with crowns, dentures and restorative dentistry. But I had never seen the surgical side that focused on the gum and bone health so extensively.”
“Dr. Litz is wonderful. He really welcomed me into his office when I shadowed him. He showed me a different side of dentistry that I had not been exposed to before. It intrigued me, and I really took to it.”
So Liu returned to Birmingham in the summer of 2014 and began seven years of training at the UAB School of Dentistry, including a three-year periodontology residency. He says he was particularly pleased with the guidance and advice he received from the SOD faculty.
“I had so many great mentors and instructors there who helped me to grow,” Liu says. “The instructors made themselves available to the students, which showed how much they wanted to help us succeed. I just really enjoyed my time at UAB and was able to thrive under that guidance.”
After completing his residency in 2021, Liu and his wife Elyse Dengler, DMD (who he met while both were UAB SOD students) took jobs in private practice in Panama City, Fla. But they returned to Birmingham a few months after Liu’s father passed away in November 2022. Dengler is now an assistant professor at the UAB SOD, while Liu opened his own practice, Northport Periodontics and Implant Dentistry, last year.
“Starting a practice is an incredible learning experience,” Liu says. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m really enjoying it. It was the right move for me.”
He also became an adjunct assistant professor, returning several Fridays each month to work with residents in the School of Dentistry's graduate periodontology program and serve as attending faculty for surgeries in the UAB Dentistry Periodontics Clinic.
“UAB has always been a huge part of my family,” Liu says. “My father was deeply committed to UAB, and he, my brother, my wife and I are all alumni of the school. I wanted to support the school because UAB has done so much for me. One of the most rewarding parts is having the unique opportunity to teach alongside many of the mentors who helped shape my own career."
Liu recently was honored as one of only five recipients of the 2026 UAB Young Alumni Rising Star Awards. The award recognizes alumni age 40 and younger who demonstrate outstanding career achievement and commitment to UAB and the National Alumni Society.
“I’m very grateful to receive that award. It’s a tremendous honor,” Liu says. “But I can only think about all the people who helped me get to this point. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have family, friends and mentors who have believed in me and challenged me. And most importantly, they cared about me. They took the time to teach me, answer questions, open doors and help me find my way and grow as a person.”
“They were able to remind me that I could achieve much more and was more capable than I realized. One of the biggest gifts in having people who care for you is they can see something in you before you see it in yourself. In that way, they were able to push me and help me grow. So the award is really just a reflection of everyone who has poured their heart and time into helping me along my journey.”