Dr. Reka Koerner-Vajna was born and grew up in Sepsiszentgyorgy, Transylvania. After graduating from high school, Szekely Miko Kollegium, Reka fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming a dentist by beginning to study dentistry at the Medical University of Tirgu Mures (Marosvasarhely). In her third year she was able to transfer to the renowned Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary’s oldest medical school, where she received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1998 and enrolled in a Ph.D. program in immunology. In 1999 she came to the University of Minnesota to study oral biology and to participate in the graduate residency in general dentistry program at the Dental School. In 2004, she received her dental license for Minnesota and started work as a family dentist in Monticello, Minn. In February 2010, she moved to a Downtown Minneapolis practice.
Reka lives in the Prospect Park neighborhood near the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus with her husband Ascan, a professor of Communications Studies at the university, and their two young daughters, Sophie and Kira. Reka and Ascan met shortly after they both came to the university in 1999 and married in Mound, Minn., in 2002.
In her free time, Reka enjoys reading, yoga, and pla
y with her kids. Ascan, a German originally from Koeln, is an avid soccer player and they both like to travel and do outdoor activities. Sophie and Kira are regulars at the Hungarian Kids Club and otherwise manage to keep their parents happy and busy. Reka’s mother, no retired, is still living in Sepsiszentgyorgy, across the street from Reka’s uncle and aunt. They all have been in Minneapolis on several occasions and helped out when the girls were born. Reka’s brother, Zsolt, immigrated to Australia three years ago and now lives and works in Sydney. Before Reka took on her new job responsibilities at 901 Family Dentistry, she, Ascan and the girls visited him for a vacation of a lifetime. Reka has been involved with the Minnesota Hungarians since first coming to Minneapolis in 1999 and particularly likes to attend the Tanzhaz and holiday celebrations, and more recently attends the Kids Club with her girls.
