Dr. William A Kropa, DDS

The second son of a rocket pioneer, Dr. William A. Kropa, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. With the space program intensifying, his father’s career would relocate the family to North Reading, Massachusetts in the early ‘60s. There, William graduated as Valedictorian, Class of 1972.
Dr. Kropa attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on an academic scholarship from AAL. In 1976, he graduated Summa Cum Laude, with membership in both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi national honor societies. Upon graduation, William was again awarded a full academic “Military Health Professions Scholarship” to attend Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. 
While at Tufts, Dr. Kropa received the Award for Preclinical Excellence, which recognizes the student with the best dental skills. He married classmate, Dr. Catherine Sullivan, one month prior to graduation. Upon graduating with honors from Tufts in 1979, Dr. Kropa was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army. 
Dr. …Kropa’s first military assignment took him to Fort Ord in Monterey, California where he completed a General Practice Residency in 1980. Dr. Kropa was recognized as the top graduate of the program and was awarded an assignment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York where he served as the “Fourth Regimental Dentist” for three years. While at West Point, Dr. Kropa was awarded the Expert Marksman and Army Commendation Medals.
In 1983, Dr. Kropa declined orders to Vicenza, Italy in order to pursue private practice on Boston’s North Shore. While in the U.S. Army Reserves, Major Kropa maintained a close relationship with the U.S. Military Academy for a number of years, serving as the Military Academy Liason Officer (MALO) for the North Shore. He was responsible for interviewing and assisting high school students applying to “West Point”.
Dr. Kropa and his wife, Catherine, have maintained a private practice of general dentistry in Swampscott for 27 years. He has been an active member of the American Dental Association, Massachusetts Dental Society, North Shore District Dental Society, and is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.
Drs. William and Catherine Kropa maintain homes in Marblehead and Orleans. They have two grown daughters, Rachel (works for a non-profit agency in Los Angeles) and Madeleine (a curatorial assistant at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, MA).  The family enjoys tennis, golf, bicycling, fine art and reading.
Dr. Kropa sits on the Board of Trustees for the John Bertram Houses of Salem and Swampscott (assisted living facilities).
As an inventor, Dr. Kropa has developed and patented an ergonomically correct task stool, “The OPPASIT”, which enables the user to sit actively or passively at a fixed station while enhancing spinal posture, lower body muscle tone, and circulation. 
Additionally, Dr. Kropa is co-owner of the American Firearms School in North Attleboro.   AFS was founded by Dr. Kropa’s father in the ‘90s and has received Presidential Citations for its support of law enforcement agencies. The school’s mission is to provide “proper instruction in the safe use of firearms to law enforcement personnel as well as the general public”.   Dr. Kropa is a licensed firearms instructor. 
Dr. Kropa looks forward to providing quality dental care to the Wellfleet community.