Cerina Wanzer Fairfax is a dentist and the wife of Democrat politician Justin Edward Fairfax, the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. She is known for her expertise in various fields of dentistry and co-owns a family clinic in Oakton, Virginia. Cerina graduated with honors from Duke University and earned her doctorate degree in dental surgery from VCU’s Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry. Despite recent controversies surrounding her husband, Cerina has not made any public statements on the matter.
Quick Facts
- Age: 45 Years
- Family: Spouse/Ex-: Justin Fairfax, children: Cameron and Carys
- U.S. State: Virginia
- Education: Duke University
Career
After earning her DDS, Cerina spent a year more at MCV as a participant in the school’s residency program in Advanced Education in General Dentistry. Interested in all fields of dentistry, she still continues to expand her knowledge on the subject. For years, her focus has been on conservative, comprehensive dentistry. Dr Fairfax is affiliated with the American Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association, the Northern Virginia Dental Society, and the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Society. She has won an Alumni Association Award from VCU as an Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade.
Not long after their marriage, Cerina and Fairfax established the Dr. Fairfax & Associates Family Dentistry in Oakton, which is a census-designated place located in Fairfax County, Virginia. According to the biography on her website, Cerina regards it as an “honour and privilege” to provide her service for her fellow community members in Fairfax. Besides working with her patients, she is active in various community outreach programs, volunteering and sponsorship opportunities, and vocational training programs. She also donates to local charities and non-profit organisations.
Family & Personal Life
Cerina was reportedly born in 1978 in Virginia, USA in a family of doctors. Some sources state that her parents run a hospital together. Little else is known about her early life and upbringing. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. In 1999, she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from there. She subsequently attended VCU’s Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry, from where she earned her doctorate degree in dental surgery in 2005. While she was there, she also became a member of a dental honour society called Omicron Kappa Upsilon.
Cerina and Fairfax exchanged wedding vows in June 2006. They have two children together, son, Cameron, and daughter, Carys. Cerina spends much of her free time reading, running trails with her exuberant Vizslas, doing Bikram Yoga, travelling, and being with her family. They presently reside in Annandale, Virginia.
Cerina’s husband, Justin Fairfax, hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also attended Duke University, from where he graduated in 2000. That year, he served as a briefing coordinator for Tipper Gore in Al Gore’s presidential campaign, operating out of the campaign’s Nashville, Tennessee office. He later earned a law degree from Columbia Law School. In 2004, he was part of John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Over the course of his legal career, Fairfax has worked both for private firms and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 2017, he ran a successful campaign for the post of Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Despite holding public office, Fairfax has continued his legal career, as the position of the Lieutenant Governor is part-time.
Scandals & Controversies
In early February 2019, Justin Fairfax faced sexual assault allegations from political scientist Vanessa C. Tyson, who is an associate professor at Scripps College and fellow at Stanford University. According to Tyson, the assault took place in a hotel at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Fairfax responded by saying that while their encounter was sexual in nature, it was completely consensual. Tyson subsequently released a detailed version of her story, in which she stated that although they had been consensually kissing in the beginning, it changed when he compelled her to perform oral sex on him. Fairfax again denied the allegations.
On February 8, 2019, a second accuser, Meredith Watson, revealed that Fairfax had raped her in 2000 when they were both studying at Duke University. According to her allegations against him, when she confronted him about the rape, he allegedly told her that he knew that she had been raped once before, by a Duke basketball player, who was later revealed to be the former NBA player Corey Maggette, and but did not pursue the case. This apparently gave Fairfax the confidence to rape her as he was sure that she would be too afraid to report it. Fairfax has vehemently refuted these allegations as well. However, a significant number of people from both sides of the political aisle are demanding his resignation now. As of April 2019, Cerina has not come forward with a statement about the allegations against her husband.