Dr. Kim A. Brogden, director of Dows Institute for Dental Research and professor of Periodontics with the College of Dentistry, was among almost 30 individuals honored at the University of Iowa’s annual Faculty and Staff Awards Banquet Tuesday, Oct. 7, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Human Resources. Dr. Brogden received the Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. The award, given by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, in cooperation with the Faculty Senate, honors faculty members who have made significant contributions to excellence in public education across the domains of teaching, research, and service.

Dr. Brogden’s research, which focuses on peptides in saliva and their role in oral inflammation and immune response, has drawn acclaim from collaborators and peers around the world and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Since 2012 he has served as director of the Dows Institute for Dental Research, and he is highly regarded as an effective administrator. He led the planning for a recent renovation of the College of Dentistry’s research laboratories, which has greatly improved the utility and flexibility of those spaces.

Dr. Brogden teaches a range of pre- and post-doctoral microbiology courses, and his guidance as a mentor has resulted in many students winning awards locally and nationally. He has twice received the College of Dentistry Mentor of the Year award, and in 2012 he received the American Academy of Periodontology’s Educator Award in recognition of outstanding teaching and mentoring.

In welcome remarks, UI President Sally Mason said that during her travels around the state, across the country, and even around the world, she has heard many stories of how a professor or a staff member at the UI changed someone’s life.

“I have heard how an idea in the mind of a young student going to classes on our campus turned into a brilliant career, how gratefulness for how our health care and health sciences have saved someone’s life, and I have heard appreciation for how the university has helped a small business thrive,” Mason said. “Tonight is the night we celebrate how we are able to inspire ideas, save lives, improve our state, and make the world a better place.” 

Dr. Ghadeer Thalji, Department of Prosthodontics, has received an eighteen-month, $63,986 grant from the Osteology Foundation. Her research project is "Comparative Assessment of Alternative Macrophage Differentiation in an Early Osseointegration Model in Health Non-Obese Patients vs. Obese Type II Diabetics."

The project's goal will be to evaluate the effects of obese individuals on the modulation of gene transcription related to acquisition of M2 properties in implant adherent cells in an oral implant integration model compared with non-obese, non-diabetic individuals. She also hopes to gain preliminary insight into the osteoinductive nature of adjacent osteoprogenitor cells that may be influenced by the phenotype of the neighboring monocytes.

Co-investigators include Dr. Clark Stanford, Dows and Prosthodontics, and Dr. Lyndon Cooper, University of North Carolina.

Dr. Azeez Butali, Dows Research and Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, has been selected to participate in the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He was one of 10 chosen scholars out of 74 applicants nationwide.

As an Amos Scholar, Dr. Butali will receive an annual stipend up to $75,000 over four years, complemented by a $30,000 annual grant toward his research support.  He will spend at least 70% of his time conducting research with a senior faculty member located at an academic medical center or dental school noted for the training of young faculty and will pursue lines of investigation in his field of interest. His research project, which will be conducted at the UI College of Dentistry, will be “A Genome-wide Association Study for Non-syndromic Clefts in sub-Saharan African Population.” Ms. Tamara Busch, a research assistant in the College of Medicine, will be working with Dr. Azeez.

Dr. Butali's scholarship will begin following completion of the required paperwork.

Dr. Clark Stanford, associate dean for research and professor of prosthodontics at the College of Dentistry, has been named dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry.

“Illinois will be a better place because Clark is arriving, and Iowa will be a different place because Clark is leaving. While Clark cannot be replaced, he has left a sound legacy that will endure. I will personally miss Clark as a colleague, mentor, and friend, and I look forward to working with him as a fellow Big Ten Dean,” said COD Dean David Johnsen.

A native of Northbrook, Illinois, Stanford arrived at the Iowa City campus as an undergraduate in 1979 and never left. He received a bachelor’s of science degree in 1984, a doctor of dental science degree in 1987, and a certificate in prosthodontics and Ph.D. in cell biology in 1992. He joined Iowa’s faculty that same year.

An accomplished researcher whose work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, private foundations and industry, Stanford focuses his laboratory studies on osteoblastic gene expression and signaling pathways. He is the author of 18 book chapters, 111 published papers and more than 140 research abstracts.

Stanford currently serves on several national and international committees, including the International Association for Dental Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Academy of Prosthodontics and the Academy of Osseointegration.

Stanford has won 15 teaching awards, including the 2007 State of Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence and the International Association for Dental Research Distinguished Science Award that same year. He also treats patients for complex rehabilitation, with an emphasis in craniofacial anomalies, in an intramural practice at the college.

Congratulations, Dr. Stanford! 

Clean teeth mean happy and healthy children—and possibly a career as a dentist.

That’s the thrust behind a University of Iowa initiative in Allamakee County, Iowa, where third-year UI College of Dentistry students travel four times a year to check schoolchildren’s teeth, offer tips for oral care, and show what it means to be a community dentist.

The program, called Project SEALED, started nearly two years ago as a partnership between the UI and school systems in Postville and Waukon. To date, about 100 dental students have provided care for up to 700 elementary and middle school children in Postville and Waukon.

Dan Caplan, UI dentistry professor and organizer of Project SEALED, says the outreach is much more than helping an underserved population in one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the state. For one, the UI dental students get hands-on experience working in the field, as they think about their careers.

Kaitlin Hoogeveen says the experience reinforces her desire to open a practice in rural, northwest Iowa. “We really love the small town, and the support from the community,” says Hoogeveen, who’s from Sioux Center.

The schoolchildren find out what it’s like to be a dentist, too. To underscore that message, some of them came to Iowa City this month to tour the College of Dentistry and learn more about dentistry.

Mari Heslinga, a second-year student with the College of Dentistry, has been accepted into the Paul Ambrose Scholars Program (PASP), part of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR).

PASP prepares public health and clinical health professions students to address population health challenges at the national and community level, seeking to meet the current and future health needs of the public. PASP provides mini-grant funds to selected students to implement a Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators project within students’ communities or at their academic institutions.

Since 2002, more than 500 students from over 160 academic institutions have become Paul Ambrose Scholars. The program is named after Paul Ambrose, M.D., M.P.H., a rising star in the medical community who lost his life on September 11, 2001, in the American Airlines flight 77 crash. His commitment to promoting public health and preventing disease was a critical force in the development of The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity for which he served as a senior editor. Following his personal vision, PASP supports leadership development for students pursuing careers in preventive medicine and public health.

As a 2014 PASP Scholar, Mari will attend the Student Leadership Symposium in Washington, District of Columbia, from June 20-22, 2014. Mari will be among 40 health professions students from across the country. During the Symposium, scholars will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities and varying attitudes toward public health and learn methods to affect change in their own community. Past Symposium speakers include prominent public health officials such as Surgeons General, Assistant Secretaries for Health and other governmental officials, industry experts, and veteran public health practitioners.

Each student scholar will receive a $200.00 stipend after completing the Symposium activities. The stipend will be used to implement a community-based project addressing one of the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). Student scholars have up to one year to complete their projects and request reimbursement for their project-related expenses (up to $350.00).

Mari is very excited to become part of the program, and is thankful to her mentor, Dr. Steve Levy,Preventive & Community Dentistry,for his support and his time. Mari says, "This is going to be a great project to work on."

Dr. Sreedevi Srinivasan, Department of Orthodontics, has received a one-year $15,000 Orthodontic Faculty Development Fellowship Award from the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF).

The award will support her research project, "Assessment of Jaw Growth Using Biomarkers in Saliva and Gingival Crevicular Fluid: A Pilot Study." Her co-investigators will include Dr. Brad Amendt, UI College of Medicine, and Dr. Deborah Dawson, Biostatistics Unit. Dr. Andrew Norris and Dr. Jeff Murray, both College of Medicine, will be consultants. Dr. Thomas Southard, Department of Orthodontics chair, will be an advisor.

Dr. Carol Fischer, postdoctoral research fellow, Dows, has been selected as the 2014 Oklahoma Division of Student Assistance programs' TRiO achiever awardee.

During her undergraduate education, Dr. Fischer participated in the McNair Scholar's Program, which is part of a group of federally funded programs collectively known as "TRiO." The McNair program seeks out first general undergraduate students who are interested in education beyond a bachelor's degree to cultivate, encourage, and help them attain a graduate school status. Participating students become involved in research projects, special classes, seminars, and conferences, and are assigned an additional mentor to help them.

As the awardee, Dr. Fischer will present at both state and regional conferences and will also serve as the state representative of the TRiO program.

The 61st Annual Meeting of the Iowa Section of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) was held at the College of Dentistry on February 11, 2014. There were 88 presenters (faculty, students, and staff) for this year's Local Research Day. The awards banquet was held that evening at the Coralville Holiday Inn.

Dr. William Giannobile, Najjar Endowed Professor of Dentistry & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and College of engineering, was the keynote speaker. His presentation was "Oral and Periodontal Regenerative Medicine: Prospects for the Future."

Dr. Giannobile has published and lectured about periodontal regenerative medicine and tissue engineering and has also authored several textbooks in clinical research and periodontal research methodologies. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dental Research and a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and several biotechnology companies focused on regenerative medicine. Dr. Giannobile is a diplomate of the American Board of periodontology and maintains a private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that is limited to periodontics and implantology.

Dr. Daniel Caplan, head of the Department of Preventive & Community Dentistry, has received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation. The grant money will be used for his project, "Association between Dental Treatment and Time-to-Death among Nursing Home Residents of Eastern Iowa." The goal of the project is to describe the types and timing of dental treatment provided to 586 nursing home residents in four Eastern Iowa counties and to evaluate whether that treatment is related to time-to-death in that population.

Dr. Tariq Ghazal, a graduate student in the oral sciences PhD program, is currently working with Dr. Caplan on the data analysis.