Spring News!

NEWSLETTER 2019

Greetings from Iowa City! It is with great pleasure that I write these words to

all of you, the University of Iowa Department of Periodontics family, for the first time as Department Executive Officer (DEO). Much has occurred since the last newsletter was released. Hopefully, the content of this

issue, which captures snapshots of changes and accomplishments pertaining our faculty,

staff and students, will ‘catch you up to speed’ about what has been going on in the Department over the past several months.At the present moment, the Department is going through a thrilling transitional period. We currently have an outstanding faculty body comprised by six full-time faculty members (Drs. Megumi Williamson, Theodoros Katsaros, Satheesh Elangovan, Shaoping Zhang, Kim Brogden and yours truly), three part-time faculty (Drs. Georgia Johnson, Paula Weistroffer and Steve Clark) and one assistant in instruction, who is also a dental hygienist (Ms. Nancy Slach). This upcoming summer, two more full-time faculty members, one clinical scholar (Dr. Sukirth Ganesan) and one research-intensive scientist (Dr. Eric Van Otterloo), will join us. I would also like to applaud our visiting and adjunct faculty, Drs. Ann Romanowski, Sarah Rinehart, Marian Antonious, Mike Franzman, Derek Borgwardt, Truman Johnson, Pablo Galindo-Moreno, Oscar Gonzalez-Martin and Leandro Chambrone, for their tremendous contributions to our Department. Our current residents are Drs. Joseph Ballatore (R3), Molly Oster (R2), Andrew Shelby (R2), Maddy Swenson (R1) and Miguel Romero-Bustillos (R1). We also have two talented visiting scholars, Drs. Emilio Couso-Queiruga and Mustafa Tattan. Our dental

Dr. Theodoros Katsaros, Assistant Professor, assumed the role of Director of the Advanced Education and Visiting Scholar Programs effective October, 1st 2018. He practiced as a general dentist in the private sector and was in the Greek army, practicing dentistry in military hospitals in Greece, from 2008-2013. After completing his M.S. and certificate periodontics at Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2016, he joined the UI Department of Periodontics as a clinical assistant professor. His interests include the evaluation and comparison of different materials and techniques used for guided bone regeneration and post-extraction ridge preservation.

hygiene team is formed by three superb part-time dental hygienists, Ms. Tracy Just, Kristal Cookman and Kim Hensel. All the above members of the Department are supported by our wonderful senior administrative specialist, Mr. Gallagher Leach, our clinical staff lead by the stellar Mr. Kelby Scandrett, that includes three marvelous dental assistants, Ms. Sheena Ballatore, Emily Meyer and Jennica Foley, and our dedicated front desk clerks, Ms. Amy Carmichael and Tina Kantaphone.This constitutes a multifaceted and diverse workforce with tremendous potential to expand the scope and impact of our predoctoral and postdoctoral teaching, scholarship, service and leadership, which will hopefully lead to the consolidation of the department at a high level of national and international prominence and to continuous growth in the future.I would also like to recognize our tradition by acknowledging the extraordinary leadership that the previous DEOs, Drs. C. Mahlon Fraleigh, Phillip A. Lainson and Georgia K. Johnson, brought to lay the solid foundation that supports our Department today.It is truly a privilege and an honor to serve as DEO of this great Department, to be surrounded by extraordinary people and to receive the support of our alumni and friends. I look forward to the exciting opportunities that our collective efforts and the passion that we share for our profession will bring to us in the future!Cordially, Gustavo Avila-Ortiz

“Director of the Advanced Education and Visiting Scholar Programs”

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Dr. Shaoping ZhangDr. Zhang completed his dental training and obtained his DDS Degree (1999) at the West China University of West China (now College of Stomatology, Sichuan University). In 2002 he completed his Oral Surgery Master Program and obtained his MS degree at the same institute. After practicing dentistry in 3 years, Dr. Zhang came to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) School of Dentistry to pursue his graduate training in Oral Biology and received his PhD degree in 2011. At the same year, he was admitted to the Periodontology Residency Program at UNC-CH. In 2014 he received his Certificate in Periodontology and a MS degree in Oral Biology. He then was certified by the American Board of Periodontology in 2015. During his Post-doctorate training at UNC-CH, Dr. Zhang received a NIH Career Transition Award (K99/R00) in 2017 to further his career as a clinician scientist. One year after he was promoted to a Research Assistant Professor in 2017 at UNC-CH, he joined the Department of Periodontics at the University of Iowa College of the Dentistry as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. Dr. Zhang is active in research and engaging himself in research communities. He has published several manuscripts at impactful dental journals. He is a reviewer for several journals and IADR abstracts. He has been a session chair of oral presentations at the IADR conference. His unique background in scientific and clinical training makes him a valuable asset to the department.

Dr. Megumi WilliamsonDr. Williamson joined the Department of Periodontics as an assistant professor in July 2018. Megumi obtained her DDS and Ph.D. degree from Niigata University, Japan in 2001 and 2005, respectively. Her research interest at that time was on trigeminal neuropathic pain. She joined University of Washington Department of Pharmacology and Anesthesiology to continue her research as a postdoctoral fellow. She and her colleagues developed a mouse neuropathic pain model, and contributed to 2 publications. After the post-doctoral training, Megumi accepted a position as the Director of one of the research core facilities

(Expression and Localization/ Molecular Neuroscience Core) at University of North Carolina, Neuroscience Center and continued to work until she started graduate/certificate program in Periodontology at UNC School of Dentistry in 2015. She completed her residency training in June 2018. Megumi enjoys teaching, research and patient care.

NEW FACULTY MEMBERS

Dr. Satheesh Elangovan has been appointed to the Journal of Dental Education (JDE) Editorial Review Board. It is a three-year term, which will begin during the 2019 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Meeting in March in Chicago. Editorial board members advise JDE editors and ADEA staff on scholarly publishing and emerging trends in academic dentistry. They also act as advocates for JDE in the dental education community.

Dr. Elangovan was also appointed as an Editor for the Newman and Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology for Dental Hygienists (tentative title) 1st Edition textbook and interactive resource and is planned for release in the middle of 2020. The other Editors of this upcoming book include, Lory Laughter (University of the Pacific), Gwen Essex (University of California, San Francisco) and Michael G. Newman (UCLA). Newman and Carranza Clinical Periodontology is the most widely used Periodontology textbook in the world. The 13th Edition was released in 2018.

PAGE 3NEW VISITING FACULTY

Dr. Oscar González-Martín received his DDS degree from the University of Seville in 1999 and was appointed an assistant professor at the same university from 1999 to 2005 while also in private practice. In 2005, he moved to Philadelphia where he was awarded an MS degree in Graduate Periodontics and Periodontal-Prosthesis from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 as well as the Arnold Weisgold’s Director´s Award. He joined the UPenn faculty as an adjunct assistant professor in 2009, the position he currently holds. He became a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontics in 2009. In 2010, he received an ITI Scholarship to the University of Geneva School of Dental Medicine. In 2015 he was awarded a PhD from the University of Seville. He is currently teaching in the graduated program of Periodontology at University Complutense of Madrid while also maintaining a private practice exclusively for periodontics, prosthesis and implants.

Dr. Marian Antonious, DDS, MS is a visiting assistant professor. She received her DDS degree from UCLA School of Dentistry in 2015. She then pursued post-doctoral specialty training in Periodontics at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and received a certificate in Periodontics and an MS degree. Upon completion of her residency, Dr. Antonious joined a local private practice in Iowa City.

Dr. Antonious’ clinical work has been published in Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology textbook and she has co-authored publications on the treatment of gum disease and on bone grafting in preparation for implant therapy. During her training in Periodontics, Dr. Antonious conducted research on an innovative bone grafting technique to optimize the success of implant therapy while reducing surgical trauma. Her work is in the process of publication and has led to her selection as an award finalist at the Ramfjord Symposium. Additionally, she has been nominated by her faculty for the national Dr. and Mrs. Gerald M. Kramer Scholar Award for Excellence.

Dr. Pablo Galindo Moreno, DDS, PhD is a Professor in Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry at University of Granada, Spain. His didactic activities are linked to the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine at the University of Michigan, as Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor and to the Department of Periodontics at the University of Iowa, as Visiting Professor. He was the founder of the Spanish College of Oral Implantologists. He is an active member of the dental community, publishing many peer reviewed manuscripts in the main journals related to Implant Dentistry, over 150. He is involved in some editorial committees of peer reviewed journals and is a common reviewer for more than 30 journals in his area of expertise. His research is focused mainly in bone biomaterials behavior, in marginal bone loss around implants and in periimplantitis. He is frequent international speaker in his topic of interest, with more than 100 international lectures in the last years.

Dr. Emilio Couso-Queiruga, under the mentorship of Dr. Gustavo Avila-Ortiz, is evaluating the morphology of dental roots for alveolar ridge preservation as well as the digital characterization of the periodontal phenotype for the purpose of implant treatment planning and periodontal grafting procedures.

Dr. Mustafa Tattan is working, under the mentorship of Drs. Gustavo Avila-Ortiz and Leandro Chambrone, on research in the areas of Static Computer-aided Implant Surgery and the digital characterization of periodontal hard and soft tissue phenotype

NEW VISITING SCHOLARS

NEW STAFF

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Dr. Joseph Ballatore, third year resident, is a co-investigator on a randomized clinical trial that will be completed in June 2019, imed at evaluating the dimensional bone changes and implant-related outcomes following tooth extraction and alveolar ridge preservation via socket grafting (ARP-SG) using Guidor Easy-Graft® Classic. Dr. Gustavo Avila-Ortiz, who is Dr. Ballatore’s primary mentor, received a $107,000 grant from Sunstar Americas to support this project.

Dr. Molly Oster, second year resident under the mentorship of Dr. Gustavo Avila-Ortiz, is examining post-extraction dimensional changes in the anterior maxilla to explore the correlation with phenotypic characteristics of the periodontium as part of an ongoing case series study.

Dr. Andrew Shelby, second year resident, mentored by Dr. Kim Brogden, is investigating the expression of transmembrane protein PD-L1 presence in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of subjects without and with periodontitis.

Dr. Maddy Swenson, first year resident, is working with Drs. Theodoros Katsaros and Gustavo Avila-Ortiz (who were awarded a $160,000 grant from Geistlich North America) to investigate the healing of extraction sites in which ridge preservation is performed using a collagenated xenograft material at 3, 6, and 9 months post-extraction. Investigators will evaluate for possible differences in implant survival and peri-implant tissue stability up to 3 years following delivery of final implant-supported prostheses. Dr. Chris Barwacz, from the Department of Family Dentistry, is a co-investigator in this project.

Dr. Miguel Romero-Bustillos, first year resident, is working under the mentorship of Drs. Brad Amendt and Gustavo Avila-Ortiz on his PhD project that focuses on the study of proteins that are involved in the development of the dental root. He is using cell lines, and mice models to evaluate the expression of certain proteins at different stages of the dental root development.

Mol lyJoseph Andrew Maddy Miguel

RESIDENTS -

Tina Kantaphone – Clinic Clerk – July 2017Ms. Kantaphone previously worked at a UI Children’s Hospital - outpatient clinic.

Gallagher Leach – Admin Specialist - January 2017 Mr. Leach previously worked at the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Kelby Scandrett – Nurse Coordinator – July 2017Mr. Scandrett previously worked at the UI Children’s Hospital.

Jennica Zwick – Dental Assistant – October 2018 Ms. Zwick previously worked in a private practice.

Kim Hensel – Hygienist – July 2017Ms. Hensel previously worked in a private practice.