10 April 2025

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Faculty, students and staff impress at annual meetings

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UNC Adams School of Dentistry is a leader among oral health educators, and each year, we are able to share our discoveries, our triumphs and our achievements with the rest of the nation. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) gather the best and brightest for their annual meetings every year, and ASOD was well represented at these meetings by faculty, staff and our students. The work of our team stands out, even among stellar participants, and the expertise, dedication, discoveries and experiences are always highlights at these events.  

ADEA presentations

Coaching to Inspire and Empower Faculty and Students – Short Talks: Rebecca Wilder, BSDH, MS, ICF-ACC 

Transforming Dental Education with Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs): Envisioning the future of dental education: Rocio Quinonez, DDS, MS, MPH

Inspiring Non-Dentists Leaders to Empower the Future of Dentistry: Joshua W. Little, DC, PhD 

Empowering Oral Health Professions Education Using Entrustable Professional Activities: The University of North Carolina Experience: Dilek Uyan, DDS, PhD, Marta Musskopf, DDS, MD, PhD, Janet Guthmiller, DDS, PhD, Rocio Quinonez, DDS, MS, MPH 

Innovative EBD Instruction to Empower Informed Decision- Making in Next-Generation Dentists: Joshua W. Little, DC, PhD, Emily Jones, MLIS, AHIP, Apoena Ribeiro, DDS, MS, PhD

Transformative Impact of Virtual Dentistry Shadowing at UNC ASOD: Lamont Lowery, MA

Posters Exhibit: ASOD DDS students in the ADEA’s Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program (ADCFP): Sean Ahn (DDS 2027), mentor: Poojan Shrestha, BDS, PhD, MS; Nuha Ashraf (DDS 2026), mentor: Caroline Sawicki, DDS, PhD; Catherine Bingham (DDS 2026), mentor: Janet Guthmiller, DDS, PhD; Jennifer Judd (DDS 2027), mentor: Zach Brian, DMD, MHA; Bijan Mahboubi (DDS 2025), mentor: Bruce Gitter, PhD; Ali Morton (DDS Class 2027), mentor: Marta Musskopf, DDS, MSD, PhD.

Leveraging Electronic Health Records to Integrate Social Determinants of Health Training in

Dental Practice. Heidi Bryant McNeilly, LCSW

Empowering Future Collaborators: Designing Case-based Experiences for Interprofessional Learners: Kimberly Sanders, Pharm.D, BCPS, Roxanne M. Dsouza-Norwood, EdD, MS, RDH

Carol Haggerty, DDS, MPH, Marta Musskopf, DDS, MSD, PhD

Adams School of Dentistry was also well represented at the AADOCR annual session where students and faculty presented on a variety of research topics during the event. The AADOCR presentations included:

Panelist Representing Reuse of All of Us Data: Jane Weintraub, DDS, MPH

Fluoridated Versus Non-Fluoridated Products: Effects on Ceramic Surface Deterioration: Alison Morton, DDS ‘27

Acidic Environments With Microbial Ligands Promote Pro-Oncogenic Oral Epithelial Phenotypes: Angela Chen, DDS ‘26

Polygenic Risk Scores for Primary Dentition Dental Caries Experience: Kimon Divaris, DDS, PhD

Prenatal Viral Infections and Infant Oral Health: Systematic Literature Review: Anna Zheng, DDS ‘26

Reliability, Validity, and Feasibility of an Evidence-Based Dentistry Authentic Assessment: Hannah Archer, DDS ‘27

Genome-Wide Association Study of Periodontitis in Multi-Ethnic Populations: Sean Ahn, DDS ‘27

Proteomic Analysis of Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn in Musculoskeletal Pain: Philip Goldstein, DDS ‘27

Oral Health Status of Reproductive-Age Women Living With HIV: Ectaterina Lungu, DDS ‘27

Targeting Aurora a to Overcome Cisplatin Resistance in HNSCC: Xin Li, PhD

Randomized Controlled Trial of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Pediatric Dentistry: Laura Jacox, DMD, PhD, MS

Machine Learning-Based Morphometry of Oral Epithelial Cell Stress Responses: Christina Graves, PhD

Dietary Hesperidin Influences Long-Term Regeneration of Craniofacial Bone and Native Skeletal Bone of the Rat: Skylar McGaughey, DDS, PhD

Multicellular Interaction Modules Predict Therapeutic Interventions in Chronic Periodontitis: Kevin Byrd. DDS, PhD

Characterizing Temporomandibular Disorder Pain in Adolescents: Riggan Ayscue, DDS ‘27

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Exoproducts and Hyperglycemia Influence Emergent Rifampicin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: Kyla Augustine, DDS ‘26

Oral Oncology, Oral Health and Prevention and Systemic Conditions: Hannah Cheung, DDS ’27

Streptococcus Oligofermentans Impacts Virulence Factors of Streptococcus Mutans: Emiri Michishta, DDS ‘27

Unveiling Candida Albicans Cariogenic Properties From Hispanic Adults. Johnathan Dinh

Single Cell RNAseq and Spatial Transcriptomics Data Integration: Therapeutic Potential of Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells: Di Wu, PhD

Lingual Ultrasound Study of DFD Patients’ Speech Following Orthognathic Surgery: Erika Silva

Source: https://dentistry.unc.edu/