Dr. Waheed Awotoye, a first-year resident in the University of Iowa Orthodontics Department, was selected as the winner of the AADOCR Hatton Award by the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR). Dr. Awotoye's research specializes in genomics and epigenomics of craniofacial birth defects with the long-term goal of becoming a clinician-scientist. His objective is to improve and personalize orthodontic care for patients and enhance treatment outcomes through discoveries in genomic and epigenomic research.
The AADOCR Hatton Competition Committee reviews abstracts submitted for the competition and selects the 27 best to be judged. From this pool, the 27 selected competitors deliver an oral presentation on their submitted abstracts. This group of competitors is then narrowed down to a final 6 outstanding abstracts for the final awards. Dr. Waheed Awotoye was selected as the winner of this entire competition, leading to his recognition at the opening ceremonies of the AADOCR Annual Meeting. Additionally, he earned the opportunity to compete once again at the IADR Hatton Competition during the IADR (International Association for Dental Research) General Session and Exhibit, where he placed 2nd in the senior clinical research category.
The competition took place on July 20th, 2022, where Dr. Awotoye presented his abstract titled "Whole-Genome-Sequencing Reveals de-novo Mutations Associated with Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip/Palate." In his presentation, Dr. Awotoye shared findings from the first large-scale next-generation sequencing analysis of the most common craniofacial birth defect. These findings offer insights into the risk prediction of common defects within families, which can lead to genetic therapy aimed at correcting the causal mutations.
Since winning this award, Dr. Awotoye has continued his research and furthered his understanding of the genomics and epigenomics of craniofacial birth defects. The scope of the study has expanded to explore epigenetic factors (non-genetic alteration changes that affect the expression of genes) contributing to the etiology of clefts. Dr. Awotoye conducted this research during his post-doctoral year at the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, under the guidance of Dr. Aline Petrin, Dr. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan, and Dr. Lina Moreno. Many of the findings from this research have been published in studies or presented at national and international conferences.
"Winning this award has propelled my dentist-scientist career path. People now look forward to hearing more about me, my research, my career." - Dr. Waheed Awotoye
