Dr. Lina Moreno has been named the B.F. and Helen E. Dewel Chair in Clinical Orthodontics for a five-year term that began in July. Dr. Moreno currently serves as the Department Executive Officer for the Department of Orthodontics and, in 2017,  was previously named to an endowed position as the Ross D. Christensen Family Associate Professor in Orthodontics.

Moreno began her dental and orthodontic education in Colombia, South America. After receiving her dental education, she was accepted into a graduate program in Oral Biology at The Ohio State University with a concentration in human genetics. She came to the University of Iowa with her mentor, Andrew Lidral, where she received her PhD. She then entered and completed a residency in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Iowa. In 2008, she was appointed as assistant professor in orthodontics, and in 2016, she was appointed to her present position as associate professor in orthodontics. She was appointed as Department Executive Officer of her department in August 2021.

 Moreno is an established expert in dentistry, orthodontics, and craniofacial genetics. Given her background and experiences in various interrelated disciplines, she has become a dedicated and effective clinician-scientist. She spearheaded the transition of orthodontic care for craniofacial anomaly patients from University of Iowa Health Care to the College of Dentistry. As director of Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies Clinic in the Department of Orthodontics, she oversees orthodontic care for most of Iowa’s patients with craniofacial deformities, including supervising attending faculty and orthodontic residents who provide this care.

Moreno is a renowned expert in craniofacial genetics and has had numerous NIH/NIDCR and American Association of Orthodontists Foundation grants supporting her research in the fields of genetics of cleft lip and palate, malocclusion, and facial variation. She has published 70 peer-reviewed articles and 2 book chapters in her fields of expertise, and one of her publications, “Major Locus for Cleft Lip and Palate Mapped to Chromosome 9Q22-Q33,” received the Milo Hellman Research Award in 2007, the most prestigious research award in the field of orthodontics.

"Dr. Moreno's has set a superb example of how to effectively promote research and discovery so that we can more effectively treat patients," said Dean Clark Stanford, "The Orthodontics program at Iowa is one of the best in the nation and her appointment to this endowed chair in clinical orthodontics is well-deserved."