Although dentists often prioritize technical skill, patients generally aren’t able to evaluate differences in skill and they tend to care much more about how a dentist makes them feel. This central insight was one of fourth-year dental student Hannah Klaassen’s findings from her student research project, which she began four years ago and published in 2020 in the Journal of Dental Education.

Predictors of Multiple Job-Holding among Dental Hygienists in the State of Iowa, Journal of Dental Hygiene, 2021

As an expert in the genetics of embryonic development and an assistant professor in the Department of Periodontics, Eric Van Otterloo, has opened a new dimension for understanding craniofacial development, genetics, and bone formation as he and his team have explored a peculiar gene, Memo1.

On Thursday, the University of Iowa announced that the first $7.5 million of the investment revenue generated from the public-private partnership (P3) for its utility system would include a $600K+ award for the College of Dentistry. With this support, an interdisciplinary team with over 40-people, including Iowa faculty from the Colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Engineering, will develop the preliminary data and program structure to apply for and be competitive for an $11 million grant from the NCI/NIDCR to establish a P50 Specialized Program of Research Excellence in oral cancer. This specialized research program in oral cancer will be the first of its kind in the nation.

Elham Kateeb, Susan C. McKernan, Natoshia Askelson, Elizabeth Momany and Peter Damiano, Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 2021

The University of Iowa Dental Alumni Association and the College of Dentistry wish to honor Dr. Regennitter with the 2020 Leadership of the Year Award.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. Huojun Cao, assistant professor in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research and the Department of Endodontics, a 2-year grant for his project, “Identification of Master Transcription Factors of Dental Epithelial Stem Cell by Computational Method.”

Julie C Reynolds, Jennifer M C Sukalski, Susan C McKernan and Peter C Damiano, Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 2019

Peter Damiano, Julie Reynolds, Jill Boylston Herndon, Susan C McKernan and Raymond Kuthy, Health Services Research, 2018

Raymond A Kuthy, Susan C McKernan, Mark Pooley and M. Bridget Zimmerman