Penn Dental Journal For the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine Community / Fall 2012 Growing a World-Class Faculty: Three New Recruits Bring Depth of Clinical, Research Expertise | page 2 Faculty Perspective: Oral Cancer Screening | page 7 | Facilities Update, Master Plan Spotlight | page 8 Answering the Call to Higher Education: Alumni in Academia | page 10 Honor Roll: 2011 –12 Donors | page 29 in this issue Features 2 Growing a World-Class Faculty Penn Dental Journal by katherine unger baillie Vol. 9, No. 1 7 Faculty Perspective: University of Pennsylvania Oral Cancer Screening School of Dental Medicine www.dental.upenn.edu by faizan alawi, dds Dean denis f. kinane, bds, phd 8 Facilities Update, TWO THUMBS UP! NEW ENDODONTIC CLINIC Master Plan Spotlight ON TRACK FOR EARLY 2013 OPENING, Associate Dean for Development PAGE 8. and Alumni Relations by beth adams maren gaughan Director, Publications 10 Answering the Call to beth adams Higher Education Contributing Writers by juliana delany Departments beth adams katherine unger baillie juliana delany 17 On Campus: News and People debbie goldberg 25 Scholarly Activity Design 28 Philanthropy Highlights dyad communications 29 Philanthropy Honor Roll Photography mark garvin 37 Alumni: News peter olson 41 Class Notes Penn Dental Journal is published twice a year for the alumni and friends of the 44 In Memoriam University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. ©2012 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. We would like to get your feed - ALUMNI WEEKEND 2012 WELCOMED REUNION back and input on the Penn Dental Journal CLASSES ENDING IN “2” AND “7”, PAGE 38. — please address all correspondence to: Beth Adams, Director of Publications, Robert Schattner Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, 240 South 40th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6030, [email protected]. Office of Development and Alumni Relations, 215-898-8951 ON THE COVER: New faculty recruits (left to right) Betty Harokopakis-Hajishengallis, DDS, MSc, PhD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry and Associate Professor of Pediatric Dentistry; Anh Le, DDS, PhD, Chair and Norman Vine Endowed Professor of Oral Rehabilitation in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/ Pharmacology; and George Hajishengallis, DDS, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology. A Message from the office of the dean his is a time of unprecedented growth and development at Penn as a whole and Penn Dental Medicine in particular, thanks mainly to the tremendous support and engagement of devoted alumni and friends. In December, the University celebrates the official close of its seven-year, T $3.5 billion Making History Campaign — a University-wide goal that has been exceeded. Penn Dental Medicine has a $37 million goal as part of this Campaign, and as we draw to a close, I am confident we will reach that mark. On behalf of our current and future students, I thank you and all our supporters for your commitment to this great institution. In this issue of the Journal, we are pleased to present our fiscal year 2011-2012 honor roll of contributors. Your support is helping to move the School forward on varied fronts to ensure ongoing leadership in academics, clinical care, and research and scholarship. Among recent steps has been the successful faculty recruitment of accomplished researchers and clinicians in the areas of microbiology, oral surgery, and pediatric dentistry (see story, page 2). Advancing patient care and educational resources will be the new Syngcuk Kim Endodontic Clinic, slated to open early in the New Year. This clinic is the first key project of our 10-year Master Plan for facilities improvements, and fundraising is underway for our next — a new Preclinical Lab and Training Center (see story, page 8) with the technology to teach today’s generation of students. Our goal is to continue to attract tomorrow’s leaders in all fields of dental medicine and oral health care. We welcomed another outstanding group of students with the Class of 2016, and as a guide to our freshmen, in this issue, we spotlight alumni who have pursued the academic path (see story, page 10). Through teaching, administrative leadership, and research, they are developing the next generation of dentists and advancing the science and practice of dentistry. As a school, our mission is the same; and with a shared commitment, we can continue to shape the future of dental education and care. The accomplishments of the Making History Campaign are to be celebrated indeed, but we need to continue moving forward and I ask you to build on this momentum and continue to support our students, enhance our facilities, and strengthen our faculty and research to better serve our community. Thank you for your support. Denis F. Kinane, BDS, PhD Morton Amsterdam Dean growing a world-class Penn Dental Medicine does not faculty operate by half-measures.“The dental school strives for excellence in clinical dentistry, in research, in service, and in teaching,” says Dr. Dana Graves, Professor in the Depart- ment of Periodontics and Associate Dean for Translational Research. This year, the School has taken significant steps toward GEORGE HAJISHENGALLIS, DDS, PHD enhancing all of those areas of excellence, with the recruitment Professor, Department of Microbiology of three new talented and accomplished faculty members. Husband and wife Dr. George Hajishengallis and Dr. Betty Eye on Inflammation Harokopakis-Hajishengallis joined Penn Dental Medicine Trained as a dentist in Greece, Dr. George Hajishengallis in March, and Dr. Anh Le began her appointment in July. was happy enough with the idea of practicing dentistry there. Each of them embodies the best of dental science and practice. But something was missing. “As important as clinical treat - Their recruitment is the result of a renewed focus on ment is — and I think it’s more important than research,” augmenting innovative research enterprises and attracting says Dr. Hajishengallis, “it can become routine.” field-leading researchers to join the faculty. Such a strategy Realizing he would miss the stimulus of constant learning, promises to elevate the School for decades to come. he made the decision to continue his studies in the United “It’s important that our new faculty complement the States, enrolling in a doctoral program at the University of major research areas of the University to secure a strong place Alabama at Birmingham. His dissertation work focused on for Penn Dental in the future of the University as a whole,” the development of a new platform for a vaccine that offers says Dr. Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, Chair and Associate Professor protection against tooth decay, a construct he has since patented. in the Department of Pathology, who chaired the search After receiving his doctorate, he pursued postdoctoral committee for Dr. Hajishengallis. studies at the University of Buffalo. There and in his subsequent Dr. Hajishengallis joins the Department of Microbiology faculty positions at Louisiana State University and University as a Professor, Dr. Harokopakis-Hajishengallis was appointed of Louisville his focus shifted to the bacterium Porphyromonas Chief of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry and an Associate gingivalis, which is implicated in many cases of periodontitis. Professor of Pediatric Dentistry, and Dr. Le is now Chair and Dr. Hajishengallis and other scientists had previously Norman Vine Endowed Professor of Oral Rehabilitation in observed that, even in diseased animals, P. gingivalis was rare — the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/Pharmacology. far outnumbered by other kinds of bacteria. Through “All three have dual degrees — dental degrees as well as experiments with mice, he noticed that adding P. gingivalis to a Ph.D. — so all of them have strong combinations of clinical the mouth caused a jump in the numbers of other bacteria. training and research training,” says Dr. Graves, who led the The composition of the bacterial community also changed recruitment committee for Dr. Le’s position. “By having upon addition of P. gingivalis. And when mice raised in a germ- strengths in these different areas, they’re particularly well- free environment were given P. gingivalis, they did not develop positioned and well-trained to fulfill the mission of the the bone loss associated with periodontitis. School.” “So we started to espouse this heretical view,” says And the School is primed to provide these dental scientists Dr. Hajishengallis. “It’s not actually the P. gingivalis that causes the what they require to actualize their potential. “Penn has a lot bone loss; it’s the other bacteria. But they need P. gingivalis to do it.” to offer high-profile researchers,” says Dr. Jordan-Sciutto. Because of this, they dubbed P. gingivalis a “keystone “We have a number of key research areas and leading pathogen.” In the September issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology, researchers in each of those fields, colleagues who really Dr. Hajishengallis and colleagues have supported the view complement one another. It’s a great place to do collaborative, interdisciplinary work.” 2 features Growing a World-Class Faculty that keystone pathogens may also underlie the pathogenesis moving to the gums. This overwhelming inflammation may of other diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colon then lead to not only periodontal disease but also systemic cancer, and obesity. diseases such as diabetes and atherosclerosis. He and his colleagues discovered that P. gingivalis subverts Sure enough, Dr. Hajishengallis found that young mice the immune system response by “hijacking” a receptor on bred to lack Del-1 developed gum disease, just as older mice white blood cells, rendering them unable to clear infection. did naturally. Injecting Del-1 into the mice’s gums protected As a result, other bacteria increase and, along with P. gingivalis, them from this inflammation and bone loss. And interest - feast off the nutrients released by the inflammatory response ingly, preliminary research indicates that humans with and destruction of gum tissue.