- Phyllis Beemsterboer, M.S., Ed.D., associate dean for academic affairs, was recently installed as president-elect of the American Society for Dental Ethics. The American Society for Dental Ethics (ASDE) is a nonprofit organization to support ethics as an integral value for the dental health care profession. Members of the society are dedicated to the ongoing study of ethical issues and education to promote professional responsibility and conduct. After a two-year term as president-elect, Dr. Beemsterboer will assume the ASDE presidency. The group presents education-focused activities and programs at various dental meetings with the American College of Dentists, American Dental Education Association and the American Dental Association.
- Winthrop B. Carter, D.D.S., chairman of the Department of Periodontology, recently received the American Academy of Periodontology’s Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award. The Academy presents one award annually to the periodontist who has gone above and beyond in teaching and mentoring dental students and periodontal residents. Carter has been the driving force in the growth and development of the Advanced Education Program in Periodontics since 2002. There are currently nine periodontal residents. As program director, Carter is continually educating and training residents to become excellent entry-level periodontists in the private sector.
- Harry Davis, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in biomaterials and biomechanics, received a one-year, $15,000 award from OHSU’s Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute to study the “Preparation and Confirmation of the Bioactive Characteristics of Silicate-based Glasses for Repair and Reconstruction of Damaged Tooth and Bone Tissues.”
- Jack Ferracane, Ph.D., chairman and professor of restorative dentistry, is the co-principal investigator on a new grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Ferracane will team with Scott Prahl, Ph.D., senior scientist in the optics group at the Oregon Medical Laser Center, based at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. The two-year, $406,000 grant is for “Curing Models of Photoactivated Dental Composites.” Ferracane and Prahl will develop computational models of light transport through dental composites to initiate polymerization, based on the optical properties of the materials and surrounding tooth.
- Karla Kent, Ph.D., associate professor of integrative biosciences, recently won the 2008 OHSU Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Service. Kent has been with the School of Dentistry for almost 20 years. She holds a joint appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Kent has served on a number of fellowship review panels; reviewed numerous manuscripts for journals and foundations; sits on various research and education committees; has held leadership positions to support the Neuroscience Graduate Program; has participated in OHSU Brain Fair and the Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics; and speaks frequently to student groups about science, particularly aimed at young girls.
- Jan Klinefelter has been appointed finance manager. Jan began working in OHSU’s accounting department 26 years ago and took on an interim position with the School of Dentistry summer of 2008.
- Peter Lax, D.M.D., assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, and director of the CDRC (Child Development and Rehabilitation Center) Dental Clinic at OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, recently received the Mary Evelene Calbreath Memorial Award from Providence Child Center’s (PCC) Center for Medically Fragile Children. The Mary Evelene Calbreath Memorial Award is given annually to an exceptional volunteer whose services to PCC’s Center for Medically Fragile Children and its programs has been of long duration and great dedication. Lax and his dental assistant, Mary Bruno, R.D.H., visit the center four times a year, as needed, to care for 70 children with severe disabilities. Lax and Sherry Lemon, R.D.H., also treat many of the children at the CDRC. Lax has been a PCC volunteer for 18 years.
- Sharon Reams, C.D.A., health and safety specialist, recently won first prize in the Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures annual infection control photo competition. Sharon’s winning photo was of the “queen” washing her hands next to a “mounty” with the expression, “Even her highness has to wash her hands.” Sharon has been with the School of Dentistry for 35 years.
- Julie Ann Smith, D.D.S., M.D., is director of pre-doctoral education, Department of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS). Smith joins the School of Dentistry from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she’s been staff surgeon since 2001. She also is the residency program director for OMS at the National Capital Consortium. Smith is involved with a number of national dental and OMS organizations, has authored numerous publications, and is a frequent scientific presenter at conferences and annual meetings. She received her doctor of dental surgery from Columbia University and her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
- Bob Steelman, M.D., D.M.D., is director of the pediatric dentistry residency program, Department of Pediatric Dentistry. Steelman also is on faculty in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (associate professor); anesthesiology/perioperative medicine (associate professor); and oral and maxillofacial surgery (clinical associate professor) and is medical director of pediatric and neonatal transport for OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining OHSU in 2001, Steelman was medical director for the pediatric intensive care unit at St. John’s Regional Health Care Facility in Springfield, Mo. Steelman’s research interests are in increased gingival inflammation and susceptibility to specific HACEK microbes in children with congenital heart disease, and he has published numerous papers. He received his doctor of dental medicine from Washington University in St. Louis and his medical degree from the West Virginia University School of Medicine.