AADOCR elects new Vice-president, Treasurer, and Representative to the IADR/AADOCR Publications Committee

(Press-News.org) Alexandria, VA – Members of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) have elected Margherita R. Fontana, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as Vice-president, Julie Frantsve-Hawley, Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry, Philadelphia, PA, as Treasurer, and Ariadne Letra, University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, PA, as Representative to the IADR/AADOCR Publications Committee. Their terms will commence at the conclusion of the 54th Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, which will be held in conjunction with 49th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, from March 12-14, 2024 in New York, NY.

Fontana is the Clifford Nelson Endowed Professor of Dentistry in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics at University of Michigan School of Dentistry (U-M) where she is also the Director of the Global Initiatives Program in Oral and Craniofacial Health at the School of Dentistry. She received her DDS from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas and her PhD from Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis. An overarching goal in her dental career has been to mitigate the impact of dental caries, particularly among disadvantaged groups, which is reflected in her research and publications. Since obtaining her PhD, she has secured funding for and and managed numerous longitudinal caries clinical projects on dental caries arrest and prevention, as well as on the creation of easy-to-use risk tools for caries detection in primary healthcare settings. In 2012, Fontana received the USA Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her work on caries risk assessment in children.

Fontana has served as Chair of the IADR Young Investigator Award Committee, the AADOCR Annual Session Committee, the IADR Innovation in Oral Care Award Committee, the IADR E.W. Borrow Memorial Award Committee, and the IADR Science Information Committee. She was selected as a 2017 AADOCR Fellow and served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Dental Research from 2017 to 2020.

Frantsve-Hawley received her PhD in Genetics from Harvard University in 2002. She is currently President of Impact Health Strategies, Strategic Advisor of Evidence-Based Medicine at Sjögren's Foundation, and recently served as Interim Executive Director of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD), where she collaborated with the organization’s finance committee to drive changes in the fiscal reporting structure, better track income & expenses, and increased transparency on the Association’s financial status.

Frantsve-Hawley has been an active member of AADOCR since 2004, serving on numerous committees since 2013. Her roles have included chairing the AADOCR Ethics in Dental Research Committee (2020-21) and the AADOCR Annual Session Committee (2021-23), as well as a member of several others. Currently, she is a member of the IADR Constitution Committee and the AADOCR Development Committee. Outside of AADOCR, she is currently Treasurer of the IFLOSS Coalition, an Illinois non-profit, and a member of the Illinois Department of Public Health Oral Health Section Advisory Committee. She has also served on the Editorial Boards of Journal of the American Dental Association, Journal of Evidence-base Dental Practice, Journal of Public Health Dentistry, and Michigan Dental Association Journal, and was Editor-in-Chief the International Journal on Evidence-Based Practice for the Dental Hygienist from 2015-2017.

Letra has been a member of IADR for more than 20 years, starting as a graduate school member of the Brazilian Division of the IADR, and since 2006 as a member of the American division (AADOCR). She has taken several leadership roles within AADOCR’s committees and the IADR Scientific Groups and Networks, as well as serving as Chair of the William Gies Award Committee (2017) and the Young Investigators Award Committee (2021). She has been an officer in the Women in Science Network (WISN) since 2015, acting in various capacities until becoming President in 2018, and then re-elected Vice-President in 2022.

Letra is an active member of several other professional organizations, including the American Society of Human Genetics, the European Society of Human Genetics, the American Association of Endodontists, and the American Dental Education Association. Since 2020, she has been an associate editor of the Journal of Endodontics and is also a past associate editor of Scientific Reports. She has served as editorial board member for numerous medical and dental journals, including the Journal of Dental Research, Journal of Dental Research Clinical and Translational Research, American Journal of Human Genetics, American Journal of Medical Genetics, and several others. She was named Chair of the Research and Scientific Affairs Committee of the American Association of Endodontists (AAE), where her primary responsibility was coordinating research program efforts and overseeing research activities in the AAE research funding program.

About AADOCR

The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being. AADOCR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit, and private-sector institutions who share our mission. AADOCR is the largest division of IADR. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.

END