The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and American Association for Dental Research (AADR) have announced three new appointments. Brian O’Connell will serve as IADR vice president, Jane A. Weintraub will be AADR vice president, and Sonia K. Makhija will be the 2020-2023 AADR representative to the IADA/AADR Publications Committee.
O’Connell holds a BDS from the National University of Ireland and a PhD in biochemistry and a specialty certificate in prosthodontics from the University of Rochester In New York. He is a professor of restorative dentistry and dean of dental affairs at the Dublin Dental University Hospital at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
With a background in biochemistry and prosthodontics, O’Connell has researched salivary proteins, gene transfer, dental implants, bruxism, and aging. He has written more than 90 peer-reviewed papers with more than 4,000 citations and presented his research around the world. He also has held multiple leadership positions with IADR and was a 1992 IADR Unilever Hatton Award winner.
Weintraub holds a DDS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed her MPH and postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. She is the R. Gary Rozier and Chester W. Douglass Distinguished Professor in Dental Public Health and former dean of the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Adams School of Dentistry. Also, she is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health.
With research focused on the epidemiology and prevention of oral conditions and oral health disparities, Weintraub’s work has emphasized prevention-oriented clinical trials. Her patient and population-based research, with applications to dental patients or the larger community, spans epidemiology, clinical research, and health policy.
Further, Weintraub’s research also has helped shape guidelines for sealants and fluoride that have become part of mainstream practice. She has held several leadership positions with IADR and AADR, and she is the recipient of the 2019 IADR H. Trendley Dean Memorial Award for meritorious research in epidemiology and public health.
Makhija holds a BA and DDS from the University of Missouri Kansas City and an MPH from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has worked in private practice, served as a dental examiner for the National Health and Nutritional Survey, and completed T-32 postdoctoral training in caries research.
Currently, Makhija is a dentist at the Fairhaven Nursing Home Dental Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, and assistant node director for the South Central Region and director of communications and dissemination for the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. She has held multiple other positions with the AADR and IADR as well.
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