Contact Information for the University of Iowa College of Dentistry

Dr. Roy L. Irons, who received his DDS from Iowa in 1976, has been elected president of the National Dental Association.

Dr. Irons received his BS from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. After receiving his DDS, he later became a diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Dentistry. He is a member of the Tougaloo College Board of Trustees. He practices dentistry in Gulfport, Mississippi and is an instructor at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry. Dr. Irons is also a retired captain in the US Navy.

Dr. Isabel Garcia, deputy director of the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDCR), was the keynote speaker during the 59th Annual Meeting of the Iowa Section of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR). The NIDCR is the federal government's largest funder of research and research training. The institute focuses on oral, dental and craniofacial diseases and disorders. As deputy director, Dr. Garcia shares the responsibility with the director in leading and managing NIDCR's programs and activities.

Dr. Garcia received her BS from the University of Mary Washington, her DDS from the Medical College of Virginia, and an MPH from the University of Michigan where she also completed a residency in dental public health. She has more than 40 years of experience in dental public health, research, and administration at the local, state and national levels. Dr. Garcia joined the NIDCR in 1995 and has held several positions, including acting institute director from August 2010-2011.

Dr. Garcia is a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health. She has served as an officer in the American Association of Public Health Dentistry's Executive Council, the Oral Health Section of the American Public Health Association, and the American Board of Dental Public Health. Besides her duties as deputy, Dr. Garcia directs NIDCR's residency program in dental public health and serves as the NIDCR's coordinator for international health. Her numerous honors and awards include being recognized for her role in a presidential and secretarial health diplomacy mission, which provided health care to people in twelve Latin American countries.

Dr. Christopher Barwacz, Department of Prosthodontics and Dows, has received a $5,000 competitive UI Instructional Improvement Award from the UI Council on Teaching. The award will support an upcoming study on the impact of the dental operating microscope (DOM) on prosthetic self-evaluation by preclinical dental students. The study’s goal is to expose preclinical D2 students to the use of the dental operating microscope during their D2 Fixed Prosthodontics course and to evaluate whether enhanced visual acuity (provided via the DOM) improves students’ ability to self-evaluate their pre-clinical work. Carl Zeiss Meditec will be supporting this study initiative by temporarily donating microscopes for use in the Simulation Clinic.

Dr. Richard Walton, professor emeritus of the Department of Endodontics, will receive the I.B. Bender Lifetime Educator Award during the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Endodontics, which will be held in April 2012.

The I.B. Bender Lifetime Educator Award is given annually to acknowledge an active, educator, or life member whose contributions to endodontics in the field of education have demonstrated excellence through selfless commitment to full-time educational pursuits, and whose valuable contributions have instilled in his/her students the desire to pursue excellence in their careers.

The American Dental Association (ADA) Standards Program has established the John W. Stanford New Investigator Award to honor Dr. John Stanford, a 40-year member of the ADA staff who was credited with establishing the ADA's current standards program. He is the late father of Dr. Clark Stanford, associate dean for research at the UI College of Dentistry.

The new award honors Dr. Stanford's legacy and emphasizes the important role of dental standards for dental products in patient health and safety. Dental students or dentists who received their DDS or DMD no more than five years prior to the time of selection may submit applications. Their research must be original and address some aspect of using standards in dental research or clinical application. For more information, go to http://www.ada.org/dentalstandards.

Dr. Gustavo Avila Ortiz, Department of Periodontics, received an American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) $50,000 teaching fellowship during the recent 97th AAP Meeting, which was held in Miami Beach, Florida.

There were 100 applicants and only four finalists. Dr. Avila Ortiz was one of two finalists who received the fellowship. The award will support his career as a full-time faculty.

On March 7, 2012, Dr. Moabin Yang, a 2010 AAE Endodontic Educator Fellow, presented a lecture as part of the College of Dentistry's Visiting Scholars Program, "The Role of the Endogenous Glucacorticoids in Bone Remodeling." He later also presented a seminar, "Regenerative Endodontics," to the UI College of Dentistry endodontic faculty and residents.

Dr. Cheryl Straub-Morarend, Department of Family Dentistry, has been selected as one of this year's recipients of the Olav Alvares Award for Outstanding Articles Published in the Journal of Dental Education. Dr. Straub-Morarend's article, "Informational Resources Utilized in Clinical Decision Making: Common Practices in Dentistry," represents the American Dental Education Association's (ADEA) commitment to encouraging junior faculty, allied and predoctoral students, residents, and fellows to conduct publishable research. The award recognizes authors who have published outstanding work.

Dr. Straub-Morarend's co-authors were Dr. Teresa Marshall, Department of Preventive & Community Dentistry; Dr. Michael Finkelstein, Department of Oral pathology, Radiology & Medicine; and Dr. David Holmes, head of the Department of Family Dentistry. Data support was provided by Ms. Jean Redlinger, Department of Family Dentistry.

Dr. Straub-Morarend will receive the award on March 18 during the opening ceremony of the 2012 ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. William Johnson, head of the Department of Endodontics, recently attended the American Dental Association (ADA) Roundtable in Chicago, IL. The meeting was attended by various dental association presidents. The roundtable topic was "Collaboration in Research."

Dr. Johnson is currently president of the American Association of Endodontists (AAE). His service to the AAE has included two terms as secretary of the American Board of Endodontics (ABE), followed by two terms as president of the ABE.

Dr. Johnson has been a diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics since 1985.

Dr. Julie Reynolds, dental public health resident, has been selected for the UI Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy. Julie will receive a monetary award and will attend the Institute on January 10-16, 2012, as an Obermann Graduate Fellow.

The Obermann Center encourages scholarly interaction to explore broad frontiers of knowledge and investigate complex ideas and problems. The interaction is achieved through informal gatherings and formal programs hosted by the Center.