2023 Awards

Spring 2023 Edition

The Dental Student Research Group at the University of Iowa is one of the premier programs in the country. The accomplishments of participating students over the 2022-2023 year highlight the value and importance of the program. 

Student Research Groups Stories

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Cyrus Mansouri and Sydney Woods earn Outstanding Dental Student Research Awards

Thursday, June 1, 2023
At the spring meeting of Dental Student Research Group, Cyrus Mansouri and Sydney Woods received awards for 2023 Outstanding Dental Researcher. 
Robert Bowers with Olivia Bartholomew and Colton Curtis

2023 Mentors of the Year

Thursday, June 1, 2023
Robert Bowers, Sukirth Ganesan, and Aline Petrin were each selected as 2023 Mentors of the Years by the Dental Student Research Group. Follow the link for photos of all three awardees with their students.
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Four Student Researchers Earn Senior Research Achievement Awards

Thursday, June 1, 2023
Senior Research Achievement Awards are determined based on a portfolio of research that is circulated to a group of electors. The electors select award recipients based on the scientific merit of projects, the significance and productivity of projects, the number of years of involvement in research, the originality of the research, and the student's professional conduct. Award recipients were selected in 2023:  Bethany Doolittle, Jamie Liu, Cyrus Mansouri, and Sydney Woods.
Cyrus Mansouri

Mansouri recognized in Dare to Discover campaign

Thursday, June 1, 2023
Cyrus Mansouri (D4) received the University of Iowa’s Office of the Vice President for Research’s “Dare to Discover” Banner Award.
Mary Young

Young recognized in Dare to Discover campaign

Thursday, June 1, 2023
Mary Young (D3) received the University of Iowa’s Office of the Vice President for Research’s “Dare to Discover” Banner Award.
2023 National Oral Health Conference poster presentation

2023 National Oral Health Conference

Thursday, April 20, 2023
A large contingent of Iowa Dentistry faculty, students, and alumni attended and presented at the 2023 National Oral Health Conference April 17-19 in Orlando, FL.
Dental student researchers at the AADOCR

Iowa takes the AADOCR by storm

Thursday, March 23, 2023
The annual meetings of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) were held consecutively over Spring Break in Portland, Oregon. Iowa was well represented at both meetings with 4 presentations at ADEA and 39 oral presentations at the AADOCR. Dental students Colton Curtis and Cyrus Mansouri received awards for their presentations, and Azeez Butali received an award for mentorship for his work with Mary Young. Images from the week in available on the College of Dentistry website.
Mary Young with her mentor Azeez Butali

Dental student researcher studies craniofacial biology at Iowa

Thursday, February 23, 2023
Third-year dental student Mary Young has made the most of her research opportunities at Iowa to make a difference in understanding the genetics of orofacial clefting for African and other populations. Already with several major awards and fellowships, the future is bright for Young.

Student Publications

Michael Chavez (D2)

Mohamed FF, Chavez MB (D2), Huggins S, Bertels J, Falck A, Suva LJ, Foster BL, Gaddy D. Dentoalveolar Defects of Hypophosphatasia are Recapitulated in a Sheep Knock-In Model. J Bone Miner Res. 2022 Oct;37(10):2005-2017. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4666. Epub 2022 Aug 26.
PMID: 36053890

Read the Complete Article

Michael Chavez (D2)

Nagasaki K, Chavez MB (D2), Nagasaki A, Taylor JM, Tan MH, Ma M, Ralston E, Thew ME, Kim DG, Somerman MJ, Foster BL. The Bone Sialoprotein RGD Domain Modulates and Maintains Periodontal Development. J Dent Res. 2022 Sep;101(10):1238-1247. doi: 10.1177/00220345221100794. Epub 2022 Jun 9. PMID: 35686360

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Michael Chavez (D2)

Mohamed FF, Chavez MB (D2), de Oliveira FA, Narisawa S, Farquharson C, Millán JL, Foster BL. Perspective on Dentoalveolar Manifestations Resulting From PHOSPHO1 Loss-of-Function: A Form of Pseudohypophosphatasia? Front Dent Med. 2022 Feb;3:826387. doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2022.826387. Epub 2022 Feb 3.PMID: 36185572

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Michael Chavez (D2)

Chavez MB (D2), Tan MH, Kolli TN, Zachariadou C, Farah F, Mohamed FF, Chu EY, Foster BL. Bone Sialoprotein Is Critical for Alveolar Bone Healing in Mice. J Dent Res. 2023 Feb;102(2):187-196. doi: 10.1177/00220345221126716. Epub 2022 Nov 14. PMID: 36377066

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Mary Young (D3)

Li M (D3), Olotu J, Buxo-Martinez CJ, Mossey PA, Anand D, Busch T, Alade A, Gowans LJJ, Eshete M, Adeyemo WL, Naicker T, Awotoye WO, Gupta S, Adeleke C, Bravo V, Huang S, Adamson OO, Toraño AM, Bello CA, Soto M, Soto M, Ledesma R, Marquez M, Cordero JF, Lopez-Del Valle LM, Salcedo MI, Debs N, Petrin A, Malloy H, Elhadi K, James O, Ogunlewe MO, Abate F, Hailu A, Mohammed I, Gravem P, Deribew M, Gesses M, Hassan M, Pape J, Obiri-Yeboah S, Arthur FKN, Oti AA, Donkor P, Marazita ML, Lachke SA, Adeyemo AA, Murray JC, Butali A. Variant analyses of candidate genes in orofacial clefts in multi-ethnic populations. Oral Dis. 2022 Oct;28(7):1921-1935. doi: 10.1111/odi.13932. Epub 2021 Jun 21. PMID: 34061439; PMCID: PMC9733635.

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Zach Graham (D2)

Couso-Queiruga E, Graham ZA, Gonzalez-Martin O, Galindo-Moreno P, Avila-Ortiz G. Effect of periodontal phenotype characteristics on post extraction dimensional changes in the alveolar ridge. A prospective case series. J Clin Periodon. 2023; 50(5): 694-706.

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Zach Graham (D2)

Matumoto EK, Correa MG, Couso-Queiruga E, Monteiro MF, Graham Z, Braz SHG, Ribeiro FV, Pimentel SP, Cirano FR, Casati MZ. Influence of partially exposed nonabsorbable membrane for alveolar ridge preservation: a randomized controlled trial. Clin Implan Dent Relat Res. 2023; 1-11.

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Morgan Scholtes (D4)

Scholtes M (D4), Comnick C, Reynolds JC, Ingleshwar A, McKernan SC, Damiano PC. Dentist attitudes toward an annual benefit maximum in Iowa’s adult Medicaid program. J Public Health Dent. 2023; 93(1):26-32.

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National Presentations

ADEA Annual Meeting

Two students attended and presented at the ADEA Annual Conference in Portland, OR, March 11-14, 2023.
(D2) David Jun, David Bridges and (D3) Kierstin Evenson

AADOCR Annual Meeting

Seventeen students attended and presented at the AADOCR Annual Conference in Portland, OR March 15-18, 2023.
(D1) Kendall Oldham, Vi Phan, Tanveer Vasdev
(D2) Olivia Bartholomew, Michael Chavez, Casey Delaney, Carter Coppinger, Alex Harper
(D3) Colton Curtis, Kael Hoflen, Katie Meinecke, Arshi Munjal, Sarmad Saadi, Amanda Seaberg, Sydney Weber, Mary Young
(D4) Cyrus Mansouri
Mary Young, Amanda Seaberg, Cyrus Mansouri and Michael Chavez received AADOCR Block Travel Grant.

NOHC Annual Conference

Three students attended and presented at the NOHC Conference in Orlando, FL April 17-19, 2023.
(D1) Jeremiah Poppen and (D2) Garret Curtis, Kayla Limberg

AAPD Annual Conference

(D2) Samuel Allen and (D3) Kylie Scott, Sara Saey attended and presented at the AAPD Conference in Orlando, FL May 25-28, 2023.

IADR

(D2) Jorge Ceballos will be presenting at the IADR Conference in Bogota, Columbia June 21-24, 2023.

The New England Science Symposium

Amam Nasir (D2), presented his research project, Differential Gene Expression in E11.5 Murine Right and Left Facial Prominences, at The New England Science Symposium in Boston, MA. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan, adjunct associate professor of orthodontics was the mentor.

2023 Iowa Section of the AADOCR Awards

The 70th Annual Iowa Section of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research was held on Tuesday, February 14.

Twenty-eight students presented at the Local AADOCR Research day on February 14, 2023.
(D1) Kendall Oldham, Vi Phan, Jeremiah Poppen, Tanveer Vasdev
(D2) Samuel Allen, Olivia Bartholomew, Claire Campbell, Michael Chavez, Carter Coppinger, Garret Curtis, Casey Delaney, Alex Harper, Austin Hinkle, Sarah Johnson, Kayla Limberg, Amama Nasir
(D3) Alanna Bram, Colton Curtis, Kierstin Evenson, Kael Hoflen, Luke Hovey, Katie Meinecke, Arshi Munjal, Sarmad Saadi, Sara Saey, Amanda Seaberg, Kylie Scott, Mary Young

Judges evaluated each submission for each category and determined the award winners based on the quality of the research and the presentation. These awards represent the exciting research that students, staff, and visitors are conducting and presenting.

Tanveer Vasdev

Tanveer Vasdev

AADOCR Student Research Award
Mentor: Sukirth Ganesan

Michael Chavez

Michael Chavez

Max Smith Graduate and Postdoctoral Competition
3rd Place
Mentor: Brian Foster (OSU)

Colton Curtis

Colton Curtis

Max Smith Pre-Doctoral Competition
1st Place
Mentor: Robert Bowers

Sara Saey

Sara Saey

Max Smith Pre-Doctoral Competition
2nd Place
Mentor: Kecia Leary

Luke Hovey

Luke Hovey

Max Smith Pre-Doctoral Competition
3rd Place
Mentor: Lina Moreno

Tanveer Vasdev

Tanveer Vasdev

P&G Competition
1st Place
Mentor: Sukirth Ganesan

Claire Campbell

Claire Campbell

P&G Competition
2nd Place
Mentors: Julie Reynolds and Lina Moreno

Kierston Evenson

Kierston Evenson

P&G Competition
3rd Place
Mentor: Jennifer Hartshorn

Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson

ADA Table Clinics Competition (Predoctoral)
1st Place
Mentor: Trishul Allareddy

Katie Meinecke

Katie Meinecke

ADA Table Clinics Competition (Predoctoral)
2nd Place
Mentor: Jhanvi Desai

 

Alanna Bram

Alanna Bram

ADA Table Clinics Competition (Predoctoral)
3rd Place
Mentor: Carrie Anderson

Tanveer Vasdev

Tanveer Vasdev

Dental Specialty Award
Iowa Society for Periodontology Predoctoral Award
Mentor: Sukirth Ganesan

Sara Saey

Sara Saey

James S. Wefel Pediatric Dentistry Predoctoral Competition Award
Mentor: Kecia Leary

Kendall Oldham

Kendall Oldham

Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Health Equity Award (Dental Student)
1st Place

Mentor: Xi Chen

Looking Forward to Next Academic Year

Forty-two student research proposals were funded for the 2023-2024 school year. 

Students officers of the Dental Student Research Groups 2023

2023-2024 Student Research Program Officers

President: Garret Curtis (D3)
Vice-President: Olivia Bartholomew (D3)
Secretary/Treasurer: Jeremiah Poppen (D2)
D4 Representatives: Colton Curtis (D4)
Mandi Seaberg (D4)
D3 Representative: Michael Chavez (D3)
D2 Representative: Vi Phan (D2)
D1 Representative: Elected in the fall (D1)