Winter 2012 - College of Dental Medicine - Columbia University

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Spring Events Calendar MARCH MAR. 9, SAT. 12:00-2:00pm/Brasserie Beck Washington. DC Alumni Luncheon Nation’s Capital Dental Meeting MAR. 15, FRI. 9am-5pm | Columbia Club Orthodontic Alumni Society Annual Spring Meeting Dr. Robert Boyd 5 CE Credits Old Friends −Together Again on Class Reunion Day APRIL APRIL 9, wed. 2:00PM-5:00PM | CUMC Birnberg Research Program Poster Presentations APRIL 10, Thurs. 12:00PM-2:30PM | CUMC Birnberg Research Program Lecture + Luncheon Dr. Peter Polverini 1 CE Credit APRIL 10, Thurs. 2:45PM-4:00PM | CUMC Dedication of Dr. Irwin D. Mandel Conference Room APRIL 16, TUE. 6:30-9pm | Sotheby's NYC CDM Connects: Alumni Social Networking Reception MAY May 3, Fri. 11:00am-4:30pm. CUMC Class Reunion Day Honoring classes ending in 3’s & 8’s. May 3, Fri. 4:30-7:00pm | CUMC Reception Honoring Dr. Martin J. Davis ’74, Peds ’75 May 4, SAT. 4:00-6:00pm | Philadelphia, PA Orthodontic Alumni Reception at AAO Annual Session May 22, Wed. 4:30-6:30pm | CUMC CDM Class Day Awards Ceremony May 23, Thurs. 10:30am-12PM | CUMC CDM Graduation Ceremony May 25, Sat. 6:00-7:30pm | Orlando, FL Pediatric Dentistry Alumni Reception at AAPD Annual Session JUNE June 14, Fri. 10am-12NOON | CUMC Postdoctoral Graduation Ceremony Alumni Office: 212-342-2964 or mmw7@columbia.edu 50 primus | winter 2012-13
Roy Stevens ’76, MS notable Q. Dr. Stevens, you hold a Columbia DDS and graduated from UPenn's endodontics program, but your title at Temple is Associate Dean for Research. How did that happen A. My career has been bifurcated between dentistry and basic science. I received my MS in microbiology and virology at Rutgers, but evidence for my research often had a strong connection to oral cavity diseases treated by dentists and I wanted the clinical experience provided by dental school. Q. Was Columbia a good choice A. Oh, yes. Many talented, interesting people—faculty and students--created a fertile environment in which I could leverage knowledge I brought with me. Also, Drs. Irwin Mandel, Dan Fine and Irving Naidorf gave me the opportunity to continue doing meaningful research. Q. What did you contribute A. I knew electrophoresis techniques from my graduate research and applied them to identify a unique anioic protein molecule in saliva. For Dr. Fine's studies on microorganisms related to periodontal disease, I grew and purified a bacteria that produced antibodies to detect this microorganism. Q. What was your next career step A. After receiving my DDS, a clinical residency at Beth Israel Hospital took me back to the lab. Then, Dr. Mandel helped me obtain a postdoctoral position at UPenn, studying periodontal pathogenic bacteria with Dr. Benjamin Hammond. Our lab was able to identify bacteria from a severe periodontal disease case in a child as Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Aa), an organism now widely studied. It is the only known oral bacteria producing a toxin that specifically kills white blood cells. Knowing many bacteria were latently infected by viruses, I discovered one infecting Aa, and published “Characterization of an inducible bacteriophage from a leukotoxic strain of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans,“ the first report of temperate bacterial virus infecting a suspected periodontal pathogen. Scientists from several countries have since confirmed my findings. Q. Does your work with this bacteria continue A. Yes. Recently, we isolated a virus-infected bacteria (Enterococcus species) from a root canal-infected tooth. They can cause several serious systemic diseases, like infective endocarditis, and hospital-borne infections. We hope to combat them with a synthetic version of the virus's genome. Q. When did your acquire your subspecialty in endodontics A. While I was a full-time faculty member at UPenn, I met and worked with Dr. Louis Grossman, "the father of all endodontists," who influenced my decision to specialize in endodontics. I then worked with Dr. Mandel in his Clinical Research Center, until 1993, when Temple invited me to become chair of Endodontics. Two years ago, I became Associate Dean for Research here. Q. So full circle, back to microbiology A. Exactly. I think I became interested in this field originally in order to study an entity that could be entirely knowable. Humans, animals, even insects are all extremely complicated. So I moved down to the bacterial cell—still very complex-and, finally, to the virus—still complex, but certainly more knowable. primus | winter 2012-13 51
Page 1 and 2: primus Columbia African Village Wel
Page 3 and 4: SCHOOL NEWS | on campus Ronnie Myer
Page 5 and 6: Colleagues Honor Dean Ira B. Lamste
Page 7 and 8: Macy Foundation Funds Symposium on
Page 9 and 10: A Celebration of Research Excellenc
Page 11 and 12: Research Conference in Periodontal
Page 13 and 14: To solve this serious deficit in Bu
Page 15 and 16: school news CDM Offers Fellowship a
Page 17 and 18: Academic Exchange with Osaka Dental
Page 19 and 20: alumni events Class Reunion Day 201
Page 21 and 22: alumni events Class of ’72 Samuel
Page 23 and 24: Class of ’92 (Back row l. to r.)
Page 25 and 26: June Reception at Kurpis Home On Ju
Page 27 and 28: A Vintage Evening Fifty alumni, fac
Page 29 and 30: alumni notes WW II Memories From Le
Page 31 and 32: alumni notes Jeffrey Senzer ’73,
Page 33 and 34: students Profile: Dominick Ambroise
Page 35 and 36: HDA Colgate-Palmolive Scholarships
Page 37 and 38: philanthropy A Bequest Can Be Your
Page 39 and 40: Seldin/Winslow Scholarship Rewards
Page 41 and 42: Victoria Constantinescu ’82 Pays
Page 43 and 44: The College of Dental Medicine grat
Page 45 and 46: Dr. Matthew J. Neary ‘80, Perio
Page 47 and 48: Deena Linett Betty H. Ma, Hyg ‘70
Page 49: Continuing Dental Education Course

Winter 2012 - College of Dental Medicine - Columbia University

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?