Mary Walker

Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs

Room 3154

School of Dentistry

Phone: Phone 816/235-2825
walkermp@umkc.edu

Walker_Mary

Mary Walker has been a faculty member at the School of Dentistry since 2002. In addition to serving as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, she is a professor in the departments of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences and Restorative Clinical Sciences. She holds a D.D.S. and Ph.D. and also completed a Prosthodontics specialty residency. She is the Program Director for the Oral and Craniofacial Sciences Graduate Program and the Director for the Summer Scholars program, a research-focused program for dental students during the summer after their first year. Besides mentoring more than 75 MS, PhD and predoctoral dental students, dental residents, and postdoctoral fellows, she has been involved in translational and clinical research related to biomaterials and mineralized tooth structure as well as clinically-relevant evaluations of various dental materials. Her NIDCR-funded research has focused on understanding the mechanism of radiotherapy-induced dentition breakdown and resulted in updated US Oncology Network radiotherapy threshold limits for teeth during treatment for head and neck cancer. Before joining the UMKC faculty, she was a faculty member of the College of Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Prior to her academic career, she owned a solo general dentistry practice. She has also served on the editorial board of several journals including the Journal of Dental Research.