Dr. Bonnie Branson, professor of Dental Public Health and Behavioral Science and director of External Rotation Sites, received the following compliment on UMKC student preparedness from a Dental Outreach Clinical Site (DOCS) mentor: “Having worked with recent grads from all over the country, I see that UMKC is still doing an excellent job training young dentists. As a supervisor of many young dentists in my 21 years in the Army, many schools are not adequately training recent grads.”
Sarah Dallas, Ph.D., the Lee M. and William Lefkowitz Endowed Professor, will be featured in an eight-episode documentary on the human body. A five-person crew from the Japanese television network NHK interviewed her for the show’s episode on bone. Dr. Dallas is a pioneer in the imaging of osteocytes, specialized cells embedded in the bone. Dallas is a key member of UMKC’s research team exploring osteocytes and how they degenerate as aging occurs.
Jeff Gorski, Ph.D., professor of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, along with a group of international coauthors, published “Bivariate genome-wide association meta-analysis of pediatric musculoskeletal traits reveals pleiotropic effects at the SREBF1/TOM1L2 locus” in the July 25, 2017, edition of the journal Nature Communications. “I was pleased to be part of the larger study,” said Gorski, “because the outcome provides strong support for a functionally important role for the gene SREBP1 in bone and muscle. Having received encouragement for a role for SREBP1 in determining muscle mass and bone density, we can pursue more focused studies to increase muscle or bone in aging human populations where these tissues are subject to sarcopenia and osteoporosis.”
Dr. Behjet Moghadam, retired faculty member of Restorative Clinical Sciences, was granted the title of Professor Emeritus by UMKC Chancellor emeritus, Leo Morton. Dr. Moghadam, who joined the faculty in 1987, continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member.
Dr. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan, assistant professor of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, was recognized as one of the “Top Reviewers of 2016” by the American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics. His application to the UM Faculty Scholars program was accepted for the 2017-18 session.
Dr. Jim Trotter, assistant clinical professor in Restorative Clinical Sciences, and Keyna Chertoff, senior research assistant in Dental Public Health & Behavioral Science, recently completed the year-long Oral Health Kansas “Dental Champions Leadership Program.” During the program, members worked together to create strategies on how to improve fluoridation in Kansas. They presented their plan to the OHK Board Members at their quarterly meeting, which was followed by a graduation.
Dr. Rebeca Weisleder completed the requirements for Board Certification as a Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics. She is the fifth full-time faculty member to be board certified within the UMKC Department of Endodontics. Dr. James Blundell, chair of UMKC Endodontics, remarked, “To my knowledge there is no other endodontics department in the world with five full-time board certified endodontists.”