People Directory
Research Interests
Operative Dentistry
Dwayne Arola
Associate Professor, Material Science & Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Tar Chee Aw
Associate Professor, Restorative Dentistry
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
206.543.5948
Research Interests
Laboratory evaluation and clinical trials of new restorative dental materials and techniques. Interests include Esthetics, Implants, Biomaterials (resins, ceramics, cements, curing lights) and Technology (lasers, CAD/CAM, informatics, expert systems, neural networks, telemedicine).
Burcu Bayirli
Clinical Associate Professor, Orthodontics
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
Research Interests
Access to orthodontic care for underserved populations and orthodontic treatment outcomes.
O. Ross Beirne
Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Academic: 206.543.7722
Clinical: Northwest Center for Oral and Facial Surgery
Research Interests
Maxillary sinus augmentation. Anesthesia- protocol for outpatient oral and maxillofacial surgery. Evidenced-based clinical decision making
Research Interests
Mandibular prognathic surgery issues, bone grafting and maxillary inter-dental osteotomy studies
Research Interests
Bone metabolism.
Sandra Bordin
Research Professor, Periodontics
Adjunct Research Professor, Oral Health Sciences
206.685.2781
Research Interests
Regeneration and repair of oral human connective tissue
Andrea Burke
Acting Assistant Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Clinical Contact: Northwest Center for Oral and Facial Surgery
Research Interests
Pathophysiology of skeletal diseases, such as fibro-osseous and giant cell lesions, osteonecrosis of the jaws and odontogenic tumors. Molecular and genetic understanding of benign craniofacial fibro-osseous lesions. Fibrous Dysplasia/McCune-Albright Syndrome Patient Registry.
Research Interests
Collagen Expression
Research Interests
Using a multidisciplinary, patient-centered, dental practice-based research approach to answer treatment decision-making questions of greatest concern to patients and providers and broadening access to oral healthcare for low-income and minority populations.
Research Interests
Dental materials and how they interact with the biology of the human mouth.
Research Interests
All ceramic systems and the application of CAD/CAM technology in restorative dentistry.
Donald Chi
Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health Services
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
Faculty, Graduate College
Research Interests
Dentistry and public health, Medicaid dental program, dental care utilization for children with special health care needs, multi-level statistical modeling
Kwok-Hung (Albert) Chung
Professor, Restorative Dentistry
Division of Dental Materials Science
206.543.5948
Research Interests
Nano restorative materials used in clinical dentistry and the biomechanics of dental implants.
Whasun “Sun” Oh Chung
Research Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Director, SURF Research Program, School of Dentistry
Research Interests
Oral Microbiology and Defensin Antimicrobial Peptides
Susan E. Coldwell
Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Associate Dean for Student Life & Admissions
Washington Dental Service Endowed Professor
Adjunct Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
Adjunct Professor, Psychology
Research Interests
Development and physiological influences on taste preference and perception. Psychophysical measurement of pain, anxiety, and taste
Research Interests
Decision-making, behavior change, psychometrics, and dental fear
Research Interests
Oral health epidemiology, social epidemiology, and evidence-based dental practice
Research Interests
Pathogenesis of human malformation syndromes
Research Interests
Bacteria/host interactions, LPS biochemistry, Host inflammatory response.
David Dean
Director, Oral Medicine Service, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Graduate Program Director, Oral Medicine
Clinical Assistant Professor, Oral Medicine
Attending, Oral Medicine Service, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Attending, Oral Medicine Clinical Services, University of Washington
206.221.5187
OMCS (Clinic): 206.685.2937
SCCA (Clinic): 206.606.1333
Ajay Dhaka
Assistant Professor, Biological Structure
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Jasjit K. Dillon
Clinical Assistant Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Resident Program Director & Acting Chief, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Harborview Medical Center
206.744.3189
Research Interests
Clinic complications. Outcomes in oral cancer surgery patients. Critical care patients.
Research Interests
Bone and soft tissue regeneration (rhBMp-2 directed osteo and angiogenesis), cytotoxic effects of oral bacteria surface proteins, biocompatibility of various dental materials, and implant and surgical wound healing studies.
Thomas Benton Dodson
Professor & Chair, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Academic: 206.543.7722
Clinical: nwface.org
Research Interests
Orthognathic surgery, maxillofacial trauma, pathology, dentoalveolar and maxillofacial reconstructive surgery
Research Interests
In vivo mineralization and characterization of the remineralized tissues.
Research Interests
Orofacial Pain
Research Interests
Biological basis of facial growth and development, the management of cleft lip and palate, applications of distraction osteogenesis in the correction of facial anomalies and the treatment of pediatric oral and maxillofacial pathology.
John Richard Evans
Director, Advanced General Dentistry
Clinical Associate Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Associate Director, RIDE
206.543.7722
Research Interests
Learning styles as they apply to clinical teaching. Efficacy of informed consent procedures. Problem-based learning. Metacognition of clinical problem solving. Evidence-based clinical care.
Research Interests
Biomineralization
Research Interests
Cephalometric Analysis in Down Syndrome.
Research Interests
Mechanisms of nociception, pain, and analgesia.
Research Interests
Development of miniature cell culture tools for quantitative cell biology studies
Research Interests
Saliva as a diagnostic fluid, as well as therapy for salivary disorders.
Research Interests
Adhesion molecules and vascular biology processes
Geoffrey M. Greenlee
Clinical Associate Professor, Orthodontics
Director, Graduate Orthodontics and Faculty Practice Clinics
David Grembowski
Professor, Health Services
Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Professor, Sociology
Research Interests
Design and performance of health care systems, prevention, and technology diffusion
Research Interests
Access to dental care in adults with mental Illness and individuals who avoid dental care due to fear and other barriers
Research Interests
Craniofacial Biology
Research Interests
Practice-based research, orthodontic outcomes and stability, evidence-based orthodontics
Research Interests
Nutrition with a focus on low carbohydrate diets, harmful effects of diagnostic radiation and evidence-based methodology and applications
Research Interests
Saliva as a diagnostic fluid
James D. Johnson
Chair and Clinical Professor, Endodontics
Diplomate, American Board of Endodontists
206.543.5044
Research Interests
Surgical and nonsurgical endodontics, pulpal / periradicular biology and pathology, and instrumentation of the root canal system.
Research Interests
Applied research for new restorative dental materials and techniques, with current emphasis on cements and adhesives. He has authored over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, is a frequent presenter at scientific and professional meetings and has held continuing dental education courses in and outside North America throughout his career.
Research Interests
Dr. Khosravi’s primary research interests are three dimensional image processing and morphometrics.
Amy Kim
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
Associate Director, Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE)
Research Interests
Alveolar bone remodeling during orthodontic treatment; Public Health and Policy research in orthodontics; Practice based research networks.
Research Interests
Bone response to host-related factors, such as diabetes mellitus, and to local factors, such as titanium surface contamination and osteostimulative biomaterials.
Research Interests
Clinical studies in Implant Dentistry in order to develop new and less expensive treatment options for edentulous patients.
Melanie S. Lang
Clinical Assistant Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Academic: 206.543.7722
Clinical Contact: Northwest Center for Oral and Facial Surgery
Linda LeResche
Associate Dean for Research and Faculty
Professor, Oral Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Director of Research Division
206.616.6049
Research Interests
Behavioral and epidemiologic aspects of pain
Peggy Lee
Director, Oral Maxillofacial Radiology Residency Program
Assistant professor, Oral Radiology
206.543.0615
Penelope Leggott
Professor and Director of the MCH Leadership Training Program in Pediatric Dentistry
Xavier Lepe
Associate Professor, Restorative Dentistry
Director of the Division of Prosthodontics
206.543.5948
Research Interests
Main research focus on impression materials. Also conducted clinical and laboratory studies on various other dental materials including: resin bonding agents, cements, gypsum stone products and post & core systems.
Brian Leroux
Professor, Biostatistics, SPH
Professor, Oral Health Sciences
206.616.4643, 206.616.0467
Research Interests
Statistical methods for correlated data with applications to dental research and other fields
Zi-Jun Liu
Research Associate Professor, Orthodontics
Adjunct Research Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Research Interests
Biology of craniofacial skeletons and musculatures, TMJ functions and TMD, Mechanism of orthodontic tooth movements and material properties of periodontal ligaments
C. Michele Lloid
Clinical Associate Professor, Oral Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Clinical Associate Professor, Dental Public Health Sciences
288.6435
Research Interests
Oral Care of post bone marrow transplant patients
Lloyd Mancl
Research Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Research Associate Professor, Biostatistics,
(SPH)
Adjunct Research Associate Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
206.616.5315
Research Interests
Statistical methods for dental research with an emphasis on longitudinal and correlated data and applied research on caries, temporomandibular disorders, and periodontal disease
Research Interests
Epidemiology of mercury exposure in dentistry, as well as oral mucosal disease and oro-facial pain.
Research Interests
Preventive dentistry, pediatric and community dentistry, geriatric dentistry, and access to care issues.
Research Interests
Oral clefts, maternal nutrition, infant feeding, and global health
Research Interests
Developing innovative methodologies, tools and new genomic based approaches to study microbial interactions within oral biofilm communities.
Travis Nelson
Acting Chair, Pediatric Dentistry
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
206-543-0980
Paul Nghiem
Associate Professor, Division of Dermatology
Adjunct Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
206.221.2632
Research Interests
Skin cancer biology, Merkel cell carcinoma
Research Interests
Pedodontic conscious sedation techniques. Endodontic surgical techniques. Oral manifestations of metabolic disease. Dental management of the renal dialysis and renal transplant patient.
Research Interests
Oral cancer molecular and genetic alterations and treatment. Tobacco carcinogenesis and antioxidant role in prevention of oral carcinogenesis in vitro tissue engineering
Research Interests
Oral and Parenteral Sedation. Pediatric Dentistry and Adrenal Disease.
Research Interests
Pulpal regeneration and revascularization, immunology, compatibility of biomaterials.
Research Interests
Dental Morphology
Richard Presland
Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor, Medicine
Research Interests
Molecular Basis of Epithelial Cell Differentiation
Research Interests
Craniofacial biomechanics, with particular focus on bone strain and functional adaptation of bony tissue.
Douglas Ramsay
Professor and Chair, Oral Health Sciences
Professor, Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Adjunct Professor, Psychology
Research Interests
Mechanisms of Drug Tolerance, Mechanisms and Psychophysics of Pain
Research Interests
Mucosal soft tissue tumors and gnathic bone lesions
Research Interests
Regulation of myogenic stem cell function in adult life
Research Interests
Periodontics
Research Interests
Molecular biology of tumor viruses, cell growth, differentiation and transformation
Marilynn Rothen
Clinical Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Research Implementation Manager
Regional Clinical Dental Research Center
Institute of Translational Health Sciences
206.685.8132
Research Interests
Dental caries management and risk assessment; treatment of patients with dental fear
Jeffrey E. Rubenstein
Professor, Restorative Dentistry, Division of Prosthodontics
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
206.543.5919
Research Interests
Oro-facial rehabilitation of the patient with anatomical compromise in the region of the head and neck.
Research Interests
New restorative dental materials, mainly composites and adhesives. Non-invasive diagnostic modalities for dentistry, including optical coherence tomography and promoting minimally invasive dentistry.
Mehmet Sarikaya
Director, Genetically Engineered Materials Sciences & Engineering Center
Professor, Materials Sciences & Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Chemical Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Research Interests
Molecular Biomimetics
Mark Schubert
Director, Oral Medicine, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Professor, Oral Medicine
Associate Member, Clinical Research Division Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
OM: 206.616.6013
SCCA: 206.288.1331
Research Interests
Prevention and management of oral mucositis associated with cancer therapy. Management strategies for other oral complications of cancer therapy including salivary gland dysfunction, oral graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic hematopooeitic cell transplant recipients, and dental growth and development problems following hematopooeitic cell transplant.
Ernesto Ricardo Schwedhelm
Associate Dean for Clinics
Clinical Associate Professor, Restorative Dentistry
206.543.5948
Ana Lucia Seminario
Associate Professor, Pediatric Dentistry
Adjunct Associate Professor, Global Health, UW School of Public Health
Research Interests
Implant Dentistry and CAD/CAM technology.
Research Interests
Engineering proteins for biotechnology, Biomaterials, and biomedical therapies/diagnostics
Minoru Taya
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Professor, Materials Science & Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering
206.685.2850
Research Interests
Intelligent materials and systems
Research Interests
Treatment of mandibular fractures. Neurohumoral induced cardiac dysrhythmias during nitrous oxide anesthesia. Spontaneous pneumothorax following ambulatory dental anesthesia. Reconstruction of mandibular continuity with recombinant Human Bone Morphogenic Protein 2.
Rheem Totah
Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
Adjunct Associate Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Research Interests
Drug-endogenous substrate interactions
Research Interests
Biocompatibility of dental materials and the longitudinal clinical evaluation of bonded prostheses.
Research Interests
Quantifying the effects of systemic health on periodontal status and the clinical outcomes of immediate and delayed implant placement and loading
Research Interests
Embryonic stem cells (ESC) and Human ESC (hESC)
Philip Weinstein
Professor Emeritus, Oral Health Sciences
Adjunct Professor Emeritus in Psychology and Pediatric Dentistry
Research Interests
Dental Hygiene
Research Interests
Research and development of biomedical diagnostic technology based on microbluidics
Jing Zhang
Acting Director, UW Medicine, Neuropathology
Professor, Pathology
Adjunct Professor, Neurology & Ophthalmology
Adjunct Professor, Oral Health Sciences
Research Interests
Molecular biomarker for Parkinson’s disease
Research Interests
Dental implantology and tooth regeneration. Responses of osteoblasts to dental implant surface (osseointegration), the regulation mechanisms in tooth development and regeneration, as well as critical oral mineralized tissue diseases such as bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). New dental technology, such as zirconia-based all ceramic system (LAVA system by 3M/ESPE).