Christine Hurley DerisoDr. Eladio DeLeon, chairman and program director of the Department of Orthodontics, completed his term as president of the American Board of Orthodontics. As immediate past president, he continues to serve on the board’s Written Examination and
Policy committees.
Dr. Alan Furness, assistant professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, has received the International College of Dentists’ Faculty Leadership Award. Michael Hall and Abby Halpern, third-year DCG students, received ICD Student Leadership Awards. The awards were presented during the ICD Georgia Section luncheon in July.
Dr. Mira Ghaly has joined the faculty as an assistant professor in the Department of Periodontics. She earned her dental degree from the Université de Montréal and completed a general practice residency at Montreal General Hospital before practicing general dentistry in Montreal. She is board-certified in periodontics in both the United States and Canada and completed a Master of Science and Specialty Education in Periodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry.
Dr. Regina Messer, associate professor in the Department of Oral Biology, is serving as vice chairman of the DCG Admissions Committee this year and will assume the chair position in 2017.
Dr. Jan Mitchell, associate professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, presented research on the importance of preparing students for setbacks and constructive criticism during the Dental Education Liaisons summer meeting in New Orleans. Her presentation was one of 32 poster presentations representing the American Dental Education Association Commission on Change and Innovation.
Drs. Mahmood Mozaffari, professor in the Department of Oral Biology, and Frederick Rueggeberg, professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, were inducted into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest, most selective and most prestigious all-discipline academic honor society.
Dr. Amany Tawfik, assistant professor in the Department of Oral Biology, has received a Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association Research Committee. The three-year, $231,000 grant will fund Tawfik’s diabetic retinopathy research.
Dr. Frank Tay, chair of the Department of Endodontics at the DCG, had his paper “Collagen intrafibrillar mineralization as a result of the balance between osmotic equilibrium and electroneutrality” selected for advanced online publication on the prestigious Nature Material’s website.
Dr. Yong Teng joined our faculty as assistant professor in the Department of Oral Biology. He earned a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Sun Yat-sen University in China and continued postdoctoral training in the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, where he holds a faculty position. He researches mechanisms of cancer metastasis.
