September 9, 2010
The Faculty of Dentistry has successfully appointed new full-time faculty members in Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Community Dentistry, Dental Education and Dental Hygiene. These young faculty members bring a level of enthusiasm and expertise that is certain to maintain outstanding programs at UBC far into the future.
Fernanda R. Almeida, DDS, MSc, PhD, has been appointed assistant professor in the Department of Oral Health Sciences, where she teaches dental radiography. Dr. Almeida received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1995, and in 2000, her Master of Science from the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is an alumna of UBC, where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (Dental Sciences) in 2005. Dr. Almeida has been involved in oral appliance research and the treatment of patients with obstructive sleep apnea since 1996, and her research is focused on oral appliance side effects, compliance, titration modalities, imaging and treatment outcome. With other UBC Dentistry faculty, Almeida has designed an interdisciplinary program in dental sleep medicine for the clinical specialty graduate programs in orthodontics and pediatric dentistry. She shares the view that UBC is ripe for the establishment of a training program in dental sleep medicine that would prepare individuals for certification by the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine—the faculties of Dentistry and Medicine are internationally recognized for their interdisciplinary research in this field. Almeida is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine and is associate editor of Sleep and Breathing: International Journal of the Science and Practice of Sleep Medicine.
Mario Brondani, DDS, MSc (Gerontology), PhD (Dental Sciences), has been appointed assistant professor in the Department of Oral Health Sciences. The dual appointment is in the Division of Community Oral Health, as well as Prosthodontics and Dental Geriatrics. Dr. Brondani coordinates the DENT 420 PACS (Professionalism and Community Service) module focused on dental geriatrics and is pursuing a master’s degree in public health through the UBC School of Population and Public Health starting this September. His areas of interest for teaching, service and research include: dental geriatrics—development and translation (validity) of dental psychometric measures and models of oral health in old age (theoretical and empirical conceptualization); community service learning (reflective journalling and social responsibility awareness as approaches to enhance learning) and its impact upon students and the community they serve; and the belief system about the links between oral sex and oral cancer when human papilloma virus (HPV) is involved. Brondani volunteers for the local community services Boys R Us (a Vancouver Coastal Health and AIDS Vancouver partnership) and Health Initiative for Men, and he is taking dentistry, through PACS, to the BC Persons With AIDS Society.
Karen M. Campbell, DDS, MSc, FRCD(C), has joined the Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Pediatric Dentistry, as assistant professor for the clinical specialty graduate program in Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Campbell received her Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in 1982. She completed a combined clinical specialty/Master of Science in Pediatric Dentistry from the University of Toronto and was conferred Fellowship in the Royal College of Dentists of Canada in 2005. Over a 28-year dental career, her varied experience in pediatric dentistry has included community, public health and hospital practice, along with active involvement in all aspects of didactic, preclinical and clinical teaching. Campbell taught at the undergraduate level within the Division of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at the UWO Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she also assumed the role of clinic director for the Children’s Dental Clinic in 2008. Her research interests are the development and validation of undergraduate/graduate-level teaching materials/coursework; behaviour guidance in pediatric dentistry; dentoalveolar trauma: prevalence, prevention, treatment (emergency and follow-up care) and outcomes; and infant dental care/early childhood caries prevention.
Denise Laronde, DipDH, MSc (Dental Science), PhD, has joined the Faculty as assistant professor and is teaching in both the Dental Hygiene Degree Program and the DMD program. Dr. Laronde is a member of the BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program (BC OCPP)—an oral cancer research group. She is involved in developing strategies to facilitate oral cancer screening activities within community dental clinics, as well as clinical research in high-risk clinics (dysplasia and oral cancer) at the Vancouver and Fraser Valley sites of the BC Cancer Agency. As a dental hygienist, she plays an important role in studying clinical risk factors, including the value of adjunctive visual tools such as toluidine blue and fluorescence visualization to help identify high-risk lesions. Laronde plans to continue her research with the BC OCPP and hopes to develop dental hygiene research while at UBC.
Caroline Tram Nguyen, DMD, MS, has joined the Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Prosthodontics and Dental Geriatrics, as assistant professor for the clinical specialty graduate program in Prosthodontics. Dr. Nguyen received her Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Montreal in 2006 and her Master of Science and Certificate in Advanced Education in Prosthodontics from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, University of Maryland, in 2009. She is a Fellow of the American Board of Prosthodontics and Fellow Elect in Prosthodontics of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada. She has taught as clinical instructor at the University of Maryland and was recently appointed Fellow in Maxillofacial Prosthetics and Dental Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is currently a reviewer for the Journal of Prosthodontics and her research interests are in biomaterials and oral cancer rehabilitation.
Benjamin Pliska, DDS, MS, FRCD(C), has joined the Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Orthodontics, as assistant professor to teach in the clinical specialty graduate program in Orthodontics. Dr. Pliska received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2005, and his Certificate in Orthodontics and Master of Science in Dentistry in 2007 from the University of Minnesota. Prior to his arrival at UBC, Pliska held an appointment of clinical assistant professor in the Division of Orthodontics at the University of Minnesota, with teaching responsibilities in both the predoctoral and graduate orthodontic programs. Pliska looks forward to working with the dental faculty on its mission of excellence in instruction, research and service through its new graduate programs.
HsingChi von Bergmann, MSc, PhD, has been appointed associate professor in the Department of Oral Health Science focusing on research in curriculum and instruction in health sciences education. She received her Master of Science in Science Education in 1994, and a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education in 1998, both from the University of Southern California. Prior to UBC, Dr. von Bergmann held an appointment as associate professor in Science Education at the University of Calgary, where she was coordinator of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Education, and an evaluation consultant for the U of C’s Faculty of Science. She has also been a visiting professor at Michigan State University, East Lansing, and visiting scholar in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Von Bergmann is a member of the editorial board for the Contemporary Issues and Trends in Science Education series. She was co-founder of the Hong Kong Accord on Global Science Education (2008). Her research expertise includes: TIMSS; problem-based learning; inquiry teaching, learning and assessment; college science teaching and evaluation (physics and mathematics education); history and philosophy of science in science education; opportunities to learn for science teachers; and science curriculum studies in K-12.