July 1, 2011

Dr. Fernanda Almeida, assistant professor in the Department of Oral Health Sciences, has won the 2011 Pierre Robin Academic Award from the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) for her outstanding work in the field.

The award—presented in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 10, 2011, at the AADSM 20th Anniversary Meeting—honours individuals who have exhibited exceptional initiative and progress in the areas of education and academic research, with original contributions to the field of dental sleep medicine.

Dr. Fernanda Almeida, 2011 recipient of the Pierre Robin Academic Award, is seen with UBC Dentistry professor
Dr. Alan Lowe, the first recipient of the award in 1999.

Almeida, who teaches oral and maxillofacial radiology and dental sleep medicine, received her master’s degree from the Federal University of Sao Paulo and her PhD at the University of British Columbia, both in the field of dental sleep medicine. She has recently been awarded the W.W. Wood Teaching Award for her outstanding contributions to the educational progress of undergraduate dental students at UBC. She also sees patients in a private practice restricted to the treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders.

A co-leader of the area of dental sleep medicine at UBC with Dr. Alan Lowe, Almeida is also part of the UBC sleep research team. She has published more than 35 peer-reviewed papers and four book chapters. Her research is focused on dental sleep medicine, involving oral appliance side effects on dentition, temporomandibular joint disorder, compliance, titration modalities and treatment outcomes. She also researches upper airway imaging, and pediatric and geriatric sleep disorder breathing.

Almeida is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and is an active reviewer for the journals SLEEP, Sleep Medicine, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Angle Orthodontist, CHEST, Thorax and Journal of the American Dental Association. She is an associate editor of Sleep and Breathing.

As founder and current chair of the AADSM research committee, Almeida has been working on increasing the quantity and quality of research presented and awarded by the AADSM. She is also a director-at-large for the AADSM board of directors and has been a member of the program committee for the past six years (chair from 2008 to 2009). Almeida is the British Columbia representative dentist at the Canadian Sleep Society and has been highly involved with developing policies and procedures for dental sleep medicine practices.

For more information about Dr. Fernanda Almeida, click here or here.