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UB Professor Appointed to Robert Genco Endowed Chair
UB Professor Appointed to Robert Genco Endowed Chair
Patricia Diaz, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D., professor of empire innovation at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine and director of UB’s Microbiome Center, has been appointed to the Sunstar Robert Genco Endowed Chair.
Robert Genco, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology, Periodontics and Microbiology and founder of the Microbiome Center, was a prolific researcher who forged a 40-year collaboration between Sunstar, a multinational healthcare company, and UB. He died in March 2019.
In 2020, Sunstar donated $1 million to establish a new endowed fund to honor Dr. Genco. The new five-year position recognizes and supports UB faculty who are not only gifted teachers but also scholars, researchers and applied learning innovators who facilitate medical and dental collaboration in oral biology and periodontal medicine in its dental school. The holder of the chair will also serve as a liaison between UB and Sunstar to continue Genco’s research legacy.
Diaz is the first faculty member to be named to the chair.
Dr. Genco’s lab was responsible for numerous findings, including the identification of bacteria responsible for periodontal disease and determining that smoking, osteoporosis and stress are risk factors for periodontal infections. His research on gum disease led to the commercialization of 10 oral healthcare products. The formation of the GUM brand of oral health products in 1989 was largely influenced by Dr. Genco’s partnership with the Sunstar Group.
Dr. Diaz came to UB in 2020 from the University of Connecticut, where she served as associate professor of oral health and diagnostic sciences. She is a leader in the study of microbiomes, which are the communities of microorganisms that live on and in human and animal hosts. She aims to understand community dynamics and develop tools to manipulate the microbiome to stop the development of periodontal disease. This month, she was one of 11 fellows selected for the 2024 Hispanic Leadership Institute class for the State University of New York and the only fellow from UB chosen for the class of 2024.
At UB, Dr. Diaz served as co-principal investigator last fall for two projects funded by $7.8 million in grants from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. In conjunction with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she has been exploring the influence of the oral microbiome on both the risk of developing oral thrush during cancer treatment and the risk of infection with cancer-linked human papillomavirus (HPV) among people with HIV.
In May, she published findings in JDR Clinical and Translational Research that she and other UB researchers conducted on the benefits of an antimicrobial mouthrinse for individuals with Type 2 diabetes being treated for periodontitis.
Earlier this autumn, Dr. Diaz received a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant designed to develop a training program at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica. It is aimed at studying the determinants of periodontitis and associated non-communicable chronic diseases in the Caribbean.
Dr. Diaz earned her Doctor of Dental Science degree from CES University in Colombia, her Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide and her Master of Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also completed her residency in periodontology.
