faculty and student accolades
Research from Christopher Okunseri, associate professor of public health, was cited in the April 30, 2012 New York Times story “E.R. Doctors Face Quandary on Painkillers.” The story explored how emergency room (E.R.) health care providers deal with patients who may complain of tooth pain as a way to get narcotic prescriptions. Okunseri’s analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (published online in January, 2012 in the journal Medical Care) found that from 1997 to 2007, painkiller prescriptions rose 26 percent, and were prescribed in three of every four E.R. visits. Denis Lynch, professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs, received an honorary doctorate in May 2012 from Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Timisoara, Romania). Lynch also co-authored a chapter
entitled, “Dental Developmental and Oral Soft Tissue Conditions” in the British Dental Association’s A Clinical Guide to Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Planning (2012). The 2012 School of Dentistry Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award went to Adjunct Associate Professor of General Dental Sciences Peter Schelkun, D ’56. Toni Roucka, assistant professor of general dentistry, published “To Treat or Not to Treat…That is the Question,” in the March/April 2012 issue of Academy of General Dentistry. Alberta Abena, Law ’08, Gay Derderian, Richard Hagner, Arts ’76, D ’80, Moawia Kassab, Thomas Smithy and Joseph Vitolo have been promoted to clinical associate professor effective July 1, 2012. Brian Hodgson, Arts ’83, D ’87, and Dawei Liu have been promoted to associate professor with tenure effective July 1, 2012.
At the 2012 National Oral Health Conference, April 30-May 2, 2012, in Milwaukee, a number of Marquette faculty and a group of students shared presentations relevant to dental public health issues:
Peter Schelkun, D ’56
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D E N TA L I M A G E S
Aaron Cho, assistant professor, General Dental Sciences, recently published “The Effect of Multiple Firings on the Marginal Integrity of Pressable Ceramic Single Crowns,” in The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, featured with the cover article in the January 2012 issue. Steve Koutnik, graduate resident, prosthodontics, was awarded a 3M scholarship to attend the Dawson Academy, located at St. Petersburg Beach, Fla. Geoffrey Thompson was promoted to director of the graduate program in prosthodontics, effective July 1, 2012. Thompson joined the School of Dentistry in April of 2010 after a distinguished military career. He has served as the assistant director of the graduate prosthodontic program and as the course director of the new rounds model.
Fellowship Program. The one-year post- graduate training program prepares students for practicing in rural areas that may lack other dentists or dental specialists. Eight of the nine participants since inception in 2007 currently serve patients in Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas with rural designations in the state of Wisconsin.
• Christopher Okunseri presented on his analysis of data regarding painkiller prescriptions in emergency rooms for patients complaining of tooth pain. He also pre• Jadwiga Hjertstedt presented a poster ensented as part of a multi-institutional team titled “Improving Oral Health Literacy in the on dental procedures received by children Geriatric Population” looking at the impact enrolled in public and private insurance of a community-based geriatric dentistry rotaplans in the Milwaukee area. tion on older adults’ oral health literacy and oral hygiene. • Students Joon-Jae Park, Adam Pasono and Bradley Wurm, under the guid• William Lobb and Frederick Sutkiewicz ance of faculty Christopher Okunseri, did a poster presentation entitled, “Dental Christopher Dix, D ‘76, and Frederick Student Job Placement Location Relative Sutkiewicz, Grad ‘01, demonstrated to State/Area of Origin.” The presentation Marquette’s dental rounds model through revealed that the vast majority of MUSoD their written and oral presentation adstudents who were Wisconsin residents at the dressing the effectiveness of water fluoridatime of admission remained in the state to tion in reducing dental cavities in children. practice dentistry; however, they were more likely to migrate to a different WDA region • Sheila Stover, D ’97, Grad ’03 and to practice than they were to return to their Sarah Chambers, D ’10 gave a joint WDA region of origin. presentation on the Marquette University School of Dentistry Rural Oral Health