by Terri Hunter-Davis
Devon Cooper, DMD (right, in blue vest), discusses his research poster at Research and Clinical Excellence Day. Photos by Elisabeth Fall
Stuart Gansky, MS, DrPH, Faculty Research LecturerAttendees and participants in the 2017 Research and Clinical Excellence Day were treated to an eye-opening breadth and depth of research projects. Some 400 people attended the Oct. 12 event in Cole Hall.
Morning highlights included plenary speaker Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, of Stanford University’s School of Medicine. His presentation, “Next Generation Cancer Molecular Imaging Strategies,” focused on precision health and emerging technologies particularly relevant to diagnosing oral cancers.
The morning session also featured a tribute to the late John C. Greene, professor and dean emeritus, who passed away in October 2016. Professor emeritus John Greenspan, Bsc, BDS, PhD, FRCPath, delivered the tribute to Dr. Greene, who was a longtime supporter of Research and Clinical Excellence Day.
The School of Dentistry’s Stuart Gansky, MS, DrPH, took the spotlight in the afternoon as recipient of the Faculty Research Lecturer Award. Dr. Gansky’s presentation, “Population Science, Prevention Trials, Methodological Issues, and Oral Health Equity Research,” reviewed more than two decades of population oral health research, with a nod to the work performed by researchers in the UCSF Center to Address Children’s Oral Health (CAN DO).
The Spotlight on Clinical Excellence featured a presentation, “Oral complications secondary to systemic disease; a case study,” by Annie Chou, DDS, PhD, and Kyle Jones, DDS, PhD.
“It has been my pleasure to chair Research and Clinical Excellence Day and I could not be more gratified to see the excellence on display once again this year,” said Michael McMaster, PhD, committee chair. “The feedback about the keynote speaker, summer research fellow and other short talks, as well as the poster session, has been uniformly positive and I couldn’t agree more. I think it really showed how vital, dynamic and inspirational the School of Dentistry and its community are.”
The John C. Greene Society student research group broke with tradition and named two mentors of the year: Chelsea Bahney, PhD, and Sarah Anne Wong, a DDS/PhD student in the Marcucio Lab. This is the first time a student has received the mentor award.
"This Research and Clinical Excellence Day was particularly exciting for me as a second year [student]," said Duy Bui, John C. Greene Society president. "It was exciting and such an honor to speak in front of my peers, colleagues and faculty members. I remember last year admiring the poise and the professionalism of the second year students presenting their research projects. It was just incredible to be a part of something so special and inherently unique to UCSF."
Download RCED agenda and abstracts
View more photos from Research and Clinical Excellence Day
Award Winners
Research Associate Category
Ruchi Goyal, first place
(Mentor: Dr. Stefan Habelitz)
Postdoctoral Category
Sarah Engelberth, PhD, first place
(Mentor: Dr. Stefan Habelitz)
Graduate Category
Devon Cooper, DMD, third place
(Mentor: Dr. Brent Lin)
Shaun Abrams, PhD, second place
(Mentor: Dr. Jeremy Reiter)
Sarah Anne Wong, first place
(Mentor: Dr. Ralph Marcucio)
Predoctoral Category
Xiaoshen Bao, third place (tie)
(Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Mertz)
Hoorshad Fathi-Kelly, third place (tie)
(Mentor: Dr. Stefan Habelitz)
Rae Sesanto, second place (tie)
(Mentor: Dr. Diane Barber)
Brett Parks, second place (tie)
(Mentor: Dr. Yvonne Kapila)
Wilson Ng, second place (tie)
(Mentor: Dr. Cynthia Darling)
Hailey Taylor, first place: Ernst Newbrun Award for Research Excellence
(Mentor: Dr. Benjamin Chaffee)
Research and Clinical Excellence Day
