Graduates encouraged to continue on their path of discovery.

UC San Francisco dental students line up for the procession for the dentistry school's commencement ceremony at Davies Symphony Hall.

The UC San Francisco School of Dentistry celebrated commencement on June 7 as students in the dental hygiene and dental class of 2013 received their degrees at a ceremony at Davies Symphony Hall.

John Featherstone, Ph.D., dean of the dental school, congratulated the class. Featherstone, a professor of preventive and restorative dental sciences, encouraged the graduates to continue on their path of discovery.

Carol Gomez Summerhays, D.D.S., a trustee in the American Dental Association and past president of the California Dental Association, delivered the commencement address. She was joined on the stage by student speakers, Lisa Shizuko Handa, who earned a degree in dental hygiene; Maria Ajlouny, who received her D.D.S. degree; and Malay Mathur, a graduate of the international dental program class.

Notably, two outstanding graduates this year were selected for the Elizabeth Fuhriman Gardner Award, which is given annually to commemorate the woman of the same name who graduated from UCSF’s dental hygiene proram in 1958. Throughout her life, “Libby” exemplified the qualities of caring and service. In particular, she devoted her energies to serving the University of California and was the first person recognized with the title Associate of the President. This year, the Gardner Award went to graduates Shizuko Handa and Joshua Emrick.

Emrick, D.D.S., Ph.D., was elected last year as president of the American Association of Dental Research (AADR) National Student Research Group. He took office in March this year and will serve until the 2014 AADR meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. “During my term I will focus on the promotion of community and camaraderie between and within student research groups at the various dental schools,” he said at the time of his election. “Understanding that securing research funding is becoming ever more challenging, I also look forward to working closely with individuals who guide our research interests and examining the nuts and bolts of funding for clinical, basic, and translational research from within the AADR.”

Related links:

• Read more UCSF commencement coverage
• UC 2013 commencent coverage

Study receives major boost from UCSF’s K Scholars program.

Medical research has already documented a link between cardiovascular disease and periodontal disease, or serious gum infection. Now researchers say preliminary studies suggest a connection between gum infections and kidney disease as well.

“This is a very new and emerging area, and there have only been a few studies,” said Vanessa Grubbs, M.D., an assistant professor and pulmonary specialist in the UC San Francisco’s School of Medicine who is determined to advance this research as part of her commitment to preventing the chronic health problems associated with kidney disease.

Vanessa Grubbs, UC San Francisco

“If we at least start to show that treating periodontal disease can slow the progression of kidney disease, the long-term ramifications for dental policy and how we manage patients with chronic kidney disease are huge,” said Grubbs, who is also a nephrologist, or kidney expert, based at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

Funding routine dental care for people at all income levels could potentially become a priority as a way to prevent kidney disease, and the cost savings would be significant, she said. “It’s certainly cheaper to pay for preventative dental care than dialysis.”

She also noted that both kidney disease and periodontal disease disproportionately impact poorer populations.

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory response to persistent infection, caused by bacteria getting trapped in the gum’s porous tissues. Just as research indicates this inflamed state can affect major organs such as the heart, possibly through bacteria in the blood stream, studies show kidneys are similarly at risk, Grubbs said. Her goal is to prove this link in longitudinal research.

Teaming up with professors George Taylor, D.M.D., and Mark Ryder, D.M.D., from the UCSF School of Dentistry, Grubbs is launching a first-of-its-kind randomized, controlled study to track the progression of kidney disease in patients receiving treatment for periodontal disease.

All patients will have both conditions. Two-thirds will receive immediate and follow-up periodontal care, and the remaining control group will receive the dental care if it’s medically necessary. Kidney function will be measured in several ways, such as analyzing unique biomarkers in blood and urine associated with kidney damage.

Grubbs received research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and plans to follow the patients for one year as a pilot study, which could be expanded based on results.

After years in the preliminary stages, the study received a major boost from the K Scholars program managed by UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), said Grubbs, who was a K Scholar in 2011.

The K Scholars program is designed to support the career development of junior faculty from all UCSF schools who are committed to building careers in clinical and translational research. The program provides support for scholars to conduct high quality research, foster and nurture multidisciplinary collaborations and explore novel research directions, and develop the range of skills necessary to achieve a successful independent academic research career. Types of support include partial salary funding, expert advice, mentoring and regular project review sessions with a multidisciplinary group of K Scholar peers.

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Related links:

• K Scholars helps junior faculty build careers in clinical and translational research
• Looking for asthma clues in the wood stoves of Honduras
• ER patients unlock vital info to treating Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
• Q&A with director of UCSF’s K Scholars program

UCLA research sheds light on growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.

Cun-Yu Wang, UCLA

Very little has been known about the epigenetic events — developmental and environmental factors affecting genes — that occur prior to the invasive growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their spread to other parts of the body, or metastasis.

However, researchers from the UCLA School of Dentistry discovered what could be a crucial step toward understanding the process that activates the cancer cells. Squamous cell carcinoma is known for being one of the most deadly and debilitating types of tumors.

Led by Dr. Cun-Yu Wang, a UCLA School of Dentistry professor and leading cancer scientist, the group identified the key epigenetic factor KDM4A, which modifies the molecular activation process of protein AP-1. AP-1 is known to regulate gene expression and promote metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma. Their findings show that squamous cell carcinoma’s invasive growth could potentially be repressed by targeting KDM4A.

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UCLA study shows versatility of nanodiamond as targeted drug-delivery agent to tumor site.

Nanodiamonds bound to the chemotherapy drug epirubicin are enclosed within a lipid membrane and coupled to antibodies specific to hard-to-treat tumors. These hybrid drug delivery agents cause tumors to regress in size while markedly improving drug tolerance.

Recently, doctors have begun to categorize breast cancers into four main groups according to the genetic makeup of the cancer cells. Which category a cancer falls into generally determines the best method of treatment.

But cancers in one of the four groups — called “basal-like” or “triple-negative” breast cancer (TNBC) — have been particularly tricky to treat because they usually don’t respond to the “receptor-targeted” treatments that are often effective in treating other types of breast cancer. TNBC tends to be more aggressive than the other types and more likely to recur, and can also have a higher mortality rate.

Fortunately, better drug therapies may be on the horizon. UCLA researchers and collaborators led by Dean Ho, a professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry and co-director of the school’s Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology, have developed a potentially more effective treatment for TNBC that uses nanoscale, diamond-like particles called nanodiamonds.

Nanodiamonds are between 4 and 6 nanometers in diameter and are shaped like tiny soccer balls. Byproducts of conventional mining and refining operations, the particles can form clusters following drug binding and have the ability to precisely deliver cancer drugs to tumors, significantly improving the drugs’ desired effect. In the UCLA study, the nanodiamond delivery system has been able to home in on tumor masses in mice with triple negative breast cancer.

Findings from the study are published online today (April 15) in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials.

“This study demonstrates the versatility of the nanodiamond as a targeted drug-delivery agent to a tumor site,” said Ho, who is also a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCLA Department of Bioengineering. “The agent we’ve developed reduces the toxic side effects that are associated with treatment and mediates significant reductions in tumor size.”

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School has received nearly $21M from First 5 LA for dental programs.

James Crall, UCLA

The UCLA School of Dentistry has been awarded funding of more than $11 million from the Los Angeles–based child advocacy and grant-making organization First 5 LA to expand access to dental care in Los Angeles.

The funds will establish the UCLA–First 5 LA Children’s Dental Care Program (CDCP), which will support the delivery of care to children, from birth to age 5, and pregnant women over the next five years. The program will be especially beneficial to those in underserved communities, who are at high risk for dental disease, school officials said.

This new award comes on the heels of the $9.23 million that First 5 LA awarded to the dental school last year, bringing the total amount the school has received from the organization to nearly $21 million over the past 12 months.

“Our goal, over the next five years, is to develop an integrated health care delivery system that will provide quality, ongoing dental care to underserved young children and pregnant women in Los Angeles communities,” said Dr. James J. Crall, project director of the CDCP. “We hope the Children’s Dental Care Program will serve as a prototype for transforming the oral health care system for young children throughout Los Angeles County and beyond.”

As part of the new program, UCLA faculty members hope to gain a better understanding of the barriers that limit the use of dental care services by underserved groups in order to initiate improvements in care.

“While focusing on dental care for young children, the program is also targeting pregnant women in an effort to provide them with the information and education they need to be able to provide a more positive and healthier approach to oral health for their developing children,” Crall said.

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UCLA dentistry clinic specializes in treating patients with disabilities, complex conditions.

Dentists at UCLA's Hospital Dentistry Clinic understand that special-needs patients often feel fearful about going to the dentist.

It wasn’t easy for Barbara Smith to find dental care for her 23-year-old son, Mark, who has Down syndrome. “It was a challenge finding a dentist who would see my son,” recalled Smith.

Her frustration reflects the unfortunate reality that few dentists possess the highly specialized skills required to serve special-needs patients. These patients are often declined by dentists and clinics that feel unprepared to serve them because they frequently have complicated, difficult-to-treat dental problems as well as anxiety about seeing a dentist.

Smith finally got the services her son needed at a UCLA School of Dentistry clinic in Westwood which specializes in treating patients with physical and mental disabilities as well as complex medical conditions. The Hospital Dentistry Clinic is the training site for dentistry residents, who have already earned their D.D.S. from U.S. or international universities. They are specializing in advanced comprehensive general dentistry in the Hospital Dentistry Program, part of the school’s Division of Advanced Prosthodontics. Training covers a wide range of highly skilled services, including periodontal therapy, restorative care, fixed prosthetics, removable prosthetics, surgery and endodontic therapy.

Demand for the UCLA clinic’s services is high. The clinic’s six residents, two full-time faculty members and several part-time faculty volunteers see hundreds of special-needs patients every year who are referred from Nevada, Arizona and from all over Southern California.

“We’re one of the leading dental care providers in the region for the special-needs population,” said Dr. Eric Sung, professor of clinical dentistry and section chair of the Hospital Dentistry Program, as well as vice chair of the Division of Advanced Prosthodontics and program director of the general practice residency program. “This population is severely underserved and underfunded, so I’m glad that we can at least take care of a small portion of the patients who need dental care.”

Services are offered at substantially reduced rates compared to private clinics. Due to the educational setting, treatment plans can take longer to initiate than in private practice — to begin with, there’s a six-to-12-month waiting list for an initial appointment. But despite the wait, said Smith, “Once we were seen, I couldn’t be happier with our care and the quality of service.”

The professional expertise required to treat a special-needs patient is matched by a plentitude of patience, said Dr. Evelyn Chung, associate clinical professor in the dental school’s Section of Hospital Dentistry. A patient with a physical age of 35 but a mental age of only 3, for example, may become much more frightened than the average patient. “This requires a slower approach by the dentist and care team,” Chung said, “to avoid possible injury to the patient or dental team.” Some patients do best if their appointments are at a time when other patients aren’t around. And many require the involvement of reassuring family members right alongside them during treatment. In some cases, patients are treated under general anesthesia, which bumps things up to a whole new level requiring an operating room and staff at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center.

In addition to oral health care, many patients need check-ups beyond the dental chair, from eye exams to visits to an obstetrician-gynecologist. Some have serious medical conditions in need of extensive attention.

“Dentists who treat this population never know what they’re getting into,” said Chung. “Often they find themselves checking and monitoring conditions well beyond a patient’s teeth.”

Learn more about the Hospital Dentistry Program here. Get the clinic’s location, hours of operation and contact information at this website, which describes all of the patient clinics offered by the School of Dentistry, including a Children’s Dental Center and the Wilson-Jennings-Bloomfield UCLA Venice Dental Center.

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Philanthropists Mick and Mary Dragoo’s donation is largest received by dental school.

No-Hee Park, UCLA

Philanthropists Dr. Mick Dragoo and his wife, Mary, have pledged a landmark gift of $5 million to the UCLA School of Dentistry to establish the UCLA Mick and Mary Dragoo Periodontal and Implant Clinical Research and Patient Care Center.

The Dragoo’s gift, the largest single donation from an individual or couple the dental school has ever received, will create a leading site for clinical research, patient care and education in periodontology and implantology — specialized areas of dentistry related to tooth-supporting structures and tooth replacement.

The new Dragoo Periodontal and Implant Center will be a place for world-renowned faculty to conduct independently funded clinical research to advance scientific knowledge in periodontal and implant dentistry. Researchers from the school will translate their findings into meaningful treatment protocols and will disseminate their research through publications, educational programs and the Internet to advance the state of patient care worldwide.

“With Dr. and Mrs. Dragoo’s extremely generous gift, our hope is to advance the standard of patient care, as well as influence decisions made by dentists and patients alike,” said Dr. No-Hee Park, dean of the UCLA School of Dentistry. “The Dragoo Center helps us further achieve our mission, which is to improve the oral health of the people of the world. I cannot thank the Dragoos enough for their support.”

Directing the Dragoo Periodontal and Implant Center will be Dr. Perry Klokkevold, an associate professor, acting chair and director of the residency program in the section of periodontics at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Klokkevold has more than 20 years of experience in education, administration and clinical practice in periodontics and implantology.

“We searched the country for the perfect place and director to execute our vision,” said Mick Dragoo. “Our search led us to the UCLA School of Dentistry, and we are thrilled that Dean No-Hee Park has appointed Dr. Klokkevold as the director of our new center.”

“I am fully committed, honored and inspired to have the opportunity to direct the Dragoo Periodontal and Implant Center,” Klokkevold said. “I share the Dragoo’s vision and goals of improving patient care worldwide through independently funded clinical research.”

Mick and Mary Dragoo are new donors to the UCLA family and the School of Dentistry. Dr. Dragoo is a well-known periodontist who has written and published numerous books and clinical articles. He has lectured extensively throughout the world and has been involved in independent clinical research on periodontology and implantology for nearly 40 years; he is considered an expert in these fields. He and Mary also own and operate Belle Marie Winery in Escondido, where Mick is the winemaker.

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UCSF has the most international scholars of any U.S. health sciences university.

Janina Patsch, a visiting scholar from Austria, works on bone micro-structure analysis at her China Basin lab.

As she entered her boss’ office at the Vienna General Hospital in 2010, Janina Patsch, M.D., Ph.D., didn’t know what to expect. A bone specialist by training, pursuing a residency program in diagnostic radiology, Patsch was hoping for an opportunity to pursue her other passion: research.

So the first question Patsch’s boss asked caught her by surprise: Would she like to do research in the United States?

Patsch joined the Musculoskeletal Imaging Center in the UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in January 2011. Her work over the past two years under Thomas M. Link, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the department, has focused on developing a better understanding of the micro-architecture and metabolism of the skeletal system, particularly for patients suffering from diabetes. During this time, Patsch has written papers in high-impact journals and presented her research at international meetings.

As an international faculty member himself, Link says he is well aware of his role as an international ambassador and notes that some of the brightest UCSF leaders and faculty – including 2012 Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., of Japan and 2009 Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., of Australia – hail from other countries.

“UCSF continues to attract the brightest and most promising scholars chosen by their country,” said Link. “They will go back as leaders in their field and consolidate the role of UCSF as a global leader in medical research.”

Providing a collaborative and inviting environment for international scholars, as well as all faculty, staff and students, is a priority for UCSF.

In 2010, UCSF had the most international scholars of any U.S. health sciences university, and ranked 25th among all U.S. universities with a total of 1,267, according to the Institute of International Education. Of those, 132 were international students enrolled in the schools of dentistry, nursing and pharmacy, as well as the Graduate Division.

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Journal outlines state of the science of salivary diagnostics, highlighting UCLA advances.

David Wong, UCLA

Scientists from the UCLA School of Dentistry have been at the vanguard of research on human saliva in recent years, leading the way in the dynamic, emerging field of salivary diagnostics, which seeks to catalog the biological makeup of saliva to help screen for and detect both oral and systemic diseases.

Now, the Journal of the American Dental Association, a leading publication for dental professionals, has published a special supplement to its October issue in which Dr. David Wong, the school’s associate dean of research, outlines the state of the science of salivary diagnostics, highlighting advances made by researchers at UCLA and other institutions and charting a path for future research and clinical applications.

In the article, Wong’s research findings show that saliva is made up of complex sets of molecules — including genes, proteins, DNA and RNA — that help paint a picture of an individual’s biology. The study of the biological molecules in saliva is known as “salivaomics.” Findings show that by studying the “omics” in saliva — such as genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics — scientists can develop tests composed of many molecular measurements; the findings are then interpreted by a computational model to produce a clinically actionable result.

Through collaborative work with scientists at other institutions, UCLA researchers have developed several informatics and statistical tools to help interpret biomarkers in saliva; these biomarkers can then be used for early detection of disease, treatment monitoring, recurrence prediction and other translational assessments.

Research done at the UCLA School of Dentistry has shown that saliva, as a medium for health screening is just as useful as blood and other bodily fluids and has vast potential for the early detection of cancers, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and other disorders.

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School of Dentistry professor leads study.

Vivek Shetty, UCLA

Each year, more than a million Americans are at-risk of developing serious mental health problems after experiencing a terrifying event or serious physical injury. Once manifested, these psychiatric illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, can be extremely crippling and difficult to treat and are a leading cause of disability in civilian, military and minority populations.

Recognizing these emerging disorders early on provides health care professionals the best opportunity for preventive interventions.

Now, a team of researchers, led by Dr. Vivek Shetty, a professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry, has received a $3.8 million research grant to develop a salivary-biomarker approach for identifying individuals at future risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following a traumatic event.

Co-funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the study seeks to develop a panel of salivary stress biomarkers that will allow early recognition of emerging mental health disorders and permit preemptive psychological care.

“Current assessment strategies rely on subjective reports of symptoms by trauma survivors,” Shetty said. “The symptom-based nature of psychological assessments presents significant challenges for trauma care specialists attempting to differentiate between temporary distress and the early stages of mental health illnesses.

“Moreover,” he added, “the time and resource constraints of the acute care setting do not allow for the structured screening required for psychological assessments. If successful, our salivary stress biomarker panel will allow the development of practical decision-aid tools to complement subjective clinical evaluation and allow timely referrals of ‘at-risk’ individuals.”

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Nearly 200 UCLA volunteers help provide medical, dental and vision services.

UCLA health care professionals helped treat thousands of uninsured patients for free at the L.A. Sports Arena.

For Gilda McKoy, the Care Harbor health clinic at the L.A. Sports Arena was a godsend. The 58-year-old was experiencing pain in her knees, and it had been quite some time since her last blood pressure check and pap smear. Lacking medical insurance, she had been praying for help when she heard about the annual clinic, where she celebrated her birthday on Sept. 28 by receiving a free health exam.

McKoy was one of nearly 3,800 patients who lined up for health care services provided by a small army of volunteer health care professionals — including nearly 200 volunteers from the UCLA Health System and the schools of dentistry and nursing. Organized by Care Harbor in collaboration with L.A. Care Health Plan and Dignity Health, and co-sponsored by the UCLA Health System, the Sept. 27-30 clinic provided free medical, dental and vision services for those who are uninsured or otherwise can’t afford proper health care.

“God is really working when you pray,” said an appreciative McKoy. “God is good, and these people who are doing this, may God bless them.”

The UCLA volunteers provided on-the-spot treatment for a wide variety of ailments and, in some cases, gave  referrals for followup care.

For Dr. Carol Mangione, professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine, volunteering at the clinic reflected her concerns about the acute need for health care among that L.A.’s underserved — and oftentimes unemployed — population.

“It’s sad so many people need services like this in Los Angeles,” said Mangione, who added, “I don’t think events like this will disappear after the Affordable Care Act is implemented. Since the act doesn’t include undocumented people, Los Angeles will continue to need these clinics.”

Dr. Anne Coleman, professor-in-residence and director of Jules Stein Eye Institute’s community outreach, led a team of 17 volunteer UCLA ophthalmologists who saw patients with diabetes-related eye illnesses, as well as conditions like glaucoma, cataracts and keratoconus, a deformity of the cornea. This is the fourth year in a row that Coleman has volunteered.

“I think it’s a very important part of life to give back,” Coleman said. “I’ve been given a lot and it’s nice to see how engaged UCLA is in community outreach.”

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