Research Day

40th Annual Research Day

The Adams School of Dentistry hosts an annual Research Day to highlight the school’s continued commitment to inspiring, creating, and supporting all aspects of research, discovery, and innovation. This celebration aims to capture the diverse, inspiring, and high-quality accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff, research fellows, and visiting scholars. To register for the event or to submit an abstract for consideration, please scroll to the bottom of the webpage for instructions.

The 40th Annual Research Day at the Adams School of Dentistry will be held on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. For questions about the event, please contact Adam Lietzan at lietzan@email.unc.edu

This year’s keynote speaker will be Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, DDS, PhD.

Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque is the deputy director of National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. An accomplished clinician, researcher, and leader, Dr. Webster-Cyriaque had previously served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina (UNC) schools of dentistry and medicine for more than two decades.

As a tenured full professor at UNC, Dr. Webster-Cyriaque also served as the attending on clinical service at the UNC Hospital’s dental clinic. While there, she led research into a potential etiologic agent for salivary gland disease in patients living with HIV, assessed the oral microbiome and its implications for cancer-causing viruses, and studied the impact of the oral microbiome and oral health on HIV outcomes.

In addition to her research, Dr. Webster-Cyriaque has held leadership roles as the chair/vice chair of the Oral HIV/AIDS Research Alliance, as research director at the National Dental Association Foundation, as director of postdoctoral CTSA training, along with multiple roles within the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the International Association for Dental Research. Since 2004, she has led the UNC Malawi project and provided assistance in founding Malawi’s first dental school in 2019. She was the 2022 recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award for Oral Medicine and pathology and in 2023 will be inducted in the National Academy of Medicine for ground-breaking work in oral viral pathogenesis.

Dr. Webster-Cyriaque earned her PhD in microbiology/immunology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1998, her DDS from SUNY Buffalo in 1992, and her BA in biology and interdisciplinary social science from SUNY Buffalo in 1988.