Dentistry and Oral Health

Dr. Leora Walter received her prosthodontic degree from New York Hospital Queens.She completed her general practice residency at Long Island College Hospital, Lutheran Medical Center and graduated from Columbia University College of Dental Medicine with numerous honors including a National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholarship, International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Program Scholarship, Quintessence Award for Research Achievement, and the American Academy of Implant Dentistry Award. Dr. Walter received her bachelor of arts degree in English from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. Dr. Walter has lectured at a variety of study groups on topics relating to fixed and removable prostheses. Her current area of research is on zygomatic implants and treatment of the worn dentition. She received a scholarship through the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs where she traveled to Ethiopia teaching clinicians how to recognize oral manifestations of HIV. Dr. Walter's NIH grant brought her to Lima, Peru where she conducted head and neck cancer research. She has published her findings in both medical and dental journals.

Prosthodontics, zygomatic implants, oral manifestations

Dr. Jones received his DMD from the University of Louisville (1978) and completed a Residency in Pediatric Dentistry from Indiana University (1980). He obtained a Certificate in Dental Health Services Research (1989: Harvard University), EdD in Higher Education (1993: Indiana University) and PhD in Biological Sciences (2003: Empresarial University). He completed a United States Congressional Fellowship in 2000, with Senior Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, Washington, DC. He was Dean of the School of Health Sciences, Indiana-Purdue University (1993-2005) and is presently Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, IU School of Dentistry and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine. He has published over 95 articles, book chapters and research abstracts in the dental, medical and education literature and obtained over 6.4 million dollars in educational, service, training and research grants. He has presented over 140 courses in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East on a variety of topics related to higher education. He is Editor-in-Chief, Americas, Journal of Oral Health and Dental Management.

(1) Dentofacial Trauma, (2) Dental Management of Cleft lip and Palate newborns, (3) Emerging Demand in Pediatric Dentistry for Office-Based General Anesthesia by Dentist Anesthesiologists. (4) Issues in International Dental Education.

Raman Bedi is Professor of Transcultural Oral Health at King's College London and was the Chief Dental Officer of England from 2002 to 2005. He is chairman of World Federation of Public Health Associations oral health group. He is also an Expert panel member – Alliance for Cavity Free Future & Chairman of the Global Child Dental Fund, having established the Global Child Dental Health Taskforce, and continues to practice.

Oral Health, Child Dental Health

Dr. Marie M. Tolarova received her Medical Degree in 1965 from the Charles University School of Medicine in Prague. She completed a Ph.D. in 1970 with a thesis on Microforms of Orofacial Clefts from the Human Genetics Program at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics by the Czechoslovak Medical Board of Pediatrics and Czechoslovak Board of Medical Genetics. Dr. Tolarova completed a D.Sc. Degree in 1986 from the Medical Genetics Research Program at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Her thesis was Cleft Lip and Palate in Man: Epidemiology, Genetics and Prevention. Dr. Tolarova started her medical career in 1965 as a pediatrician in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Charles University School of Medicine. She had developed a deep interest in genetics during her medical studies and in 1970, founded the Division of Birth Defects to take responsibility for genetic evaluations, counseling, and follow-up of all individuals with congenital anomalies, children as well as adults, who came to the Department of Plastic Surgery for surgical treatment. Since beginning of her professional career she was interested in understanding causes of cleft lip and palate and especially in prevention of clefts and other congenital anomalies. She established a population-based registry of orofacial clefts in the Czech Republic, containing detailed data on over 10,000 cases; the largest collected sample to date of children with clefts. Over half of these cases had complete genetic evaluations in her Department, including physical examinations of the affected children, both parents, and all siblings; she performed the majority of physical examinations. Since coming to the U.S., she also researched analyzed and published data on the largest population-based sample of orofacial clefts in USA - over 4,000 cases from California. Dr. Tolarova was involved in orofacial cleft prevention studies in the late 1960’s under the direction of Dr. Francis Burian, head of the Department of Plastic Surgery. She started her own research with periconceptional supplementation by high dose folic acid and multivitamins in the 1970s. The first data showing preventive efficacy of supplementation was published in the Lancet in 1982 and got enormous attention from professionals. The final analysis of her studies, which represent the largest human prospective trial to investigate the recurrence of orofacial clefts after periconceptional supplementation with high dose folic acid and multivitamins, was published in 1995 in Teratology, and showed that the recurrence risk for having another child with a cleft decreased by 65% if “at risk” mothers took multivitamins with a high dose of folic acid. Dr. Tolarova has over 450 scientific publications and presentations, has been the keynote and featured speaker at numerous scientific meetings, and has held over 20 visiting professorships worldwide. She has 47 years of clinical experience with cleft and craniofacial anomalies patients, thirty years of teaching experience of medical, dental and graduate students. She is Director of Genetic Research and Prevention of the ROTAPLAST Intl., Inc.; project being carried out in South America, India, Asia, and Africa. She participated as a pediatrician and medical geneticist in 50 Rotaplast medical missions all over the world. She is a founding member of the Society of Birth Defects in the Czech Republic and holds memberships in 15 professional organizations. She has received numerous awards, including the 1975 Award of the Medical Research Council, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1985 Award of the Czechoslovak Literature Council, 2005 Award of the Imperial Gift Foundation (Boshi, Aiiku Kai) Japan, 2007 Rotaplast Distinguish Service Award, 2010 Pierre Fauchard Academy Award, and 2011 Henry Schein Humanitarian Award. In 1992 Dr. Tolarova relocated to United States joining her husband MirekTolar, MD, PhD, who was appointed at UCSF in San Francisco. She joined the Center for Craniofacial Anomalies at UCSF School of Dentistry, held an appointment as a Professor and founded directed the Program for Prevention of Cleft Lip and Palate/Craniofacial Anomalies at the UCSF School of Dentistry UCSF. She also worked for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation/California Birth Defects Monitoring Program. In March 1996 she organized the first workshop with international participation focused on cleft prevention “Approach to the prevention of orofacial clefts”. Since July 1999, she is with the University of the Pacific as tenure Professor of Orthodontics and leads the Pacific Craniofacial Team and Cleft Prevention Program. She established there a strong molecular genetics research toward finding causes on cleft in different populations and continues her effort to develop and established the efficient approach to prevent cleft lip and palate anomalies. In 2011 she organized and presided the 3rd ICPF International workshop CLEFT2011 held in San Francisco that was attended by over 250 participants from 30 countries. Dr. Tolarova has been honored with the International Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation (ICPF) Award of Merit which recognizes her extensive research on prevention of clefts. Tolarova received the award on May 9 during the 7th Biennial World Cleft Lip and Palate Congress hosted by ICPF and held in Mahe, Seychelles.

Causes and primary prevention of cleft lip and palate and of other congenital anomalies; molecular genetic studies of genes involved in etiology of orofacial clefts, craniofacial anomalies, and dental anomalies; studies of environmental and nutritional factors involved in etiology of nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate anomalies; gene-environmental interactions in etiology of craniofacial anomalies, especially in etiology of cleft lip and palate; etiology and epidemiology of birth defects with special interest in cleft lip and palate, craniofacial anomalies, and syndromes; dysmorphology; population genetics; multifactorial inheritance; monitoring of birth defects and genetic registries; genetic education and counseling.

Sammy Noumbissi obtained his Doctorate in Dental Surgery from Howard University in Washington DC. He then attended Loma Linda University where he received three years of formal training in Implant Dentistry which culminated with a certifi cate and a Master of Science degree in Implant Dentistry. He has published abstracts and articles in peer reviewed dental journals namely the Journal of Dental Research, the Journal of Oral Implantology and the Journal of Implant and Clinical Dentistry. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Implant and Advanced Clinical Dentistry, the Dentistry and Medical Online Journal, a reviewer for the Journal of Oral Implantology and the current president for the International Academy of Ceramic Implantology. Dr. Noumbissi is the founder, current owner and president of Miles of Smiles Institute for Implant Dentistry LLC, a holistic dental implantology practice that delivers advanced education and patient care in state of the art metal-free dental implantology. He practices in Silver Spring, Maryland USA.

Implant Dentistry

Sim K. Singhrao gained her PhD from Cardiff University and stayed there for further postdoctoral training from Cardiff University School of Medicine and then the School of Dentistry. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Central Lancashire exploring the causative relationship of periodontitis and Alzheimer’s disease. She has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 4 book chapters. Dr Singhrao is currently serving as an editorial board member for Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Oral and Dental Science, Oral Disease

James Bahcall, DMD, MS, FICD, FACD Professor, Department of Endodontics University of Illinois-Chicago College of Dentistry.

Dentistry, Endodontics

George White DDS FACP Director, Division of Prosthodontics Columbia University College of Dental Medicine.

Digital Implant, Prosthodontics

He is a Senior Forensic odontologist. He is a Dental identification manager & chairman of UK DVI odont group.

Forensic Dentistry, Odontology

Kashif Hafeez was honoured by Membership and Fellowship from Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland and has been honoured with Fellowship from Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He has completed his post graduate certificate in Medical and Dental education from Oxford Brookes University. He has special interest in Oral Surgery and Dental Implantology and is practising as visiting Implantologist to various practices. He has been a post graduate Dental Foundation trainer for Oxford Deanery from 2010 to 2015 and due to his passion for quality in education he has been appointed as Examiner for Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. He teaches at the M Clindent programme, City of London Dental School, BPP university and lectures internationally on Oral surgery and Dental Implantology. He has been presenting his scientific work & research at prominent international dental conferences. He serves as an advisor & expert for GDC UK. In addition, he serves as Editorial Board member for Porodental CPD and visiting teaching faculty abroad. He was honoured with the Best Dentist award by APPS UK in 2013.

Dental Implantology, Oral Surgery