Speaker Biographies

FREDERICK C. EICHMILLER, DDS

Frederick C. Eichmiller, DDS, is director of the Paffenbarger Research Center (PRC), one of the nation's foremost dental research facilities, located in Gaithersburg, MD.

Since 1928, the PRC has played host to dental and medical materials research conducted collaboratively with scientists from the American Dental Association Health Foundation and the government's National Institute of Standards and Technology. PRC scientists played major roles in the development of the modern high-speed dental drill, the panoramic x-ray machine, protective tooth sealants, orthodontic bracket bonding materials, tooth-colored composite filling materials and adhesives that bond composites and other filling materials to teeth.

Dr. Eichmiller joined the PRC in 1986 and became its director in 1994. Prior to joining the PRC, he served as group director, Clinical Operative Department at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Dr. Eichmiller earned degrees in dentistry from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and practiced general dentistry in Olivia, Minnesota. Dr. Eichmiller also earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology.

In addition to his current duties as the PRC director, Dr. Eichmiller also lectures extensively, both nationally and abroad.

PAUL H. KREBSBACH, DDS, PHD

Paul H. Krebsbach, DDS, PhD, is the Donald A. Kerr Collegiate Professor of Oral Pathology, Associate Professor of Dentistry and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University Of Michigan School of Dentistry. He also is chair of the Department of Biologic & Materials Sciences.

Dr. Krebsbach leads the tissue engineering and regeneration training program at the University of Michigan, an interdisciplinary (schools of dentistry and medicine and college of engineering) training program for individuals pursuing careers in the oral sciences, concentrating on the restoration of oral-craniofacial tissues. He focuses his research on the cell and molecular biology of mineralized tissues, with an emphasis on gene therapy-directed osteogenesis and bone marrow stromal cell biology.

He earned his dental degree from the University of Minnesota in 1987 and a PhD in oral biology and specialty training in periodontology from the University of Connecticut in 1993. Dr. Krebsbach was appointed to the School of Dentistry faculty in 1996 in the Department of Oral Medicine, Pathology, and Oncology after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

PAMELA GEHRON ROBEY, PhD

Dr. Robey received her undergraduate education at Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, PA) and both an MS in biochemistry and a PhD in cell biology at Catholic University (Washington, DC).

She joined the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD) in 1974 as a biologist in the Connective Tissue Section, Laboratory of Developmental Biology and Anomalies, and progressed to Acting Deputy Scientific Director of the NIDCR.

Since 1992, she has been Section Chief, Skeletal biology Section, Bone Research Branch, and since 1994, Chief, Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch (formerly the Bone Research Branch), at the NIDCR.

Dr. Robey has authored or co-authored 137 peer-reviewed publications, and has received numerous honors and awards, including the Fuller Albright Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (1993); the NIH Group Merit Award (1994); and the NIH Director's Award. In 2000, she was appointed to the Senior Biomedical Research Service.

DAVID T. W. WONG, DMD, DMSC

Dr. David T. W. Wong is associate dean for research and a Professor in the Division of Oral Biology and Medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry. He also is director of the school's Dental Research Institute and co-director of the head and neck oncology research program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Wong has focused his research on the molecular determinants (genomic and proteomic) of head and neck cancers. Recent efforts include two, four-year awards from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for the creation of the UCLA Collaborative Oral Fluid Diagnostic Research Center and the Human Salivary Proteome project in which nanotechnology-based sensors or "labs on a chip" are underdevelopment for detection of disease-bearing biomarkers in saliva, including oral cancer. The Human Salivary Proteome project is to decipher the entire catalogue of proteins in human saliva.

He is a graduate of the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia in 1981. He completed graduate training in molecular biology and earned a certificate in oral pathology at Harvard University.