Making her mark in Dental Research

Dr. Patricia Brooks, Schulich Dentistry Class of 2013, has made her mark in dental research in Canada and around the world. It all began with two summers of dedicated research as part of the Dentistry summer research program. Her hard work and determination paid off with an important discovery of unrecognized crosstalk between signaling pathways in bone-forming cells called osteoblasts. Her studies have helped us understand how bone remodels in response to applied forces, as occurs during orthodontic tooth movement. Her studies were supervised by Matt Grol a graduate student in the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, and Jeff Dixon, professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. And her work was supported through summer studentships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Joint Motion Program and the Canadian Arthritis Network.

Dr. Brooks has been recognized for her achievements. She received first prize in the junior category of the 2011-12 Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR) Student Research Award competition. She was also one of only two trainees from across Canada to receive a 2012 International Association for Dental Research (IADR)/Unilever Divisional Award,. This award propelled her onto the international stage allowing her to compete in the International Hatton Competition during the 2012 IADR General Session in Iguaçu Falls, Brazil. To no surprise, she came away from that competition winning second place in the junior category, competing against 16 other top student trainees from around the world.

Dr. Brooks was also the recipient of the 2011 Canadian Dental Association (CDA)/Dentsply Award, enabling her to compete in the Student Clinician Competition at the 2012 meeting of the CDA, where she was awarded second place in Canada.

Now a graduate of Schulich Dentistry, Dr. Brooks will focus her attention on a prestigious program at the University of Toronto, which combines speciality training in Oral Pathology and Medicine with PhD research in dental health.

Further information: Please contact Jeffrey Dixon, DDS, PhD, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University at jeff.dixon@schulich.uwo.ca