Alexandria, VA, USA – The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) announced that Jennifer Gibbs is this year’s recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology Research Award. Gibbs, from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, was recognized during the Opening Ceremonies of the 101st General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting of the Latin American Region and the 12th World Congress on Preventive Dentistry, that took place on June 21, 2023, in Bogotá, Colombia.
Gibbs is an Assistant Professor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM), where she heads the Translational Orofacial Pain Laboratory (TOPL). She serves as the program director of the Advanced Graduate Education in Endodontics and the division director of Endodontics. Her research focuses on novel pharmacologic approaches to controlling dental pain and promoting dentin repair after pulp exposure. She earned her PhD in Pharmacology from the Graduate School at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She also completed a master’s degree in clinical research from the University of California San Francisco Medical School. Gibbs has been an active member and leader of AAODCR/IADR over her career. She served as Group Program Chair for the Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology Group in 2008-09 and served in several leadership roles that culminated in her becoming the group’s President in 2009-10.
Gibbs places a high value on and dedicates significant time to mentoring dental students, pre-dental students and endodontic residents, and faculty colleagues providing them with research training and career mentorship. Several of her prior mentees have continued in academia to pursue careers as clinician scientists.
Gibbs is also a practicing clinician and sees her own endodontic patients in the faculty practice at HSDM. As a program director and clinical faculty, she teaches her students acute pain management strategies, and how to recognise unusual pain presentations that may not be originating from dental/endodontic pathology. She lectures about post-operative pain management in the Pharmacology course to all the Advanced Graduate Students, and dental students at HSDM. She also lectures internationally on the relationship between acute and chronic pain and best practices to prevent persistent dental pain after invasive procedures.
The Pharmacology/Therapeutics/Toxicology Research Award is one of the 17 IADR Distinguished Scientist Awards and is one of the highest honors bestowed by IADR. The Award recognizes outstanding and sustained peer-reviewed research that has contributed to our knowledge of the mechanisms, efficacy, or safety of drugs used in dentistry.
About IADR
The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research for health and well-being worldwide. IADR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit and private-sector institutions who share our mission. Learn more at www.iadr.org.