The 2010 recipient of the AAP Teaching Fellowship is Luciana Shaddox, DDS, MS, PhD. Dr. Shaddox is currently a tenured associate professor in the Department of Periodontology at the University of Florida. She holds a dual appointment with the Department of Oral Biology.
Dr. Shaddox is currently researching the causes of aggressive periodontitis in children, the mechanisms of disease initiation and progression, immune response, microbial flora and treatment response. She is in her fourth year of a National Institutes of Health grant for this project, and is also conducting a separate study evaluating the association of diabetes and periodontitis.
About 70% of Dr. Shaddox's time is spent on research, the other 30% is spent teaching and mentoring. She is the course director of the Introduction to Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Planning in Periodontology, and teaches over 200 students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Shaddox says, "I'm very honored to receive this award. It helps to confirm that I'm on the right path. Since receiving this award, I have become more aware of how important our role as educators is in the lives of new dentists and periodontists, and what a privilege it is to serve in this capacity."