Nurse practitioner, dental students claim kudos

Dental student receives top NSRG research award

Kendra Clark, a fourth-year dental student, received the National Student Research Group President's Award for Outstanding Student Research at the Hinman Student Research Symposium Nov. 3-5 in Memphis, for her presentation, “Stem Cell Differentiation into the Endothelial Lineage Utilizing 3-D Spheroid Culture Systems.”

The award honors student efforts in research and participation in the American Association for Dental Research.

Clark was chosen from among 92 dental, dual D.M.D./Ph.D. and graduate students representing 60 dental schools across the United States and Canada who presented their research at the symposium.

Clark’s research mentor is Dr. Amol Janorkar, professor of biomedical materials science.

Women dentists group tabs SOD student for research award

Quynh “Jolie” Nguyen, a third-year dental student, was chosen to be one of 10 recipients nationally of the American Association for Women Dentists Colgate Research Awards Series.

According to the AAWD, the program promotes early-career research, facilitates research related to dentistry and helps improve oral health.

Applicants are selected based on research vision, innovation, academic performance, potential for leadership and overall strength of their research. The award is presented to a third- or fourth-year dental student who is a national member of the AAWD.

Nguyen’s research mentors are Dr. Amol Janorkar, professor of biomedical materials science, and Dr. Susana Salazar Marocho, assistant professor of biomedical materials science.

Dental student’s poster presentation earns AAOMS accolade

Denise Cherry, a third-year dental student, was selected as one of five winners of the poster competition at the 2017 American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons annual meeting Oct. 9-14 in San Francisco.

Cherry’s research, “Finite Element Analysis of Zygomatic Implant-supported Maxillary Prostheses,” was co-authored by Dr. Yuanyuan Duan, assistant professor of biomedical materials science; Dr. Ravi Chandran, assistant professor of oral-maxillofacial surgery and pathology; and Evan Theilman, a student in the 2016 UPSTART program.

MEW Institute names nurse practitioner Rural Health Champion

Dr. Nora Gough-Davis, a family nurse practitioner at Shaw Family Medical, has been named the 2017 Rural Health Champion by the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities.

Officials at the Institute, an arm of UMMC, chose Gough-Davis from nominations submitted throughout the state. The award goes to “an unsung hero” who makes a notable contribution to health, health care or a health care delivery system in a rural Mississippi community.

The honor is presented in conjunction with National Rural Health Day, celebrated this year on Nov. 16 to highlight rural communities as wonderful places to live and work and increase awareness of rural health-related issues.

Gough-Davis opened her own family practice clinic in 2012 and has served as a clinical preceptor for 16 nurse practitioner students. She supervises four nurse practitioners at her clinic, three of whom are her former N.P. students.