Main Content

Peds dentistry chair, professor join UMMC faculty

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Christopher V. Hughes, D.M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher V. Hughes, professor and chair of pediatric dentistry at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, has joined the Medical Center faculty as professor and chair of pediatric dentistry in the School of Dentistry.

After receiving his B.A. from Colby College, Waterville, Maine, in 1978, Hughes earned his D.M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Philadelphia, in 1982. He had a general practice residency in the Department of Dentistry at the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, from 1982-83; a pediatric dental residency at Case Western Reserve University, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1983-85; a clinical staff fellowship in oral medicine in the Patient Care and Clinical Investigations Branch from 1985-88 and a National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology from 1988-90 at the National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in microbiology at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1991.

Hughes was as an assistant professor of pediatric dentistry and oral microbiology at the Indiana University School of Dentistry from 1990-93 before serving a 20-year stint at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, as chair of pediatric dentistry and as an associate professor and professor of pediatric dentistry. He joined the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine in 2013.

The author or coauthor of 40 articles in peer-reviewed scientific publications, more than 70 abstracts and seven textbook chapters, Hughes has given more than 90 presentations nationally and internationally. He serves on the editorial board for the journal Pediatric Dentistry and has served as a reviewer for the International Journal of Pediatric Dentistry. Hughes was recently named to the Board of Directors of the International Association for Paediatric Dentistry. 

Charles H. Spencer, M.D.

Charles H. Spencer, professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and pediatric rheumatologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, has joined the Medical Center faculty as a professor of pediatrics.

After receiving his B.S. in biology/psychology from Tulane University, New Orleans, in 1969, Spencer earned his M.D. at the Louisiana State University Medical School, New Orleans, in 1973. He had a pediatrics internship from 1973-74, a pediatrics residency from 1974-76 and was chief resident in pediatrics from 1976-77 at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He then had a pediatric rheumatology fellowship from 1977-79 at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and later a biotechnology fellowship, cell biology and metabolism, from 1987-89 at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.

Spencer joined the LSU Medical Center faculty in 1979 as an assistant professor of pediatrics and served there eight years before starting his biotechnology fellowship. He served as an assistant professor of pediatrics from 1989-96, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics from 1996-2002 and a professor of pediatrics from 2002-07 at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Pritzker School of Medicine. He joined Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State University Medical College, in 2007.

An active member of several professional organizations, including the American College of Rheumatology, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Arthritis Foundation, Spencer is founding editor and co-editor-in-chief of the Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal and co-editor-in-chief of Pediatric Rheumatology. He is the author or coauthor of 47 articles in peer-reviewed scientific publications, 11 book chapters, articles and monographs and 40 abstracts. He has given 18 invited presentations nationally and internationally.

He is the recipient of the 2010 Best Teacher Award in Pediatrics from the Ohio State University student body, the 2011 Masters Award for career achievement in rheumatology from the American College of Rheumatology and the 2013 James Cassidy Award for career achievement in pediatric rheumatology from the American Academy of Pediatrics. A Best Doctors in America selection from 2009-17, Spencer has had seven visiting professorships internationally. His research interests include juvenile idiopathic arthritis and juvenile dermatomyositis.