Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Alex Vieira took a route north that brought him to the University of Pittsburgh after stopping at the University of Iowa for almost six years. It was in Iowa City, under the guidance of Dr. Jeffrey Murray that Alex learned how to design and execute human genetics studies.

Having great expertise in the area of genetics and clefting, Dr. Vieira is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Oral Biology, at the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, where he directs the Dental Registry and DNA Repository. He is a pediatric dentist, and has worked on molecular genetics of craniofacial anomalies for the past nine years.

Dr. Vieira also worked in the Latin American Birth Defects Registry ECLAMC, and pioneered the collection of biological samples in that multi--country study in 1997. Currently, he combines his background in pediatric dentistry and genetics to develop a research program that aims to provide a better understanding of common dental traits of complex etiology.