It is with great pleasure that Pitt Dental Medicine welcomes Dr. Patricia Corby, a periodontist and clinician scientist with expertise in biomedical informatics and microbial genetics, back to our School of Dental Medicine. She will hold a secondary appointment as professor of periodontics and preventive dentistry and an administrative role as senior advisor for clinical and translational research. In this latter capacity, she will work closely with Dr. Charles Sfeir, our associate dean for research, to develop and implement a Clinical and Translational Research Center at our school.
Many of us first met Dr. Corby in 1998 when she was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Dental Public Health. Since that time, her career path has included Harvard School of Dental Medicine, NIH/NIDCR, the Translational Research Center (formerly the Bluestone Center) at New York University’s College of Dentistry, the Langone Health Office of Science and Research, and the Schools of Dental Medicine and Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Some of Dr. Corby’s own NIH/NIDCR-funded work has focused on developing an interdisciplinary approach to improving oral health during cancer care. Her team has implemented the ARMOR Trial, a clinical trial designed to investigate the effects of a novel oral care protocol on the severity of oral mucositis in patients undergoing radiation and chemoradiation for head and neck cancer. Other funded work examines the range of metabolic abnormalities observed in patients living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. This latter study also explores the concurrent role of poor oral health in supporting and driving chronic immune activation and inflammation in HIV infection.
Dr. Corby has a proven track record for working with budding clinical researchers to develop investigative projects that have translational impact on the patients we treat each day. She has been remarkably successful in partnering with industry and other funding entities to garner financial support for these interdisciplinary clinical research endeavors. We are thrilled to have her work with us as we develop and launch our own Clinical and Translational Research Center at Pitt Dental Medicine.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Pat Corby back to our Pitt Dental Medicine family in this high-impact leadership role.