Dear Colleagues and Friends of Pitt Dental Medicine,
I am very pleased to announce that after an extensive search, Dr. Wellington Rody Jr. has agreed to take the position of Chair, Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. Dr. Rody has an international reputation as a clinician-scientist and brings substantial leadership experience to our team.
Dr. Wellington Rody Jr. has served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry at Stony Brook University (SBU) in New York. Before joining SBU, he was a full-time faculty member at the University of Florida and also the University of Manitoba. He earned his dental degree from the Federal University of Espirito Santo (Brazil), a certificate in Orthodontics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), an Advanced Education degree in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics from the University of Florida (Gainesville) and a Master’s degree in Oral Biology from the University of Washington (Seattle). Dr. Rody is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) and a member of the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF) Planning and Awards Review Committee (PARC). Dr. Rody has over 25 years of clinical experience as an orthodontist and has been heavily involved in the overall clinical and didactic education. His diverse experiences have allowed him to work with a great number of predoctoral students, residents, faculty, basic scientists and academic administrators. Dr. Rody is a reviewer for a number of journals in orthodontics as well as the basic sciences. He has received awards from the American Association of Orthodontists and their Foundation for excellence in orthodontic education and translational research. In addition, Dr. Rody’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, with a focus on a translational science that explores non-invasive methods to develop a biomarker panel which may differentiate the processes of dental root resorption and alveolar bone loss.
Please welcome Dr. Wellington Rody and his family to Pittsburgh as he begins as Chair of the Department of Orthodontics on February 1, 2022.
Yours in service,
Bernard J. Costello DMD, MD
Dean and Thomas W. Braun Endowed Professor
University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine