At University of Illinois at ChicagoCollege of Dentistry
As part of its goal of becoming a top five dental school, the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry is ramping up its oral cancer research and developing new programs.
Dr. Dena J. Fischer, Assistant Professor and Visiting Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences (OMDS), will help do both.
Dr. Fischer is doing clinical teaching in the Oral Medicine Clinic and is giving lectures in Oral Medicine courses. “I will also perform clinical research with primary interests in oral cancer and orofacial pain,” she said. “Another aspect of my new position will be developing a graduate program in Oral Medicine.”
Excited about introducing students to Oral Medicine, Dr. Fischer hopes “to show them why I find this area to be so interesting. I also hope to develop a multidisciplinary clinical research program in oral cancer/orofacial pain. Ultimately, a general goal is to bridge the gap between dentistry and medicine, as it is important to understand the systemic connection between the head/neck and the rest of the body.”
Dr. Fischer previously taught at the University of Washington in Seattle before coming to UIC. She earned her BS in microbiology and DDS at the University of Michigan; a certificate in General Practice from the University of North Carolina Hospitals; and an MSD in Oral Medicine and an MS in Epidemiology from Washington. She has had five research projects supported by grants, and funding is pending on several others as well. Dr. Fischer currently is Co-Chair of the Lester Burket Research Abstract Committee for the AmericanAcademy of Oral Medicine.
A newlywed, Dr. Fischer and her husband, Darin, were married in September and live in the Lakeview/Lincoln Park community of Chicago.