Faculty News

Purnima Kumar, BDS, ’05 MS, ’05 PhD Receives Gies Award

Dr. Purnima Kumar, a professor in the Division of Periodontology, was recently selected as a recipient of the William J. Gies Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Dental Educator, presented by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Gies Foundation. The American Academy of Periodontology nominated her for the prestigious award.

ADEA’s Gies awards are given annually to institutions, organizations, and individuals whose efforts “meaningfully advance oral health and dental education” in ways that align with the ideals set forth more than 90 years ago by the dental education pioneer William J. Gies, PhD.

Dr. Kumar is a nationally recognized researcher whose investigations of the impact of smoking and e-cigarettes on oral health have been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Cancer Institute. She is also a member of the International College of Dentists, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology. ■

Beau Meyer, ’14 DDS, MPH, Receives ADEA’s Olav Alvares Award

Dr. Beau Meyer, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, recently received the American Dental Education Association’s Olav Alvares Award for Early Career Scholars for an article he published in the Journal of Dental Education. That publication was titled “Assessing Dental Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs About Medicaid and Health Care Reform: A Mixed-Methods Study.”

The Olav Alvares Award is intended to encourage junior scholars, such as assistant professors, instructors, residents, students and staff, who conduct and publish outstanding research. Dr. Meyer is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. His research and publications focus on the management of oral diseases in pediatric dental patients; diet and behavior as it impacts children’s oral health; and the use of hospital-based care to treat early childhood caries. ■

Mark Wenzel, ’87 DDS, Appointed as GPR Program Director

Dr. Mark Wenzel was appointed as the director of the college’s General Practice Residency (GPR) program on September 1. An alumnus of The Ohio State University, Dr. Wenzel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy in 1978 and served as a practicing pharmacist in Columbus. He then received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the College of Dentistry in 1987. Dr. Wenzel continued his professional education by completing the college’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry program, after which he practiced general dentistry in Dayton, Ohio, for more than 30 years.

In 2019, Dr. Wenzel joined the college faculty as an Assistant Professor-Clinical in the Division of Restorative and Prosthetic Dentistry, and as the Associate Director of the dental clinic at the Wexner Medical Center’s Outpatient Care Upper Arlington facility. In those roles, he supported the pre-doctoral curriculum by providing pre-clinical, classroom and clinical course instruction, as well as delivering classroom and clinical instruction for residents in the General Practice Residency program.