When Research Opportunity Knocks

STUDENT PROFILE: ALISA LEE (D’22) “In practice, you get the instant gratification of making someone feel better. In research, you’re not going to change someone’s life right away, but you are going to solve important problems for the long run.”

— ALISA LEE (D’22)

Fourth-year DMD student Alisa Lee (D'22) has excelled at research on a variety of fronts throughout her time at Penn Dental Medicine.

When Alisa Lee (D’22) decided to apply to dental school, she was looking for opportunities for research, the kind that would make a real difference in people’s health and a meaningful contribution to the world of dentistry. As a fourth-year DMD student at Penn Dental Medicine, she has already made great strides toward her research goals, publishing five papers, completing a research gap year, and winning a prestigious research fellowship.

Born in South Korea, Lee immigrated to Canada when she was 10, and grew up in Vancouver and Seattle. In seventh grade, when a teacher assigned an in-depth exploration of a potential career, she chose dentistry because she liked the way it combined science with hands-on skills. Years later, as a chemistry major at Cornell, a stint as an editor on a student research journal and a medical service trip to Honduras solidified her interest in health care, and dentistry in particular. She applied to 10 dental schools and chose Penn Dental Medicine. AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN ORAL HEALTH RESEARCH

Halfway through her first year, Lee applied to Penn Dental Medicine’s research honors program, and that summer she started working on her first dental research project. In the lab of her mentor, Dr. Anh Le, Chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, she began to study the ways in which a type of cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) interact with cancer cells and tumor microenvironment, creating a community that communicates through messenger molecules. Focusing on tongue cancer and oral pharyngeal cancer, the team explored the ways in which these cells affect movements in the cell community, including tumor growth, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance.

Her interest in research grew as she served as vice president and then president of the Vernon Brightman Research Society, the primary student research organization at Penn Dental Medicine. The group, the School’s chapter of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Student Research Group, promotes interest and awareness in student research, hosting an annual dental research expo and a “research speed-dating” event that pairs incoming first-year students with potential research opportunities.

A GAP YEAR AND A FELLOWSHIP

Between her second and third years, Lee learned about another research-related opportunity, a gap year as a Medical Research Scholar at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Although it was hard to leave campus and her classmates, she decided the experience was too good to pass up. Among others, she worked on a project that measured the activity of enzymes in patients with hyperphosphatemic familial tumor calcinosis (HFTC), a rare genetic disorder in which patients present with a unique teeth phenotype featuring abnormal calcifications. Her team’s work resulted in two journal articles published earlier this year.

Returning to Dr. Anh Le’s lab after a rewarding year at NIH, she jumped right into another research project, this one on stem cells. Using dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) gathered through wisdom tooth extractions, the team explored the possibility of using these cells to regenerate bone in patients with craniofacial injuries and deformities. Creating a small bone defect in the jaws of rats, they introduced DPSC in the form of cost-effective

nanoparticle messengers. Results have been promising, showing that the procedure can indeed restore bone defects faster.

Lee was chosen to present this research at the 2021 annual meeting of the AADOCR, and at the same meeting, she was awarded the AADOCR Student Research Fellowship, which was created to promote interest among students in oral health research. The fellowship, which recognizes the creativity of the winning research project as well as its potential significance to the field of oral health, will help fund her continued work on DPSC and bone regeneration in rats.

FACULTY MENTORS WHO CARE

Lee believes her early success was made possible through the support of her mentors who always had her best interests in mind.

“Dr. Anh Le has been a fantastic mentor who has supported me every step of the way, guiding me toward my professional goals,” she says. “She is someone I really look up to.”

Research Assistant Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Dr. Qunzhou Zhang also has been pivotal in answering her day-to-day research questions and helping shape her research direction, she adds. And Dr. Esra Sahingur, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Student Research, helped Lee plan and prepare her winning AADOCR fellowship application.

“I can tell that they really do care about advancing student research at the school,” she says.

A BRIGHT FUTURE IN ACADEMIA

With impressive experience already on her resume and her eyes on her next step, Lee has already applied to pediatric dental residencies at Penn Dental Medicine and other schools. She believes she will eventually earn a master’s or PhD and seek a career in academia that will allow her to continue to pursue research, teach, and see patients.

“In practice, you get the instant gratification of making someone feel better. In research, you’re not going to change someone’s life right away, but you are going to solve important problems for the long run,” she says. “Research is the way to move the field of dentistry forward.”

Students Serving ASDA on National Level

Three Penn Dental Medicine students are serving as national leaders of the American Student Dental Association (ASDA), representing District 3. This year, Penn Dental Medicine represents three of the four students from District 3 appointed to serve on National ASDA. Ryan Kaminsky (D’23) is District 3 Trustee on the Board of Trustees. Julie Berenblum (D’23) was appointed Council on Membership Associate, and Ryan Kaminsky (D‘23) Hilary Wong (D’24) is Council on Communications Associate. All three students are serving a one-year term through February 2022. Before his appointment as a District 3 Trustee, Ryan Kaminsky served the ASDA in several leadership roles, including District 3 Advocacy Consultant and President-Elect of the Penn Dental Medicine ASDA Chapter. As District Trustee, Kaminsky acts as the official liaison between the local chapters, the district, and national ASDA. Both Julie Berenblum and Hilary Wong served Julie Berenblum (D‘23) in predental leadership roles within the ASDA prior to their acceptance into Penn Dental Medicine. Since being at Penn Dental Medicine, Berenblum has served as a District 3 Events Coordinator for the Meetings Committee, planning the leadership and annual conferences. In her new role as Council on Membership Associate, she is working alongside other council members to assess and develop resources that meet the needs of ASDA’s members and chapters and assist with membership initiatives. As a first-year dental student, Hilary Wong served as the District 3 Social Media Coordinator, working Hilary Wong (D‘24) closely with other team leaders to grow the ASDA District 3 Instagram page. As National ASDA Council on Communications Associate, she is helping to create videos to disseminate on various media channels regarding national ASDA initiatives, such as webinars, advocacy activities, wellness programs, and more. “It is important to use our voices to speak out on issues that matter, for people that matter,” says Wong. “ASDA allows us to start cultivating these lifelong skills. It is an honor to serve on committees that are at the forefront of advocating for these important changes in our profession.” The ASDA introduces nearly 90 percent of all dental students to lifelong involvement in organized dentistry and provides services, information, education, representation, and advocacy.