nnn Resident Profile
Dr. Fan Named First Caton Fellow Alumni Friendships and Support (l to r) Drs. Vivian S. Morad (Perio ’93), Jack Caton (Perio ’73, MS ’73), Mary Ann Lester (Perio ’94), Vivienne Allain (Gen Den ’90, Perio ’93), Jingyuan Fan, and Vivien Kwok (Perio ’05)
Jingyuan Fan, DDS, PhD with her mentor Jack Caton, DDS, MS (Perio ’73, MS ’73)
H
er passion for research, treating patients and teaching is just one of the many reasons Jingyuan Fan, DDS, PhD was recently named the first Jack G. Caton Fellow. “Dr. Fan is the best resident in our clinical program in both didactics and clinical performance,” said Jack Caton, DDS, MS, professor and chair, Eastman Institute for Oral Health’s Periodontics Division. “She is relentless in her clinical efficiency, tireless in didactic studies and is marvelous with patients, faculty, staff and her fellow residents.” The Fellowship was established in 2008 to further Dr. Caton’s vision of academic excellence by providing a grant to one or more individuals committed to scholarly and clinical advancement in Periodontology. The recipient will be interested in pursuing an academic or administrative position related to the Periodontics specialty, and have experience in clinical, academic, administrative, and/or clinical research work in Periodontics. “One of the important missions of Eastman Institute for Oral Health is to train
24
the future leaders of dentistry,” said EIOH Director Eli Eliav, DDS, PhD. “This is the type of the award that is very effective in stimulating careers and to encourage people to consider full time academics.” “This Fellowship provides another opportunity to foster expert educators, promote career development within the field of dentistry and support educational innovation and research,” Caton said. “Fellows will work closely with other faculty and staff to implement educational projects, learn educational theories, explore new teaching methods, and develop skills in educational research and curriculum innovation.” A native of Wuhan, China, Fan’s love for translational science and teaching has grown more with each year since dental school, where she became very interested in biomedical science, specifically microbiology and immunology, and pursued a doctorate degree in oral biology. She studied under the widely known Mark Herzberg, DDS, PhD, at the University of Minnesota, and gained more exposure to different types of research, including oral bacteria’s link to cardiovascular disease, and oral-biofilm formation. Fan studied the link between oral bacterial-induced platelet aggregation and infective endocarditis. “Our lab in Minnesota found that a protein has a role in the pathogenesis of infective endocarditis,”
eioh | university of rochester medical center
noted Fan, “and can be a potential target for preventing and treating this type of heart disease.” After finishing her PhD program in four years, she applied to Eastman Institute’s Periodontics program. “Having published so many research articles, Dr. Caton is very well known, and I was nervous about interviewing. The program has such a good reputation and is known for being one of the most challenging,” said Fan, who felt very fortunate to have been accepted. After teaching Chinese to international students in dental school, she found it fulfilling to help people to understand and
