The U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) has appointed Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, PhD, as its new deputy director. She will begin serving in the post in early December.
Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, PhD.Webster-Cyriaque has served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina's schools of dentistry and medicine for more than two decades. At the university, she led research on a potential etiologic agent for salivary gland disease in patients living with HIV, assessed the oral microbiome and its implications for cancer-causing viruses, and studied the effects of the oral microbiome and oral health on HIV outcomes, the NIDRC said.
She has held leadership roles with the Oral HIV/AIDS Research Alliance; the National Dental Association Foundation; the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research; and the International Association for Dental Research. She has led the University of North Carolina Malawi project since 2004 and helped found that country's first dental school in 2019.
Webster-Cyriaque earned a doctorate in microbiology/immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998 and her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from SUNY Buffalo in 1992, according to the NIDRC.
