Published: June 29, 2016

H. Bryan Neel III, MD, PHD Distinguished Research Lecture

NIDCR: Advancing Health Through Research and Innovation


Neel Lecture Somerman PhotoThe H. Bryan Neel III, MD, PhD Distinguished Research Lecture,  funded by the Neel family and friends, was established to disseminate information on new developments in biomedical science to the otolaryngologic community.

September 18, 2016, 2:15 PM, Ballroom 6A

NIDCR: Advancing Health Through Research and Innovation

Martha J. Somerman, DDS, PHD

Martha J. Somerman, DDS, PhD, is the director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health. She also is chief of the Laboratory of Oral Connective Tissue Biology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The NIDCR mission is to improve dental, oral, and craniofacial health through research, research training, and dissemination of health information. The NIDCR vision is that these activities will result in NIDCR being recognized as the catalyst of change in transforming how oral healthcare is delivered.

Prior to becoming NIDCR’s director, Dr. Somerman was dean of the University of Washington School of Dentistry, Seattle, a position she held from 2002 to 2011. Before joining the University of Washington, she was on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, from 1991 to 2002, and the University of Maryland from 1984 to 1990. An internationally known researcher and educator, Dr. Somerman’s research has focused on defining the key regulators controlling development, maintenance, and regeneration of dental-oral-craniofacial tissues. She has been a recipient of numerous honors and awards throughout her academic career.

Dr. Somerman holds a DDS from New York University, a certificate in periodontology from Eastman Dental Center, Rochester, NY, and a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry.


More from July 2016 - Vol. 35, No. 6