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Five New Faculty Members Join LSUHSC School of Dentistry

Two new department chairs and three professors have accepted appointments to the LSU School of Dentistry (LSUSD). The announcement was made by Dean Henry Gremillion. "It's been gratifying to successfully recruit quality new faculty in key positions," said Dr. Gremillion, who has been dean of the school since last October. "In my short time here, I've seen widespread interest from dental educators around the country and from multiple disciplines about coming to LSUSD to teach. These are exciting times."

Dale Ehrlich, DDS, M.S. will chair the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry and Biomaterials, the primary care department that encompasses several divisions. A native of Wyoming, Dr. Ehrlich served in the military for 30 years. He recently was commanding officer at the Naval Institute for Dental Biomedical Research and commander of DENTAC in Great Lakes, Illinois. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wyoming. In 1979, he received his DDS from Indiana University School of Dentistry. In 1980, he completed his general practice residency at the Naval Regional Medical Center in California. This was followed by a comprehensive dentistry residency at the National Naval Dental Center in Maryland. In 1992, he completed a fellowship at the Facial Pain Center, University of Florida.

Van T. Himel, DDS is the new chair of the Department of Endodontics. He is a native of Louisiana who grew up in the Lafayette area. In 1973, he graduated from USL (now ULL) and then came to LSUSD, where he received both his DDS and certificate in endodontics. For five years, he was director of the postgraduate program in endodontics. For the past 20 years, he has been with the College of Dentistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, most recently as professor and chair of the Department of Biologic and Diagnostic Sciences. He has given 132 scientific presentations and continuing education courses throughout the country. This includes 16 courses through the LSUSD continuing education program. He has co-authored 57 journal articles and two textbook chapters. He received three awards in teaching from the University of Tennessee.

Pooja Maney, BDS, MPH, Ph.D. has been appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Periodontics. She is a graduate of Ohio State University, where she received a doctorate in oral biology, certificate in periodontology and MPH in environmental health sciences. Since 2004, she has co-authored three peer-reviewed articles and six abstracts.

Mairi C. Noverr, Ph.D. has been appointed an associate professor in the Department of Oral and Craniofacial Biology. In 2002, she received a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Michigan. This was followed by a three-year research fellowship at the University of Michigan Medical Center. For the past four years, she has been on the faculty of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. Since 1998, she has co-authored 13 peer-reviewed journal publications and three review articles. She has also edited two textbooks and authored two textbook chapters. She serves as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. She is the principal investigator for two research grants supported by more than $1,000,000. One grant is the RO1 grant from the National Institutes of Health, which investigators use as their standard of success.

Shelley M. Joachim, DDS has been named assistant director of the General Practice Residency program, based in the Baton Rouge clinic. She has also been named as an assistant professor in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry and Biomaterials. Dr. Joachim received her DDS from LSUSD in 1997 and was in private practice for ten years. This past summer, she completed certification in the LSUSD General Practice Residency program