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Center of Excellence in Oral and
Craniofacial Biology
Administration
The team of researchers in The
Center of Excellence consists of over 60 faculty
members from clinical and
basic science departments in the LSUHSC. The
highly productive faculty members not only strive
to develop and improve the current information
available to the dental profession, they also
impart their research knowledge base to dental
students and postgraduate residents who
participate in research projects each year.
Dr. Paul Fidel, Jr. graduated
from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania with a B.S.
degree in Biology in 1984. He then attended the
University of Oklahoma where he continued his
studies, and received a M.S. and finally Ph.D.
degree in Microbiology in 1988. He joined the
Wayne State University School of Medicine in
Detroit, Michigan as a postdoctoral fellow in the
department of Immunology and Microbiology and was
eventually appointed Assistant Professor of
Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division
of Infectious Disease in 1990. In 1995, Dr. Fidel
came to the Louisiana State University Medical
Center in New Orleans to serve as an Associate
Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and
Parasitology. He was granted tenure in 1997 and
promoted to Professor in 1999. In 2001 Dr. Paul
Fidel was named holder of the Carl Baldridge Chair
in Oral and Craniofacial Biology and appointed the
director of the Center of Excellence in Oral and
Craniofacial Biology. Dr. Fidel has mentored
numerous Ph.D students, medical/dental students,
and junior faculty. He has authored over 160
publications and has served as Principal
Investigator for over 20 research grants totaling
over $30 million, 15 of which were from the
National Institutes of Health. He was also
recently inducted into the American Academy of
Microbiology.
Dr. Paul Fidel’s research has greatly impacted the
fields of medical mycology and infectious disease.
Pioneering studies using novel mouse models and
human clinical samples have defined unique
paradigm-changing aspects of host-pathogen
interactions in vaginal and oral candidiasis.
Since 1997, Dr. Thomas Lallier has
been a member of the Department of Cell Biology
and Anatomy. Since 2001, he has acted as the
Coordinator of Student Research for the LSU School
of Dentistry and was appointed Assistant Director
to the Center of Excellence in Oral and
Craniofacial Biology in 2002. He has served in
many educational capacities; teaching to
undergraduate dental students, dental
post-graduates as well as graduate students. He is
interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms
of cell migration. He is currently focusing on two
model systems (1) the embryonic craniofacial
development of the frog Xenopus laevis and (2) the
regeneration of the human periodontium. Both
systems involve investigating the role of
cell-extracellular matrix interactions in guided
cell migration and differentiation. His most
recent work has investigated the role of a family
of cell surface guidance molecules (semaphorins)
and a family of cell-extracellular matrix
attachment proteins (integrins) in periodontal
regeneration and craniofacial formation.
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