U. of Mich. dental researcher receives presidential award

University of Michigan dental researcher Margherita Fontana, DDS, PhD, has been awarded a 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the nation's highest honor for professionals at the outset of their independent research careers.

Dr. Fontana, an associate professor of cariology, restorative sciences, and endodontics at the School of Dentistry, was among three university researchers to receive the award, according to a university press release. Some 96 recipients were named for the 2012 awards.

Dr. Fontana was nominated by the National Institutes of Health for her studies on the ability to predict caries risk for underserved toddlers in primary healthcare settings. She is developing a tool that can be used in primary medical healthcare settings to identify children ages 1 through 4 with the highest risk of dental caries. The long-term goal is to reduce disparities in tooth decay and cavities in young children by developing preventive and therapeutic strategies that can be delivered through new models for oral healthcare, including in the primary care setting.

During Dr. Fontana's study, researchers will ask parents of 1,326 infants to complete a caries risk questionnaire. They will also perform three dental examinations on the children to see how well the risk tool predicts caries risk as the child ages. A critical aspect of the project is that it is multisite and interprofessional, involving dentists, physicians, survey specialists, and biostatisticians.

The PECASE awards were established in 1996; 11 federal agencies nominate "the most meritorious scientists and engineers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for assuring America's preeminence in science and engineering and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions," according to a White House news release.