Jerry Mastey
Editor
School of Dentistry
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jmastey@umich.edu
Information Officer
University of Michigan News Service
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Dr. Sunil Kapila New Chair of Orthodontics & Pediatric Dentistry
Ann Arbor, MI — November 3, 2003 — Dr. Peter Polverini, dean of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, is announcing the appointment of Dr. Sunil Kapila as chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry. Kapila will succeed Dr. Lysle Johnston, Jr., department chair for the past 12 years, who is retiring at the end of the year. An associate professor in the Department of Growth and Development at the University of California in San Francisco, Kapila is the Eugene West Endowed Chair of the Division of Orthodontics at UCSF, and maintains an active faculty practice.
“We’re very fortunate to have Dr. Kapila in this important leadership position as our new chair of the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry,” Polverini said. “Throughout his career, Dr. Kapila has demonstrated a strong and sustained commitment to teaching, research, and clinical practice. He is well-recognized by his peers as an innovative educator and is a strong proponent of competitive cutting-edge research. I’m confident he will be able to continue his record of excellence here at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.”
Education
Kapila earned his Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) in 1981. Afterwards, Kapila was a dental officer at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi for two years and then became a clinical instructor and tutor in orthodontics at the University of Nairobi Dental School.
He came to the U.S. in 1984 as a Fulbright-Hayes scholar to obtain a master's degree in orthodontics which he received three years later from the University of Oklahoma. In 1994, Kapila was awarded his doctorate in oral biology which he earned while teaching at UCSF. He began teaching there as an assistant adjunct professor in 1988. Five years later, he was named assistant professor. In 1999, he was named an associate professor and, the following year, was named interim chair of the Division of Orthodontics. Dr. Kapila was appointed as Chair of the Division of Orthodontics and named the first Eugene E. West Endowed Chair in 2001.
Research
Kapila’s research focuses on determining the causes of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) diseases in women, on bioengineering TMJ tissues, and bone regeneration. These studies also have applications in orthodontics and periodontics.
In 1993, Kapila won the Hatton Award from the American Association for Dental Research and was named a Hatton Award finalist by the International Association for Dental Research. Two years later he received the Milo Hellman Research Award from the American Association of Orthodontists, and, in 1998, the B.F. Dewel Honorary Research Award from the AAO Foundation.
Memberships and Published Works
Active in organized dentistry, Kapila is a member of AAO’s Council of Scientific Affairs, the Hatton Awards committee of AADR, and is a director of IADR’s the Craniofacial Biology Group.
He is an author or co-author of more than 30 articles that have appeared in scientific publications, has written chapters or articles for five books, written more than 40 abstracts, and serves on the editorial board or is a reviewer for several journals.
Kapila and his wife, Yvonne, are the parents of a five-year-old daughter, Anjuli, and 18-month-old twins, Sahil and Simran.
The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care, and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide.