First Bernstein Graduate Research Fellow Awarded PhD

Aparna Ingleshwar – the first PPC graduate research fellow supported through the Bernstein Professorship – earned her PhD in December. Dr. Ingleshwar’s dissertation was titled, “Evaluating the dental care access impacts of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion and the supplemental nutrition assistance program among low-income adults in the U.S.” The fellowship supported Ingleshwar’s stipend; tuition; research related expenses like data collection and travel; and professional development opportunities. Her committee was chaired by Pete Damiano, and her committee members were Natoshia Askelson, Dan Shane, Betsy Momany and Mike Jones. We are so delighted by the success of Dr. Ingleshwar and look forward to her achievements in the years ahead!

The PPC welcomed Dr. Pamela Nwachukwu as the new Bernstein Graduate Research Fellow. Pamela is also working with the Health Policy Research program at the PPC and is a PhD candidate in Dental Public Health at the College of Dentistry. She is working with Dr. Julie Reynolds on projects related to improving access to dental care in nursing facilities via Tele-dentistry. Pamela has also assisted Dr. Susan McKernan on a project examining associations between economic hardship and oral health outcomes – Pamela will present findings from her work at the 2022 AADOCR Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in March. Additionally, Pamela is contributing to the work being done on the Iowa Wellness Plan Evaluation for the state. Julie Reynolds and Pete Damiano will co-chair her dissertation committee.

The Morris Bernstein Endowed Professorship of Dentistry is currently held by Pete Damiano, director of the PPC and professor of dentistry. The funds, totaling $150,000 over three years, are intended to broadly support the College of Dentistry’s missions of teaching, research, and patient care. Dr. Damiano is using the funding to promote high impact research and educational experiences for predoctoral and graduate students in dentistry. In addition to the students noted above, the Bernstein professorship supports tuition for 10 dental students per year to take additional courses in dental public health, which is critically important to the development of advanced public health knowledge and skills among dentists generally, and can be a pipeline for students to become board certified specialists in dental public health. Dr. Damiano will hold the professorship through 2023.