Students receive honorable mention at Hinman Symposium

Dental students (from left) Kuelye (Kay) Lee, Maryan Khalil, Julia Zheng, and Noor Karkoutly, with Associate Professor Walid Fakhouri, MSc, PhD, who was a chaperone, the 29th Annual Hinman Student Research Symposium.

Dental students Maryan Khalil, first-year, and Julia Zheng, third-year, of UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry received honorable mentions for their poster presentations at the 29th Annual Hinman Student Research Symposium in November.

Khalil was recognized in the clinical research category, while Zheng was noted in basic science research.

Khalil presented “Sex, Smoking, and Pharmacogenetics Impact Metabolism of the Oral Toxicant Arecoline.” Alan L. Myers, PharmD, PhD, RPh, associate professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Biomedical Sciences, was her faculty mentor.

Zheng delivered “Interferon Regulatory Factor 6 (IRF6) Regulates Adherens Junction Proteins and is Associated with Inflammatory Cytokines in Sj?gren’s Syndrome.” Walid Fakhouri, MSc, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Biomedical Sciences, was her faculty mentor. Fakhouri also served as a chaperone on the trip.

Second-year dental student Kuelye (Kay) Lee and first-year Noor Karkoutly also presented.

The Hinman Student Research Symposium was held Nov. 1-3 at the historic Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis, Tenn. The national meeting features oral and poster presentations of research studies by dental students and graduate trainees from dental schools across the U.S. and Canada. Fourteen awards were given for the most outstanding student presentations.

The symposium aims to help raise and maintain the quality of dental research and education in the U.S. by encouraging the participation of dental students, graduate trainees, and dental school faculty in research to improve oral health care globally.

Hosted by The University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, the annual symposium is co-sponsored by the Hinman Dental Society. Additional support was provided by Procter & Gamble, The University of Tennessee College of Dentistry Alumni Association, and the Tennessee Dental Association Foundation.