Raul I. Garcia

IADR Vice-president Candidate

Education

• 1975, A.B. cum laude (Anthropology), Harvard College
• 1981, D.M.D. summa cum laude, Harvard School of Dental Medicine 
• 1984, Certificate (Periodontology), Harvard School of Dental Medicine
• 1985, M.Med.Sc. (Oral Biology), Harvard School of Dental Medicine

IADR/AADOCR Activities Current:

• AADOCR Distinguished Scientist Award Committee and Irwin Mandel Mentoring Award Committee (2019-present; Chair, 2019-2020);
• Member of: IADR Behavioral, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research Group; IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network; IADR Periodontal Research Group; IADR Geriatric Oral Research Group; Boston Section, AADOCR

Past:

• AADOCR Nominating Committee (2019-2022; Chair, 2021-2022);
• AADOCR Honorary Membership Committee (2019-2022; Chair, 2020-2021);
• AADOCR Vice-President, President-elect, President, Immediate Past-President (2015-2019);
• IADR/AADOCR Joint Publications Committee (2019-2020);
• IADR Regional Councilor, North America, Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network (2013-2015);
• IADR/AADOCR Joint Publications Committee (2011-2014; Elected AADOCR representative) AADOCR Fellowships Committee (1990-1993);
• AADOCR Hatton Awards Committee (1994-1997); AADOCR Boston Section, President (1992-1994);

Google Scholar h-index: 60; Google Scholar profile is available at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=tO9xc3YAAAAJ

List of peer-reviewed publications (over 175) is available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1pKWZWKXfiCAF/bibliography/public/

Other Current Professional Activities

• Member (2019-present), Advisory Committee on Minority Health, US Dept. of Health and Human Services Director (2001-present), Center for Research to Evaluate and Eliminate Dental Disparities, Boston Univ.
• Director (1991-present), US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, VA Dental Longitudinal Study Director, and Associate Director (1991-present), VA Normative Aging Study
• Editorial Board Member: Journal of Public Health Dentistry

Other Past Professional Activities:

• Member (2018-2023), National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council, NIDCR, NIH
• Past Editorial Board Member for: JDR; JADA; Preventing Chronic Disease; Dental Abstracts; Evidence- Based Dentistry; Journal of Evidence Based Dental Practice
• Hispanic Dental Association, Board of Trustees (1995-2000); President (1998-1999) Friends of the NIDCR, Board of Directors (1999-2002)

Personal Statement – Raul I. Garcia, DMD, MMedSc

The IADR has been an intellectual ‘home’ to me for over 45 years, since I first joined while a dental student. Over the years it has been a focal point of my professional life and a key contributor to my career development in dental research. I feel deeply indebted to the IADR and thus would be honored to be elected to serve as its Vice-President and rise to become its President. Moreover, the opportunity to serve the IADR as an officer would allow me to 'give back' to an organization for which I have deep respect and great affection. Over my career, perhaps my greatest joy as a professor has come from seeing my students and junior colleagues prosper. I am passionate about expanding opportunities for students to engage in research and one of my goals as an IADR officer would be to enhance the role of the IADR in mentoring and nurturing a new generation of dental scientists globally.

My research background is in clinical and translational sciences, and in applying epidemiologic and health services research approaches to understanding oral health outcomes. Over the past 20 years my work has focused on understanding the causes and consequences of oral health inequalities, and on testing interventions to reduce inequalities in health outcomes. To that end, I have served as the Director of the Center for Research to Evaluate and Eliminate Dental Disparities, established at Boston University in 2001 with support from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Our Center’s aims are to identify the determinants of oral health inequalities and to design and implement community-based interventions, with a current focus on children and their caregivers. This work has involved building and nurturing a highly diverse team of investigators, from multiple disciplines and professional backgrounds, and  across different institutions. The success of our research efforts has also required deep engagement with communities in all aspects of the research enterprise. My colleagues and I have been leaders in the application of community-based participatory research to address oral health inequalities.

My other major research activity has focused on understanding oral-systemic associations and  the role of aging on oral health. This work has involved the VA Dental Longitudinal Study (DLS), a closed-panel longitudinal study of aging and oral health, started in the 1960’s and based at the   VA Boston Healthcare System. I joined the DLS in 1984, when I completed my specialty training in periodontics, as the study’s calibrated clinical examiner. Since 1991, I have also served as the Director of the DLS, and as the Associate Director of the VA Normative Aging Study, the DLS’ parent biomedical study. Our research has focused on identifying risk factors for oral diseases in adults throughout their lifespan. In addition, we have investigated the role that oral conditions may play as risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other systemic health outcomes, and how oral conditions may affect health-related quality of life. In all of our research team’s efforts, we have been sensitive to the importance of identifying ways in which our scientific findings may  serve to inform health policy.

In addition to being a great honor, serving the IADR as its Vice-President also represents a great responsibility. It is important to recognize that the IADR plays a unique and critical role in nurturing the global community of scholars in oral health research. The creation, dissemination and application of scientific knowledge are fundamental to the mission of our Association and essential to sustaining a robust global research enterprise in oral, dental and craniofacial sciences. Maintaining and enhancing the intellectual rigor of the IADR’s meetings and publications are essential to fulfilling this goal. In addition, ongoing efforts to educate the broader public on oral health matters and to advocate for the support of oral health research globally are also critically important. An intellectually vibrant, diverse and fiscally healthy IADR may thus be viewed as essential to achieving global improvements in oral health and the elimination of oral health inequalities. I look forward to the privilege of contributing to the IADR by serving as its Vice-President. Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy.