Dental Medicine names new Associate Dean for Research

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Dr. Christopher W. Cutler has been named Associate Dean for Research at the Georgia Regents University College of Dental Medicine.

Cutler has served as Interim Associate Dean for Research since July 2013 and Chairman of the Department of Periodontics since 2011 and will continue in that role.

“We’re grateful to Dr. Cutler for his service as Interim Associate Dean of Research and are delighted to welcome him to his new appointment in the College of Dental Medicine,” said Dr. Carol A. Lefebvre, Dean of the College of Dental Medicine.

Cutler holds appointments as Professor in the Departments of Periodontics and Oral Biology. Prior to coming to GRU in 2011, Cutler served as Associate Dean for Research at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine in Stony Brook, New York. There he developed and directed the Center for Oral-Systemic Health Research and taught as a Professor in the Department of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry. Cutler also previously taught in the Department of Periodontics at the University of Texas Houston and Baylor-Texas A&M College of Dentistry.

“Dr. Cutler is a leader in research and education and a valued adviser to our students,” Lefebvre said. “As a mentor, Dr. Cutler takes particular pride in his track record of inspiring students to pursue careers in dental academics and research. This is evident by the number of former students who are now full-time faculty at dental schools nationally and internationally.”

Cutler earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree and Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Pathology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also completed his residency training in Periodontics. Following Emory, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in anaerobic microbiology at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit #3 in Cairo, Egypt, and later further postdoctoral training at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas.

Cutler received the National Research Service Award from the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research in 1987, a Balint Orban award from the American Academy of Periodontology in 1989, and an Edward Hatton Award from the American Association of Dental Research in 1990. While at Baylor conducting research in immunology, he received the first award in the Clinical Sciences Research category at the seventh meeting of the International Academy of Periodontology in Slovenia in 1999. He more recently received the Bernard S. Moskow International Lectureship in Periodontology at Columbia University in 2008.