Phillips Receives OMSF Research Recognition Award
Dr. Ceib Phillips, a professor and interim chair in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry’s Department of Orthodontics, recently received the 2008 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation (OMSF) Research Recognition Award.
Dr. Ceib Phillips, recipient of the 2008 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation (OMSF) Research Recognition Award, is pictured with Dr. Mark Kohn, chairman of the OMSF Board of Directors
The OMSF is the only national foundation that supports the oral and maxillofacial surgery specialty. The award was presented at the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons’ (AAOMS) annual meeting in Seattle.
The award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the specialty through their participation in and support of research within the specialty. Phillips, the first non-clinician and the first woman to receive this award, has collaborated with academic and community-based oral and maxillofacial surgeons on five clinical trial projects, four funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and one funded by industry. These projects have focused on improving the long-term outcomes following orthognathic surgery and assessing non-invasive therapies for altered sensation.
Phillips was the principal investigator of a multicenter, NIDCR-funded clinical trial on sensory re-training following orthognathic surgery; this clinical trial was the basis for the manuscript “Effect of Facial Sensory Re-training on Sensory Thresholds,” which received the William J. Gies Award for the best clinical research paper published in the Journal of Dental Researchin 2007.
The results from this clinical trial supported the premise that a simple noninvasive exercise program initiated shortly after peripheral nerve injury can lessen the likelihood of a patient reporting altered sensation long-term.
Phillips has also served as director of the data coordinating center for the Multicenter Trial of Third Molar Patient Management, initiated in 1998, which is funded by the AAOMS and OMSF. The Third Molar Patient Management project includes a series of clinical studies designed to improve third molar treatment.
Phillips also is the School of Dentistry’s Working on Women in Science (WOWS) Scholar. The University’s WOWS program is designed to recruit and support female faculty throughout the sciences and health affairs divisions.
