Downey Begins Appointment with Dental Ecology
Effective May 1, Dr. Christine Downey began her appointment as clinical assistant professor in the Department of Dental Ecology.
“I am proud and honored to be a full-time member of the UNC School of Dentistry community,” said Downey. “I am excited to give back to the same community which has mentored me as a student and resident, and continues to mentor as I grow in academia.”
In her role as clinical assistant professor, she will be teaching in the special care/geriatric curriculum and clinics and the D.D.S./D.H. student clinics. She will continue practicing dentistry in the Dental Ecology Dental Faculty Practice on Mondays. Downey will also be engaged in scholarship focused on geriatric dentistry and interprofessional education.
“I am delighted that Dr. Downey has joined our full-time faculty as a most inspiring young clinician educator,” said Dr. Lauren Patton, chair of the Department of Dental Ecology. “UNC is very fortunate to have recruited Dr. Downey, who has a passion for teaching and for providing quality of life sustaining oral health care for our vulnerable seniors. I expect that she will lead us in promoting dental engagement in patient-centered care in settings of interprofessional learning, scholarship and collaborative practice.”
Downey earner her B.S. in biology from Grove City College, located in Pennsylvania and earned her M.S. in microbiology and immunology from Wright State University, which is in Ohio. In 1999, she joined the UNC School of Dentistry as a research associate in and later enrolled in the school’s D.D.S. program, which she completed in 2009. After that, Downey completed a 24-month general practice residency at UNC Hospitals, at which point she assumed an adjunct faculty position at UNC in 2011. She then followed by a 36-month geriatric dentistry fellowship at Duke/Durham VAMC. She remains enrolled in the Duke M.H.S. degree program, where she also has an adjunct faculty appointment, learning skills in patient-based research.
Downey holds memberships in the American Dental Association, the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and the Special Care Dentistry Association. She has been an invited reviewer for the journal Oral Diseases, the ADEA Annual Session abstract submission committee and the textbook “Treatment Planning in Dentistry, Third Edition,” in which she and Dr. Allen Samuelson will co-author a chapter on special care patients. Additionally, she has been published in theJournal of American Geriatric Society.
