Adams School of Dentistry’s Pat Miguez, DDS, MS, PhD, knew she wanted to work in health care as far back as her childhood in Brazil. She watched her father practice cardiology and saw his attention to urgent care patients, but her one reservation about medicine was the demand on practitioner time.
“When it came time to choose my career, I remembered how my dad struggled with the rigid hospital hours. I knew I didn’t want that for myself,” she said. “I wanted more control over my work hours and time for my family. Dentistry seemed like the perfect balance — being in health care while enjoying more flexibility.”
It also allowed her to continue pursuing her favorite school subject, biology, during her time in dental school at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil. Miguez saw herself leaning toward topics more closely related to medicine such as periodontology, then she found a keener focus in her second year when she saw her first patient with periodontal disease.
“That’s when I knew what I wanted to do,” she said. “Periodontal care significantly improves overall health and quality of life. My first patient was so thrilled with the results that I had my ‘aha’ moment; this is what I want to do!”
She joined a certificate program in periodontics immediately after graduation, while working in private practice and doing some teaching. Her interest in the private sector began to wane.
“I found myself really excited to be in an academic environment. It was intellectually stimulating to be around professors and students,” she said.
A new adventure
One of her professors in Brazil was a dual specialist and had trained in the U.S. He recommended Miguez pursue a similar track, with dual training in both countries. As Miguez was interested in oral disease management, including caries and preventive dentistry in pursuit of more wholesome care for her periodontal patients, she was recommended to consider the Operative Dentistry master’s degree program at ASOD. She saw that the school had a strong record in both operative and periodontics, so she applied and got in, moving to North Carolina for a new adventure.
Miguez had initially planned to go back to Brazil and serve as a professor at her alma mater, but she found something at Carolina she couldn’t ignore – a passion for research.
“As a resident, I immediately fell in love with the UNC atmosphere,” she said. “During my master’s studies, I began researching, and I realized that the U.S. offered opportunities I couldn’t find back home. The balance of research, patient care, and teaching at UNC was exactly what I wanted.”
Now, as a research-intensive faculty member, Miguez enjoys teaching students in the classroom, guiding residents in clinic, and mentoring PhD, master’s, dental and pre-dental students in her lab. She values the balance while still being able to prioritize both her research and her family.
Research priorities
“My training in periodontology and restorative dentistry, combined with a PhD in extracellular matrix (ECM) biology, drives my research on ECM’s role in oral tissue homeostasis and regeneration,” she said. Her work has received funding from the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health among other intramural grants. Her research has been published in leading scientific journals in dentistry.
“One of our most exciting projects involves a natural compound in citrus fruits, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, which could act as an anabolic bone therapy,” she said. “In our pre-clinical research, we found that this compound helps achieve more robust bone regeneration when bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), a well-known and widely used bone regenerative therapeutic is used. This discovery has significant implications for dentistry and orthopedics.”
The work was published in the journal Scientific Reports and has implications on regenerative dentistry and medicine. Further, her previous work in the field showed that the natural compound is also effective when delivered locally (not as a dietary supplement) at specific ratios with BMP and can prevent serious side effects associated with BMP use. Miguez hopes to gain additional funding to continue exploring what this could mean for patients with periodontal disease and large craniofacial bone defects including developing an effective way to bring this novelty to clinics.
Miguez’s believes that the work has implications for overall health and health care costs. “Controlling inflammation is key to preventing diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and promoting healthy aging,” she said. “Our research in phytochemicals and ECM biomodification could provide valuable insights for managing both oral and systemic conditions.
Publications and recognition
Her team recently published an original research paper and review in Periodontology 2000, earning the prestigious 2024 R. Earl Robinson Award from the American Academy of Periodontics for outstanding scientific article on periodontal regeneration. The research is in collaboration with Jian Liu, PhD, a world-renowned glycobiologist at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
“I see this award as a recognition of the importance of the understudied ECM subject in dentistry and the impact that it can have on periodontal health and regeneration. It was awarded by key thought leaders in the field of periodontics, so it’s both exciting and humbling,” she said. “As clinician-scientists, our group hopes to make a positive difference in health care.
This is the type of research Miguez enjoys pursuing in her lab — a focused central team collaborating with others in a team science approach to shed light on research areas that are often overlooked, such as ECM.
Miguez’s influence on her students and fellow researchers is also evident in her dedication to service. In addition to mentoring in her lab and in the school, she is also the current president of IADR Women in Science Network (WISN). Together with the WISN team, she has mentored several early career faculty members since 2017 in navigating academia and successfully pursuing funding.
“I’m privileged to give back to the community as a provider, teacher, and researcher. Some of these roles offer long-term rewards, like research, while others provide more immediate satisfaction. This balance greatly enriches my academic career. Recently, however, what has brought me the most joy — both in the short and long term — is service, particularly mentoring young faculty and graduate students who aspire to become educators and scientists. Supporting the next generation is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also crucial for the future of our dental schools. I consider myself both caring and strategic, which helps me guide others as they grow in their academic careers and navigate the complexities of academia.”
Miguez has pursued several leadership trainings over the past few years to enhance her mentoring and management skills. “I am itching to continue to expand my role in the profession, and that includes being in a position that can afford me the ability to lead work on a shared vision, build community around clinicians and scientists, and champion other causes and big issues in academic dentistry, such as equity.
A full life
When she’s not working in her lab, teaching, seeing patients, or supporting dental clinician-scientists, she enjoys pursuing her artistic interests. She loves photography, dancing, and cooking, and is actively involved in her daughters’ after-school activities. She even participated in the 2023 performances of “The Nutcracker” with her children.
“My hobbies have evolved over time, but they all center around some form of art, though I feel happiest when spending time with my daughters,” she said. “I started taking photography courses in the late 2000s after my first baby was born, which resulted in hundreds of photos of them as little kids. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, especially recreating my grandmother’s and mother’s recipes — they’re both from Portugal — and I think that has influenced my daughters. We’re foodies, so now we cook together. Sometimes I bring these treats to the Adams School of Dentistry when I’m teaching in the graduate clinic. It’s so gratifying to see my daughters making sweet treats and asking me to share them with the residents or lab scholars! Our latest adventure is dancing together, and we’re planning to perform in ‘The Nutcracker’ again this year!”
As a mother and professional, Miguez understands the challenges that parenthood, especially in early career stages, can place on faculty members trying to balance everything without burning out. She is a strong advocate for flexible work schedules, empathy in the workplace and strategic planning to help working parents (and non-parents) manage their responsibilities. “In my lab, I’ve always aimed to be as open as possible with my coworkers and to help them maintain a healthy balance between personal and professional life while still being productive. Life has its ups and downs — sometimes we’re highly productive, and other times it’s just not possible. We need to be compassionate toward each other.”