Two faculty members of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College
of Dentistry, located in Lincoln, are the first recipients of the D.H.
Reinhardt Scholar Program.
The recipients, who were awarded a joint $4,500 scholarship, are Laura
Iwasaki, D.D.S., Ph.D., assistant professor and Jeffrey Nickel, D.M.D.,
Ph.D., assistant professor, both of the Department of Growth and Development.
The programs goal is to develop faculty expertise in emerging technologies
that will further advance their research goals and ultimately improve dental
care. It enables faculty to visit world-renowned laboratories to master
new techniques and develop collaborative strategies.
A scholarship will be awarded to a recipient every two years.
The endowed scholarship program was established by the family of the
late Dale Hiram Reinhardt, D.D.S., a member of the first graduating class
of the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry in 1919. Following graduation,
Dr. Reinhardt established a dental practice in Bayard, Neb., and later
in Scottsbluff, where he served until his death in 1961.
The Reinhardt family said the program epitomizes Dr. Reinhardts legacy
of striving to find new ways to solve problems. Dr. Reinhardt, who also
was a farmer, hunter, fisherman and stamp collector, strove to develop
new methods to improve efficiency and effectiveness not only in dentistry,
but in life.
Jeffrey Payne, D.D.S., UNMC assistant dean for research and F. Gene
and Rosemary Dixon Endowed Chair in Dentistry, said Drs. Iwasaki and Nickel
will apply and share new information and use this new information in grant
applications to support their research activities.
Drs. Iwasaki and Nickel are hard-working, creative clinician-scientists
who conduct clinically-relevant research, Dr. Payne said. Their research
will lead to a better understanding of biomechanical aspects of the jaw
and orthodontic tooth movement and, ultimately, to better patient care.
Drs. Iwasaki and Nickel will use the scholarship to work on various
projects, including one that involves researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, N.Y., and the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The
two will spend a month at the University of Zurich where they plan to conduct
experiments with collaborators at the Clinic for Masticatory Disorders
and Complete Dentures, Center for Dental and Oral Medicine and Maxillofacial
Surgery.
The research team, through computerized models, is trying to understand
why osteoarthritis occurs in the jaw joints and why it generally occurs
10 years earlier than in other joints like the hips and knees.
The planned experiments at the University of Zurich will involve collecting
information about the jaw anatomy and the jaw function of individuals to
test the accuracy of the models that we are currently using, Dr. Iwasaki
said. Our hope is that these computer models can be developed into clinically
useful tools — tools that in the future could predict potential problems
and help to prevent and treat osteoarthritis of the jaw joints.
Dr. Nickel and I feel extremely grateful to the Reinhardt family for
its generosity and foresight in recognizing a way to support the research
community and potentially enrich the general community here in Nebraska
and beyond.
The program was established by D.H. Reinhardts children: the late Richard
C. Reinhardt, D.D.S., Lewis K. Reinhardt, of Scottsbluff, and daughter,
Susan Reinhardt Bailey of Omaha; and grandson, Richard A. Reinhardt, D.D.S.,
Ph.D., of Lincoln. Richard C. Reinhardt, and Richard A. Reinhardt, both
of whom graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry
in 1949 and 1972 respectively, later served in the senior Dr. Reinhardts
dental practice. Dr. Richard A. Reinhardt currently serves on the UNMC
College of Dentistry faculty in surgical specialties.