Thomas M. Petro, PhD, professor, and Amy C. Killeen, DDS, MS, associate professor, received the inaugural Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar Awards. The awards support new and ongoing basic, clinical and translational research projects centered on understanding immunity/inflammation within the oral mucosa and periodontium. The awarded projects involve periodontics residents and seek to develop compelling pilot data for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications.
The Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar Award honors two faculty members in the UNMC Department of Surgical Specialties – Gerald J. Tussing, DDS, MSD, professor, and Wayne B. Kaldahl, DDS, professor – who have a long history of creating clinically relevant projects that help form what we know about periodontology. Drs. Tussing and Kaldahl have provided guidance to periodontics residents for nearly 60 years.
Dr. Petro received his master’s degree in microbiology and his PhD in immunology/microbiology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is a professor in the UNMC Department of Oral Biology and has been with the College of Dentistry for 36 years. Dr. Petro’s research interests include using modern molecule immunobiology approaches to investigate cell signaling pathways in macrophage polarization and cytokine production that point to development of novel therapeutics to control viral infections and/or chronic inflammatory diseases. He is the recipient of multiple grants, including a Stuart Nichols ALS Foundation award for the project “Do Chloroviruses contribute to ALS disease?” Dr. Petro has served as a research mentor for numerous graduate and undergraduate students.
Dr. Killeen received her DDS, certificate in periodontics and master’s degree in oral biology from the UNMC College of Dentistry. She is a tenured associate professor and vice chair of the UNMC Department of Surgical Specialties. Dr. Killeen’s research interests include inflammation control in the periodontal maintenance patient and developing a better understanding of post-extraction wound healing and how it can be manipulated to improve bone and soft tissue regeneration. Dr. Killeen has been a research mentor for many graduate and undergraduate students. She is the recipient of multiple grants, including being named the D.H. Reinhardt Scholar in 2012 and 2020, and she received the 2020 Colgate Award for Research Excellence (CARE).