Biography
Pouran Famili DMD, MDS, MPH, PhD is Professor, Chair, and Director of the Residency in the Department of Periodontics and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh, and is licensed to practice periodontics and provide dental anesthesia in Pennsylvania, California, and Ohio. She holds masters’ degrees in dental science and public health, and the doctorate in epidemiology, all from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a periodontist of more than twenty years’ experience, and has served in her current positions since 2005. She has been aDiplomate of the American Board of Periodontology since 1989 and a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the dental medicine academic honorary society, from 1992. She is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists (2001), the International College of Dentists (2003), and the International College of Oral Implantologists (2008). She holds volunteer positions in the American Dental Education Association (Women’s Affairs Advisory Committee from 2008, and Minority Affairs Advisory Committee from 2012) and on the American Dental Association Commission on Change and Innovation from 2006 to 2009. From 1986 she has been a member of the fulltime faculty at the University and in 2005 she was a finalist for the University of Pittsburgh’s Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award.
Well-traveled before she became an academic, She has travelled internationally to attend and present conference symposia regarding dental medicine and periodontics. In 2009 she was investigating the effects of obesity on periodontal disease and systemic health, presenting on that subject at the World Congress on Preventive Dentistry in Phuket, Thailand. Along with research regarding systemic bone mineral density and implant success, whether treated with bone-sparing medications or not, she continues investigations regarding the periodontal condition and various aspects of systemic health. Key among those currently is research projects concerning obesity, diabetes, metabolic condition, and sleep apnea. Her doctoral dissertation in epidemiology considered the effects of androgen deprivation therapy on periodontal disease among men with prostate cancer, and one long-term research project investigated links between sickle-cell anemia and periodontal disease, results presented at the International Association for Dental Research in 2009 and followed in 2010 by collaboration with Brazilian sickle-cell investigators. She is continuing her research and will present both locally and internationally in 2014.
Research Interest
She maintains a personal research agenda regarding all aspects of oral health including oral bone loss, with special interest in addressing oral health disparities. She directs the research projects and didactic and clinical instruction of the nine Periodontics residents, and mentors the research projects of those choosing advanced degrees in public health or dental medicine. She is co-investigator for dental issues and clearances in two different NIH-supported research studies investigating bisphosphonates to preserve systemic bone health in postmenopausal elder women, and among breast cancer survivors. In 2008 she received a joint appointment in translational medicine at the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
