Dechow named AADR Fellow

Contributions to oral, craniofacial and dental research recognized
September 28th, 2020

Dr. Paul C. Dechow recently was named a a 2020 American Association for Dental Research Fellow.

Dr. Paul C. Dechow, associate dean for academic affairs, has been named a 2020 American Association for Dental Research Fellow. The AADR Fellows Program recognizes active members who have significantly contributed to the organization and their field, and who also have earned a minimum 50 program points in the Fellows Program Points System.

Dechow, a Texas A&M University System Regents Professor in biomedical sciences, is one of five educators and researchers selected by the Fellows Review Committee for their contributions. He received two letters of nomination from fellow AADR members, including Dr. Rena D’Souza, incoming director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Fellow designees will be celebrated at the AADR’s annual meeting slated for March 23, 2021, in Atlanta.

“The AADR has been one of my professional homes throughout my career and I am deeply honored by this recognition,” Dechow says.

His AADR contributions include a 12-year stint as an officer and president of the Craniofacial Biology Group and as a founder and president of the Evidence-based Dentistry Network. Dechow is a member of AADR Council, a governing body. He has served in that role for 10 years, presented research and participated in symposia at annual meetings since the early 1980s.

Dechow’s own research has mostly focused on growth, adaptation and evolution of the craniofacial skeleton and related soft tissues as they translate to dental clinical treatment. He held an NIDCR postdoctoral fellowship in craniofacial biology at the University of Michigan from 1981 to 1984. He received his doctorate in anatomy from the University of Chicago in 1980 and his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.

— Kathleen Green Pothier