Press Releases

AADOCR Announces Thirty-One Recipients of the 2024 Bloc Travel Grant

Alexandria, VA – The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) has announced the 2024 winners of the AADOCR Bloc Travel Grant. The winners were recognized during the Opening Ceremonies of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, which was held in conjunction with the 102nd General Session of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024 in New Orleans, LA. 

AADOCR received funding from the National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIH-NIDCR) (Grant No. R13DE032910-01) to support travel for U.S. dental or PhD students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows to the AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting & Exhibition for presentation of scientific papers on dental research. Recipients were selected to receive funds based on the quality of the abstract selected for presentation. 

The 2024 grant recipients are:

  • Sarah Aitken, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 
  • Anna Elizabeth Allen, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 
  • Loraine Blanco, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL •
  • Yen Dinh, Harvard University, Boston, MA 
  • Quinn Easter, ADA Science & Research Institute, Gaithersburg, MD 
  • Jeremy Elias, The ADA Forsyth institute, Cambridge, MA 
  • Deshawna Glenn, University of Pittsburgh, PA 
  • Jessica Hao, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 
  • Liam Hopfensperger, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 
  • Kuei-Ling Hsu, University of Maryland at Baltimore
  • Melissa Hsu, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL
  • Mahbube Jafari, University of Iowa, Iowa City 
  • Theodore Kao, University of California, Los Angeles 
  • Keun Hwan Kim, Stony Brook University, NY 
  • Lauren Lamoutte, University of Florida, Gainesville
  • Min Lin, University of Washington, Seattle •
  • Brianyell McDaniel Mims, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 
  • Dustin Mueller, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 
  • Jake Ngu, University of California, San Francisco 
  • Marshall Padilla, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 
  • Achamaporn Punnanitinont, University at Buffalo, New York 
  • Macey Siegel, The Ohio State University, Columbus 
  • Bree Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapell 
  • Julie Tokatlian, University of Kentucky, Lexington 
  • Meilinn Tram, UT Health, San Antonio
  • Amy Tran, UT Health, Houston
  • Cathy Tran, Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University 
  • Cassandra Villani, University of Illinois at Chicago 
  • Albert Wang, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Bridgette Wellslager, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 
  • Michelle Wu, Texas A&M University, Dallas 

About AADOCR

The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research is a nonprofit organization with a mission to drive dental, oral, and craniofacial research to advance health and well-being. AADOCR represents the individual scientists, clinician-scientists, dental professionals, and students based in academic, government, non-profit and private-sector institutions who share our mission. AADOCR is the largest division of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.