Alexandria, VA – The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) announced Cun-Yu Wang, University of California, Los Angeles as the 2023 recipient of the AADOCR Distinguished Scientist Award. Wang was recognized during the Opening Ceremonies of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, which was held in conjunction with the 47th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), that took place on March 15, 2023.
Wang received his dental medicine training from Nanjing Medical University and Peking University. In 1990, he came to Forsyth Institute as a postdoctoral fellow. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the Dentist-Scientist Award training sponsored by NIDCR in 1995 and received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics in 1998. He joined the University of Michigan School of Dentistry as an Associate Professor in 1999 and was promoted to Richard H. Gingery Endowed Collegiate Professor in 2004. He was recruited to his current position at UCLA in 2007.
Wang’s lab has trained postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and visiting scholars from all over the world. He has won numerous prestigious awards, including the NIH MERIT Award and two different IADR Distinguished Scientist awards: the Basic Research in Biological Mineralization Award (2013) and the Oral Medicine and Pathology Research Award (2009). He has served on several NIH study sections and review panels and was the charter member of the NIDCR Board of Scientific Counselors. In 2011, he was elected to be a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2013, he was elected to the Chinese Academy of Engineering as a foreign member.
Wang has mentored over 50 students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars. Ten of them have independent academic careers in US, China, and Korea. Five students have won highly competitive awards at the national and international levels.
The AADOCR Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished Mentoring Award provides national recognition for outstanding efforts to foster and promote research training and career development of students, trainees, and junior faculty. It identifies individuals at all levels of their career with an exemplary record of mentoring. This award was renamed in 2012 in honor of its first recipient, Irwin D. Mandel. The award consists of a monetary prize of US$1,000 and a commemorative plaque.
About AADOCR
The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) 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 Research. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.