Assistant Program Director, UNILAG
Kehinde Umeizudike is a Professor of Periodontology at the Department of Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She obtained her dental degree from the reputable College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in 1997. Upon completion of her postgraduate residency training at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in 2009, she became a Fellow of the Medical College in Dental Surgery (FMCDS), courtesy of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN). She is also an Honorary Consultant Periodontologist at LUTH. Her advocacy for prevention rather than treatment spurred her to pursue a Master’s in Public Health degree at the prestigious University of Lagos in 2014. Currently, she is collaborating with researchers at Emory University on HIV periodontitis-IRABL studies. She is also working with researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland for her PhD studies on the utility of matrix-metalloproteinases-8 (MMP-8) as a point-of-care screening tool for the early detection of periodontitis in Nigerians. As an academic and researcher, she is a member of distinguished academic and professional bodies; among which are the Periodontologists Association of Nigeria (PAN), Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria (MDCAN), International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and an affiliate member of the American Dental Association (ADA). She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications to her credit in reputable local and international journals.
As a Periodontologist, her research interest has been centred mainly on periodontal-systemic disease link (HIV/AIDS, NCDs) and oral fluid biomarkers. Her training with the EN-RTP program strengthened her capacity for cutting-edge translational and impactful research, by greatly enhancing her mentoring and grant writing skills. Her EN-RTP Mentor, Prof. Neale Weitzmann, and Kehinde, recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health for an R01 grant titled "Intersection of Periodontitis with HIV-Antiretroviral Therapy-Induced Immune Reconstitution Bone Loss, on Alveolar Bone and Tooth Loss, in People Living with HIV". This study shall be providing novel insights on the potential for ART-induced IRBL to drive alveolar bone loss in people living with HIV infection.