Dean Murdoch-Kinch announced this week the appointments of Drs. Thankam Thyvalikakath and Angela Bruzzaniti into new leadership roles at IU School of Dentistry.
Dr. Thyvalikakath has been appointed associate dean of Dental Informatics and Digital Health. This is a new position at IUSD, created to provide strategic leadership for dental informatics and digital health, which span across the dental school’s education, research, and patient care missions. This critical infrastructure is needed for IUSD to succeed in the digital age, creating a sustainable model of clinical care, clinical education, and research focused on patient safety, quality, and continuous improvement.
Dr. Thyvalikakath is director of dental informatics in the Department of Cariology, Dental Public Health, and Operative Dentistry. She also is founding director of the joint dental informatics program at Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and IUSD, and a research scientist at the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
Dr. Thyvalikakath earned a bachelor’s degree in dental surgery from Government Dental College of University of Kerala, India. She earned an MS in biomedical informatics, a DMD, and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. At IUSD, she teaches in the Comprehensive Care Clinics, as well as dental informatics courses in the graduate program. She mentors student researchers as well as faculty.
Dr. Thyvalikakath is an international leader in dental and health informatics and holds numerous federal grants to support her research, which includes connecting dental providers with health information exchange and other health care systems to coordinate care; linking dental and medical record data to study the oral health and outcomes among medically compromised patients, such as those with Sjogren’s Syndrome; and establishing approaches to leverage electronic dental record data from dental practices to assess treatment outcomes.
Dr. Bruzzaniti has been appointed director of PhD training and research development for IUSD. She succeeds Dr. Richard Gregory, who retires this month. Dr. Bruzzaniti is charged with expanding IUSD’s PhD training program to prepare future faculty and oral health researchers for sustainable careers as independent research scientists and faculty. These goals will be achieved through various strategies, including continued and expanded collaboration with IUSM and other IU schools, enhancing training to gain federal grant support for our students, and expanding resources and support for IUSD PhD mentors.
Dr. Bruzzaniti is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Comprehensive Care and an adjunct professor in IU School of Medicine’s Department of Anatomy and Biology. She earned a PhD at University of Melbourne (Australia) and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bruzzaniti joined the IUSD faculty in 2008 and teaches musculoskeletal biology and molecular cell biology. Additionally, she is the director of student research and mentors DDS, graduate, and post-graduate student researchers. Her federally funded research focuses on preventing bone loss and promoting bone growth.
“Congratulations to these two outstanding faculty and leaders!,” Dean Murdoch-Kinch said. “I look forward to working with both as they bring their extensive knowledge, experience, and innovation to these two important programs at Indiana University School of Dentistry.”
