Mark your calendar!
This 1 1/2 day program, April 26 – 27, 2024, will provide a unique opportunity for bioengineers, clinicians and scientists to discuss the challenges presented by temporomandibular joint disorders, and to devise strategies to address those challenges.
Education Objectives:
- Provide recommendations to the NIDCR TMJD Program on novel scientific approaches and critical research topics that will advance the field.
- Establish a benchmark for current treatments and scientific knowledge.
- Bring outside perspective from experts in areas pertinent to TMJ research.
Keynote Speakers
Maurizio Pacifici is Director of the Translational Research Program in Pediatric Orthopaedics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a doctorate degree in Developmental Biology from the University of Rome and then joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania where he rose to the rank of tenured Professor. He subsequently moved to Thomas Jefferson University Medical School where he served as Director of Research in Orthopaedics and was then recruited to his current position at CHOP about 11 years ago. Dr. Pacifici’s biomedical research studies focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate skeletal development, growth and morphogenesis in fetal and postnatal life. The information deriving from these basic science research projects is used to uncover and understand the pathogenesis of congenital pediatric musculoskeletal disorders, including Multiple Osteochondroma (MO), Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) and Achondroplasia (ACH). Combining basic developmental studies with translation and clinical studies has proven fruitful. His laboratory conceived the idea of using synthetic retinoid agonists as therapeutics against heterotopic ossification (HO) in FOP patients, leading to the identification of Palovarotene that was recently approved by the FDA. Studies are also focusing on non-genetic, acquired forms of HO that are common and still therapeutically unresolved. Dr. Pacifici has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers, and the NIH has continuously funded his biomedical research work for over 3 decades.
Dr. Dania Tamimi graduated with a dental degree from King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She trained at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and earned a doctorate of medical science (DMSc) and certificate of fellowship in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology in 2005. She is board certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (ABOMR) and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow).
She is a reviewer and an Editorial Board member for Oral Surgery, Oral Pathology, Oral Medicine and Oral Radiology (OOOO), as well as a reviewer for DMFR, Oral Radiology, Head and Neck, Angle Orthodontist and AJO-DO. She is the lead author on two textbooks: “Specialty Imaging: Dental Implants” (which has been translated to Portuguese and Russian) and “Specialty Imaging: Temporomandibular Joint and Sleep-Disordered Breathing” and a co-lead author on “Diagnostic Imaging, Oral and Maxillofacial” (translated to Spanish). She lectures nationally and internationally.
She currently runs her oral and maxillofacial radiology private practice in Orlando, Florida.