Global Health Nexus, Winter 2004

Recruiting the Best

Dr. Frederick A. Curro, an academician, clinical researcher, and pharmacologist, has been appointed a Clinical Professor of Oral Medicine and Chief of Pharmacotherapeutic Research at the Bluestone Center for Clinical Research. Dr. Curro holds both a DMD degree and a PhD in pharmacology and chaired the Department of Pharmacology at Fairleigh Dickinson University College of Dental Medicine. He has also been appointed coordinator of NYU Dentistry’s pharmacology program and a Clinical Professor of Oral Medicine.

Dr. Curro served most recently as Vice President/Director of Corporate Clinical and Medical Affairs at GlaxoSmithKline and at Block Drug Company, Inc., and as Executive Director of Clinical Research and Operations for biotechnology developer Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based proteomic/genetic biotechnology company.

In addition to his appointments at NYU Dentistry, Dr. Curro will continue to serve as a consultant on clinical pharmacology and regulatory affairs to The Forsyth Institute and the Coast Guard Academy’s dental clinic in New London, Connecticut, and as a visiting professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

Bioengineeering expert Dr. John L. Ricci has joined the NYU Dentistry faculty as an Associate Professor of Biomaterials and Biomimetics. Dr. Ricci comes to NYU Dentistry from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he served as an Associate Professor of Orthopedics at UMDNJ’s medical school and as an Associate Professor of Prosthodontics and of Biomaterials/Restorative Dentistry at UMDNJ’s dental school. He was also an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University and at City College of New York.

Dr. Ricci received his PhD in anatomy from UMDNJ, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic surgery. He has published and lectured widely on modifying and texturing implant surfaces to increase their adhesion to bone tissue.

Dr. Ronald Katz, a member of the NYU Dentistry faculty from 1996 to 1999, has rejoined NYU Dentistry as a Clinical Associate Professor of Oral Medicine. Prior to returning to NYU Dentistry, Dr. Katz was the John Richter Assistant Professor of Oral Pathology at the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery.

Dr. Katz received his dental degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dental Medicine and a PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan, and was awarded an endocrinology fellowship from Emery University. He has been a principal investigator and a coinvestigator on a number of NIH grants and is the author or coauthor of over 20 papers in peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Katz’s research interests focus on mucosal diseases affecting the oral cavity, especially “burning tongue syndrome,” and on translational research in the use of pharmacotherapeutics for jawbone disease and the design of advanced bioactive coating for dental implants.