Alexandria, VA – The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research has named Paula Ortega-Verdugo as the recipient of the 2025 AADOCR Procter & Gamble Underrepresented Faculty Research Fellowship. Ortega-Verdugo, from the University California, Los Angeles, was recognized during the Opening Ceremonies of the 54th Annual Meeting of the AADOCR, which was held in conjunction with the 49th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 12-15, 2025 in New York, NY.
Ortega Verdugo is a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research has two main areas of investigation. The first is to identify specific patient-associated sociodemographic factors, such as race/ethnicity, or educational status, that have more influence on oral health outcomes in adult populations. To this end, one of her short-term projects has been to pinpoint the geographic areas, and population, that present greater oral health disparities. Her second area of research emphasis involves identifying the impact of oral health outcomes, such as untreated dental caries, and tooth loss on oral health-related quality of life, as well as the resulting costs for patients. Her research efforts are therefore focused on conducting cost-effectiveness analyses to estimate differences in total costs for health-related quality of life of several preventive dental procedures among adult populations.
The goal of the AADOCR Procter & Gamble Underrepresented Faculty Research Fellowship is to support researchers from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups at the early stages of their scientific careers and to increase representation of these underrepresented groups at the faculty level in science and academia. The $10,000 Fellowship is supported by P&G Professional Oral Health, Crest + Oral-B.
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, Oral, and Craniofacial Research. Learn more at www.aadocr.org.
