Rutgers Professor Receives American Dental Association’s Clinical Research Award

Daniel Fine, chair of the Oral Biology Department at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, has been awarded the American Dental Association's (ADA) Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research.

"His scholarship and policy work helped clarify and reclassify aggressive periodontitis, integrating microbial and host-based criteria into the diagnostic framework now used worldwide," ADA officials noted in a statement.

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Fine received his bachelor of science degree from Queens College, CUNY, and doctor of medicine in dentistry degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He also is a certified periodontist from New York University.

He joined Rutgers School of Dental Medicine as a professor and associate dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Fine has a 30-year career in research, studying bacteria found in the oral cavity, including their links to systemic illness. His main focus has been on uncovering the causes of localized aggressive periodontitis at the biological, molecular and clinical levels to develop preventive strategies. Over the years, he and his team have developed molecular systems for gene mutation. He authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, received numerous National Institutes of Health and corporate-sponsored grants and held frequent leadership roles on editorial boards and study sections.

"Dr. Fine has been a revolutionary in his field, pushing and helping our school develop a strong oral biology program that works to tackle oral diseases that impact the majority of the global population, like periodontal disease," said Cecile A. Feldman, dean of dental school. "We are so happy that his efforts and contributions have been recognized with this award."

Some of Fine's key research includes tracking periodontal disease in more than 2,500 Newark children to chart the progression of a rare form of gum disease that afflicts African American adolescents. The disease, "localized aggressive periodontitis," has a genetic basis and affects 2% of African American children ages 11 to 17. With a $3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant in 2015, he worked to pinpoint biological markers in saliva that can predict whether bone loss from the disease will occur and which teeth it will affect before symptoms appear.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked closely with New Jersey Medical School's Public Health Research Institute on antibody testing and viral suppression, along with dental and medical equipment supplier Henry Schein Inc. in its Test for Tomorrow (T4T) work group, made up of several schools nationwide, including University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of California in San Francisco, Temple University and New York University.