Faculty member Yuji Mishina appointed as Mann Professor of Dentistry4 min read
Ann Arbor, Mich., March 7, 2022 – School of Dentistry faculty member Yuji Mishina has been appointed as the William R. Mann Professor of Dentistry.
The five-year appointment, effective March 1, 2022, through Feb. 28, 2027, was approved by the University of Michigan Board of Regents at its February meeting. Mishina was recommended by the dental school’s Executive Committee and Dean Laurie McCauley.
Professor Mishina’s work in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics (BMSP), includes an extensive combination of teaching, research and mentoring.
He teaches both predoctoral and graduate students, directing courses and lecturing on topics that include prosthodontics, mineralized tissues, oral health sciences, the musculoskeletal system and development and embryogenesis. In his advising and mentoring, Professor Mishina works with students from undergraduate, predoctoral DDS, master’s and Ph.D. programs. Many of his students have received national and international awards.
At the school’s annual Research Day this year, held last month, he received the Distinguished Faculty Mentoring Award. It recognizes faculty who consistently impart their research knowledge and experience with students and scholars in areas of clinical, basic science and-or translational research. He was cited for fostering an environment of collaboration, respect and purpose in his research lab.
His lab focuses on molecular regulation of craniofacial development, with the objective of better understanding pathological mechanisms of gene-regulated growth and development of organs and tissues. His work addresses how molecules communicate with the embryonic environment and investigates growth and development for tissue and organ formation, with the ultimate goal of devising therapeutics for clinical applications. His research papers have been published in many of the top scientific journals, and he is a manuscript reviewer for many top journals as well.
Professor Mishina’s research has been continuously funded for more than two decades by major institutions, including the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health and other academic and private research institutions. His scientific accomplishments and expertise are well-recognized and reflected by the large number of invited lectures and seminar presentations, nationally and internationally.
Dr. Vesa Kaartinen, Associate Dean for Research, and Dr. Jan Hu, chair of BMSP, said in their nomination for the professorship, “Yuji is an outstanding scholar, teacher, mentor and expert educator in the School of Dentistry. Yuji has distinguished himself, the school, and the university throughout a successful career at Michigan.”
Professor Mishina earned three degrees from the University of Tokyo in Japan – Bachelors of biology in 1981, Master of Science in molecular biology in 1983, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1986. He became a research associate at the Kihara Institute for Biological Research at the Yokohama City University in 1986. In 1992, he joined the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas as a post-doctoral fellow. In 1998 he was named the group head in Molecular Developmental Biology Group, Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. In 2008, joined the U-M School of Dentistry as an associate professor, and in 2014, he was promoted to professor.
The William R. Mann Professorship in Dentistry provides a memorial to Dr. William R. Mann, dean of the School of Dentistry from 1962 through 1982, and an outstanding member of the faculty for 41 years. This professorship recognizes his outstanding intellectual leadership and nationally recognized achievement in research, teaching and service.
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The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, patient care and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu. Contact: Lynn Monson, associate director of communications, at dentistry.communications@umich.edu, or (734) 615-1971.