2018-04-24

Dr. Flavia S. Lakschevitz

Flavia S. Lakschevitz, DDS, PhD, MSc (Perio), has joined the Department of Oral Biological & Medical Sciences as an assistant professor and director of the graduate program in Periodontics.

Dr. Lakschevitz earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1995 from Fluminense Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she also earned a Master of Science (Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology) degree in 2002. Thereafter she relocated to Canada and completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Toronto (U of T) in 2013 with the project “Gene Expression Profile Changes in Neutrophils—from Sterile Compartments into Sites of Inflammation.” In 2016 she completed specialty training at U of T earning a Master of Science and Certificate in Periodontics; in the same year she joined the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Periodontics and Dental Hygiene.

Lakschevitz’s research focuses on the role of neutrophil subtypes associated with neutrophil-mediated autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Neutrophils are more sophisticated cells than originally was thought and she believes by understanding neutrophil changes during chronic diseases, such as periodontal disease, will provide new insight into how neutrophils contribute to disease development and allow for the development diagnostic tools to identify patients at risk for neutrophil mediated tissue destruction.

She has published in several peer-reviewed articles as well as book chapters in the field of periodontics and neutrophil biology, and has been awarded multiple research grants, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Training Program in Health Applications of Cell Signalling in Mucosal Inflammation & Pain and a U of T Harron Scholarship.

Her main clinical interests are the links between periodontal disease and systemic conditions, as well as soft and hard tissue regeneration. Other clinical interests include: periodontal therapy (surgical and non-surgical), implants and site development procedures.

Lakschevitz is an active member of the American Academy of Periodontology, American Dental Education Association, and both the International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR), of which she recently served as secretary for the AADR Houston Section.