On Wednesday, April 19, 2017, Dr. Debora Heller Douek DDS 16 M.Sc., Ph.D., received the Gaucho Highlight Award in Dentistry from the Regional Council of Dentistry for the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The award was presented to Dr. Heller during the Regional Council’s Golden Jubilee. Dr. Heller graduated with a Ph.D. in Oral Biology from the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) in 2016.
The award is intended for dentists in Brazil who have excelled professionally in the scientific, social, or political realms. Dr. Heller is one of the only dental scientists in all of Brazil that specializes in saliva. As such, she has been collaborating with many Brazilian hospitals and the University of Sao Paulo to develop new saliva-based diagnostics for dental and systemicc diseases. Most recently, Dr. Heller has discovered the diagnostic abilities of the Zika Virus in saliva, and has submitted a patent for the discovery with her fellow researchers in Canada.
The Regional Council for Dentistry is the primary Brazilian dental institution, composed of regional branches of the Federal Dental Board. All dentists must have their licenses registered with the Federal Dental Board in order to practice dentistry in Brazil.
“For me it was a great honor to receive this very prestigious award, and I am very thankful to the Henry Goldman School of Dental Medicine, to Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter, to my Advisor Dr. Frank Oppenheim and to my co-advisor Dr. Eva Helmerhorst for their support during my Ph.D.” said Dr. Heller. “This was a recognition not only to myself, but to the whole GSDM scientific community for their excellence in science and dental research. I am very proud to be a GSDM alumnus.”
After completing her Ph.D. in Oral Biology under the supervision of Dr. Frank Oppenheim, Dr. Heller returned to Brazil where she is currently an Assistant Professor in the postgraduate program in Dentistry at Cruzeiro do Sul University in São Paulo, Brazil. She is also the Public Relations Director for the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) Salivary Research Group.