Our Faculty

Dr. Helman maintains his focus on the surgical management of oral cancer as well as orthognathic surgery in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome. His current research focus is on Clinical Outcome Measures and his current projects are recurrence rates in the management of Odontogenic Keratocysts, success rates in the surgical treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and Maxillofacial findings on patients with Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (Gorlin Syndrome).

Dr. Cornwall earned his DDS from the University of Michigan in 1978. After eighteen years of Private practice he started teaching part time at the UM. He took a full time position with UDM and for 6 years was the director of the clinic at Detroit Receiving Hospital. While in private practice Dr. Cornwall was on Active Staff at Sinai Hospital in Detroit with the GPR program. At UDM he was appointed Active Staff at St. John Riverview Hospital in Detroit as a faculty member of the AEGD program. Currently, Dr. Cornwall is the Assistant Director of the GPR program at the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry in 2006. His clinic and his office is located in The University of Michigan Hospital.

Dr. Edwards, the Department's Chief of Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, graduated from the Dalhousie University School of Dentistry and the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr Edwards obtained his residency here at the University of Michigan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department. After his residency, Dr Edwards completed fellowship training at the University of Pittsburgh in Craniofacial Surgery. Dr Edwards' clinical interests include craniomaxillofacial deformity, pediatric obstructive sleep apnea, cleft lip and palate, craniofacial trauma, and pediatric neoplasms of the craniomaxillofacial structures with research interests in craniofacial biology wound healing.

Dr. Feinberg maintains his clinically activities and also has an active NIH-funded research program in tissue engineering. His main project is in the ex vivo development of a human full-thickness oral mucosal tissue that is suitable for intraoral grafting procedures. The long-term objective is to produce a "smart" transduced oral mucosal graft that will be used for reconstruction of major oral defects secondary to oncologic resection, traumatic events or developmental disturbances. The graft would act both as a material for reconstruction and as a repository for in situ transmucosal delivery of recombinant growth factors or cytokines. The goal is also to establish expanded cultures of an enriched population of oral mucosa progenitor/stem cells, using only physical and pharmacological means, under chemically defined conditions consistent with FDA guidelines that will be the foundation for our advances into cell replacement therapy. His next step is to perform a FDA-approved Phase I/II clinical trial through the UM General Clinical Research Center in 2006. Dr. Feinberg's other area of research is in the development of 3-dimensional biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering of bone and/or cartilage for reconstruction of the temporomandibular joint.

Dr. Murdoch-Kinch is studying oral health in patients after parotid-sparing radiation therapy of head and neck cancer. Unlike patients who receive standard radiation therapy (RT) and suffer from permanent xerostomia, patients treated with parotid-sparing RT, developed at University of Michigan, experience recovery of salivary function over time. She hypothesizes that this will translate into better oral health for our patients.

Dr. Upton continues his clinical research which has included comparing means of rigid fixation associated with LeFort I maxillary osteotomies, and comparing the outcomes of scalpel versus electro surgery in soft tissue incisions for orthognathic surgery. He is also trying to identify biomarkers for temporomandibular joint pathology by looking at several pro-inflammatory cytokines: Interleukin 1-Beta, Interleukin 6, and Interleukin 10. Groups looked at included controls, right and left side in symptomatic patients, and symptomatic patients over time. Preliminary data suggests that none of these pro inflammatory mediators may become reliable objective markers for symptomatic TM joints.

Dr. Ward has completed two years on the faculty. He has been actively involved in the clinic and operating room, his research endeavors and as the Program Director of the residency and Head and Neck Oncology fellowship.

As a member of the University of Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences and the University of Michigan Head and Neck SPORE (Specialized Programs Of Research Excellence), his lab is working with nanostructures targeted to Head and Neck Cancer for more effective and safe chemotherapy. This endeavor is being undertaken with the goal of future clinical trials using this technology to enhance patient care. He is also assisting to coordinate the University of Michigan as a site for an upcoming clinical trial from John's Hopkins offering chemoprevention treatment for pre-cancerous dysplasias.

Continuing his bridging effort between dentistry and medicine, he has facilitated the creation of a pilot program to train medical doctors in dentistry preparing them for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical residency so that our dual degree program will one day be a true "two-way" street.

Dr. Zhang, the Co-Director of our Microsurgical Training Center has trained numerous residents and specialists from around the world in the art of vascular and neural microsurgery. He is collaborating on a federally funded research project with Drs. David Humes (Internal Medicine) and Dave Brown (Plastic Surgery) developing an experimental model for a tissue engineered kidney.

Dr. Zwetchkenbaum is Section Chief of Hospital Dentistry at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and U of M Health System. He received his D.D.S. at the University of North Carolina in 1987 and completed a General Practice Residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Following a period of dental practice at both a community health center and nursing home in his native Rhode Island, he returned for advanced training in Prosthodontics and then Maxillofacial Prosthodontics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Current clinical care involves maxillofacial prosthodontics and hospital dentistry. He is the program director of U of M's general practice residency where recent dental graduates train in care of medically compromised and developmentally disabled patients.